Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-05-16

The entire series VIII be SdlHelcu
together and published in handsome
volume by the State Historical Society.
The principal streets will be MADE
into courts of honor, with elaborate
arches and Venetian masts, ablaZe with
color by day and agleam with light by
night. The public buildings will be
outline@ with electric lights and every
private building in the city will be
draped with flags, banners and bunt-
ing. Chillicothe has always had good
reason to boast of her natural beauty,
so that she will be doubly attractive
during centennial week.
1t has already been stated that the
celebration will last several days longer
than the formal program calls Tor.
One of these extra days will be occu-
pied by tour of the most interesting
mounds in the county, under the guild
ance of Mr.. Gerald Foulke, noted
archaeologist. 1t was in Ross county
that both mound builder and indian
life reached it's apogee of development.
and the remains which have been left
behind are of the very highest order
of interest. Tours will also be ar
ranged to Adena, Finish Hill and other
neighboriEg places of historical inter-
est.
The celebration is also to have it's
spectacular features, the principal one
of which will be a great parade, tax
ing place on the morning of Wednes-
day, May 20. State, county, and city
will participate, and the governors Of
the states which We're carved from the
old Northwest Observation-Disclosures, IL
linois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Min
nesota-will be given places of honor
with their staffs. There are also to be
pyrotechnic displays on the evenings
of the celebration.
Despite the passage of hundred
years, the "Old Metropolis" remains
essentially as it was in the beginning,
Virginian town. All this portion Of
Ohio, the most beautiful and fertile
part of the State, was included in the
tract of land reserved by Virginia to
reward her Colonial and Revolutionary
soldiers, and after the close of the
Revolution they fiocked here in great
numbers. Foremost among them were
Thomas Worthington, who brought his
manumitted slaves and all his princely
belongings with him, and Nathaniel
MaSsie, who for many years had been
surveying the district, often in the
greatest peril from the hostile Indians.
Both erected large mansions, which are
still standing in an excellent state of
preservation That of Worthngton.
which he christened Adena, is especial
ly noteworthy. 1t was designed by n
great French architect and was built
of massive stone, quarred in the neigh
borhood.
The marble for the mantels the
glass and the decorative ironWork
We're brought on pack mules over the
mountains from Philadelphia at heavy
cost. People came from fifty miles
around to view it's wonders-wall-p paper
glass windows, lace curtains. That old
wallpaper is still intact upon the
walls, and almost unfaded. The house
is built at the edge of a high plateau.
overlooking the valley, and many ia
nous men were entertained there in
the days of it's glory.
Not far away is still standing the
commodious stone house erected by
General Duncan Macarthur, also gov
ernor of Ohio, with its wide porches
and generally Southern appearance. 1t
was owned afterward by Governor Will
liam Allen, McArthur's son-in-law, and
is still in the family. 1t is called Fruit
Hill" Up and down the streets of
Chillicothe many memorials of the old
days still exist-colonial doorways Of
the purest beauty, stately mansions OF
Colonial type, even one of the old inns.
with it's high signboard at the edge of
the pavement. And the old spirit still
survives, so that every visitor to the
town may be assured Of a genuine
Southern welcome.