Volume 20, Number 9/10
Table of Contents
Selecting Newspaper Titles for Digitization at the Digital Library of Georgia
Digital Library of Georgia
Newspapers have been a significant target for digitization over the last decade, and libraries, archives, and other cultural institutions must decide how best to utilize their limited funds to digitize a select number of newspaper titles for public consumption. This case study examines the Digital Library of Georgia's newspaper digitization selection process and how it incorporates national standards with its own project-specific criteria. The article includes a discussion of the roles played by user demand, content significance, funding, copyright, optical character recognition, and microfilm holdings in the decision making process, with the ultimate goal of creating highly used, well-regarded, and cost effective online newspaper archives.
Newspapers have been a significant target for digitization over the last decade. The wealth of information these materials provide serves multiple audiences and disciplines, making them a particularly valuable resource to make more widely available. Libraries, archives, and other cultural institutions must decide how best to utilize their limited funds to digitize a select number of newspaper titles. Grant-driven digitization efforts, like the Library of Congress' National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), provide clear and useful selection criteria for their participants. Organizations working to digitize newspapers outside of those programs share many of the same considerations, but they also deal with additional concerns unique to their situation. One such institution is the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG), whose newspaper digitization selection process will be examined as a case study in this paper.
In 2007, the DLG initiated a project to digitize the Red and Black, the student newspaper of the University of Georgia, from the microfilm holdings of the Georgia Newspaper Project. The venture served as a pilot project for a larger initiative to digitize the state's historical newspapers. Once a process was established, a set of criteria was needed to determine future newspaper digitization projects after it completed the Red and Black Archive. Accordingly, the DLG, GALILEO, and Georgia HomePLACE collaborated to create a selection strategy that addressed that need, resulting in the digitization of over a half million pages during the first five years of the project and unprecedented usage numbers. That strategy incorporates demand, historical significance, funding, and availability, along with restrictions including copyright and technical concerns. These factors, in the context of the project, are discussed below.
The main resource for those researching selection criteria for newspaper digitization is the guidelines set forth by the National Digital Newspaper Program. Their publications are both practical and well-organized, with particular attention paid to the technical aspects of microfilm selection. The technical guidelines are updated annually and cover microfilm selection, scanning, OCR, and the creation of metadata. Although not all of the criteria covered in their publications are applicable to those working outside of the grant, the NDNP guidelines are a valuable starting point for establishing a method for newspaper title selection.
Molly Kruckenberg of the Montana Historical Society published guidelines for its Montana Newspaper Digitization Project Selection Advisory Board. She sets forth criteria specifically addressing the history and geography of the state, in addition to coverage, availability, copyright, and other more general factors. The recommended process results in the ranking of papers by priority, with the highest ranked titles examined for technical feasibility before being included in the final list of titles to be digitized.1
Ross Harvey has discussed the newspaper selection approach as an effort to find balance between preservation needs and user demands. He concludes that the physical safeguarding of the materials through digital preservation should take precedence over demands for popular newspaper titles, but he asserts that compromise can and should be established in the newspaper digitization selection process.2
While drafting standards for deciding which newspaper titles to digitize, the goal of the DLG was to create a selection method that would result in highly used, well-regarded, cost effective, and legally sound online newspaper archives. While no specific factor was necessarily given priority over another, some criteria were non-negotiable including copyright and title availability, due to their prohibitive nature. The overall intention was to find a balance among the considerations listed below in order to pinpoint the most suitable newspaper titles for digitization. As the DLG continued its digitization work, some of the criteria were given more emphasis to create balance over time.
One consideration not discussed in this paper is digitization as a method of preservation. Many organizations identifying archival materials for digitization incorporate physical concerns, including the condition and need for preservation of the documents, into their selection criteria.3 The newspaper digitization efforts at the DLG, however, utilize microfilm copies of the publications. The Georgia Newspaper Project (the source of newspaper microfilm copies used by the DLG for digitization) conducts their microfilming with preservation as the primary concern. This frees the DLG from integrating physical considerations into its selection criteria, putting the focus instead on concerns related primarily to access.
In order to optimize access, project organizers deemed the needs of the user a major consideration when selecting newspaper titles for digitization. The NDNP doesn't include user demand in their content selection guidelines, focusing instead on research value to drive usage. While the DLG also included content significance in its decision making process, as discussed below, the organization found added value in ensuring that newspapers were digitized to meet the demands of their users. Luckily, user interest often coincides with the research value of the newspaper titles. This interest in regard to newspapers frequently differs from that of other types of research materials, as the emphasis is more often on geographic rather than subject-based considerations. For this reason, it was necessary to examine user demand specifically in relation to newspapers. Fairly early in the process, Georgia HomePLACE, in conjunction with GALILEO, conducted an informal survey of librarians from around the state and requested information on which newspapers their users most often requested access to. Two general trends emerged. First and foremost, users are interested in the newspapers from where they live, regardless of their size or historical significance. Secondly, they want access to newspaper publications from the largest cities in Georgia. The findings confirmed conclusions drawn from previous interactions with librarians and users.4
These user predilections led the DLG to place early emphasis on the most populous cities in the state, including Atlanta, Athens, Columbus, and Macon. The digitization of titles from those cities would, according to the survey, draw heavy usage from both residents of those population centers and researchers from other parts of the state who are frequently interested in the history of those larger cities. This approach would seem to preclude the digitization of smaller city newspapers due to the potential for limited use, but additional considerations and approaches were taken into account to compensate for the inclusion of other cities and titles.
Since most newspapers of the nineteenth and early twentieth century carried similar content, including national and local news, agricultural columns, serial literature, and ads, the historical and geographical importance of a city and its newspaper titles became one of the top content considerations for planning future projects. This approach required planners at the DLG to examine the history of the state and how that might affect what researchers are interested in using.
Much of Georgia's early colonial growth occurred in various locations along the state's fall line, the farthest navigable point up rivers. Some of Georgia's oldest and largest cities developed according to this geographical pattern, including Macon, Columbus, and Milledgeville. Because of their long histories as commercial centers within the state and their newspapers' coverage of some of the most significant events in the state's development, titles from those cities were among the first chosen. Moreover, organizers examined the political history of the state and its effect on nineteenth century journalism. The state of Georgia has had several capitals since its establishment and those cities, including Atlanta, Milledgeville, and Savannah, were also given high priority due to their historical importance.5
Milledgeville is an example of a city that was selected for digitization due largely to its historical significance. The state government established the city on the Oconee River along the fall line and it served as the capital of Georgia from 1804 until 1868. Milledgeville was a population center for much of the nineteenth century and hosted the state's government during a significant time in the state's history, which included the rise of plantations and slavery in the antebellum period, the Civil War, and a portion of Reconstruction. In addition, the city hosted Georgia's secession convention, served as a temporary headquarters for General William T. Sherman during his March to the Sea, and housed the largest mental hospital in the state. While its modern day population is modest, its importance as the state capital before and during the Civil War outweighed concerns about local usage. This assumption by project planners proved to be correct, as use of the site surpassed that of all previously released sites.6
Figure 1: Milledgeville Historic Newspapers Archive
Since 2007, the DLG's newspaper digitization project has been funded by Georgia HomePLACE with LSTA funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Georgia Public Library Service. To supplement the project's financial support, organizers decided to give consideration to projects that include a measure of local or additional resource support in accordance with the DLG's collection development policy. The decision was not meant to usurp practical and historical considerations; rather, it was intended to help materially support projects that were already considered significant and provide opportunities for digitization that would not normally be available. This approach is another example of a difference between the selection criteria of the DLG and the National Digital Newspaper Program. The NDNP need not include funding in their list of considerations due to the fixed nature of the grants provided to its participants.
Funding considerations have helped guide the DLG's decision making process in interesting and beneficial directions over the project's first five years. A project to digitize newspapers published in Athens received supplemental support from the local community, which allowed the DLG to add an additional twenty thousand newspaper pages and three additional titles to the online archive. Supplemental funding has also had the added benefit of allowing the project to digitize papers that cover underrepresented populations and time periods. The Southern Israelite archive, for example, was privately funded by the Bremen Museum, which also aided the DLG in obtaining permission to digitize the mid-twentieth century publication produced for the Jewish community in Atlanta. The permissions, along with the private funding granted on that project, presented the DLG with an opportunity to digitize a valuable newspaper covering an underrepresented minority within the state which had not previously been within the purview of DLG's digitization efforts.
In addition to community interest and historical considerations, more concrete concerns were also taken into account. Since a majority of the projects' newspaper image scans would be derived from the Georgia Newspaper Project's microfilm collection, the availability and quality of their holdings had to be considered when deciding which projects to undertake. This limiting factor was discussed in conjunction with previously mentioned factors to ensure that not only were the digitized papers important and in demand, but also that there were enough issues in the collection to warrant undertaking such a project.
While the microfilm collections of the Georgia Newspaper Project are extensive, they sometimes contain omissions and gaps in title availability because either the paper copies of specific titles were inaccessible or were preemptively filmed by a commercial organization. Without a significant number of microfilmed issues of a historical newspaper title available for digitization, the viability of creating an online archive for that title is reduced, regardless of its historical significance. The city of Louisville, for example, served as Georgia's capital in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and was one of cities in the path of General William T. Sherman's March to the Sea during the Civil War.7 Despite the city's historical significance, the Georgia Newspaper Project holds less than three full reels of microfilm for the city, which hardly warrants its own archive. For this reason, early consideration was given to other cities, including Macon, Columbus, and Milledgeville, because of the completeness of their microfilm availability.
Compensations were made for this limiting factor in later newspaper archive instances. Project organizers made plans to create both city and regional newspaper archives after priority was given to titles with greater microfilm availability. The archive sites containing an entire city's worth of newspaper titles allowed for the cobbling of several small but significant title runs from a large city to create a significant sized database, as was the case with the Atlanta Historic Newspapers Archive. The DLG was also able to digitize the publications of smaller cities by creating regional newspaper archives. This configuration allowed for the digitization of newspapers from Albany, Valdosta, Bainbridge, and several other cities which were combined into a South Georgia newspaper archive.
The DLG scans newspapers from negative silver halide master copies of microfilm and the condition of that microfilm also carries weight in the decision making process, including the optical character recognition (OCR) accuracy that can be achieved from scanned images of the microfilm. This factor holds great significance because of user demand for keyword searchability in online archives. If OCR page readings are highly inaccurate, those pages might as well be invisible to the casual user. Taking this issue into consideration, the DLG decided that a publication's OCR accuracy must be tested before it is definitively selected for digitization. The project managers determined that readings should exceed ninety percent accuracy to be deemed appropriate for selection. If the OCR tests of a title produce results consistently below that threshold, that title is rejected in favor of a title with greater accuracy for full text searching.
The National Digital Newspaper Program has published significantly detailed guidelines in reference to microfilm and the technical specifications required to select a newspaper title for digitization. They suggest that reduction rates, density variations, and resolution should all be examined in conjunction with the testing of OCR before selecting a title for digitization. Unfortunately, this can result in the delay and possible rejection of the digitization of valuable materials. The DLG, during the planning stages of their South Georgia newspapers archive, considered digitizing several titles from the city of Brunswick, ultimately selecting one title in favor of another due to superior OCR results produced during testing.
Copyright law also must be taken into consideration when deciding which newspaper titles to digitize. According to United States copyright law, all works published and copyrighted before 1923 are now in the public domain.8 While copyright restrictions for many post-1923 newspaper publications have also passed into the public domain due to the publisher's failure to renew the copyright, confirmation of this fact would require the staff to conduct extensive research and the online publication of these materials could lead to take down notices. For this reason, project planners decided to initially concentrate almost exclusively on titles published before 1923 and priority has been given to titles with a larger nineteenth century presence. As the available nineteenth century titles are digitized and put online, the DLG can focus on researching the rights of more twentieth century titles.
This decision was complemented by the organization's desire to digitize newspapers of historical importance to the state and avoid the densely published titles of the early twentieth century; however, it limits the project's ability to cover significant events that occurred both nationally and within the state in the decades that followed, including the effects of the Great Depression, the early years of the Masters golf tournament, President Franklin Roosevelt's numerous visits to Georgia, World War II, and the three governors controversy. Copyright law has also restricted the DLG's ability to digitize newspaper titles published by racial minorities in the state, because with a few notable exceptions (the Cherokee Phoenix and the Colored Tribune), most of those materials were produced and published in the mid-twentieth century.
Chronological Density and Completeness
Whenever possible, the DLG placed emphasis on selecting titles with large date spans in relation to page count. Mid-nineteenth century Georgia newspaper titles were often circulated weekly in a four page format. The Macon Telegraph, for example, published a weekly edition from 1826 to 1895 with four pages before the Civil War and eight pages after, which amounts to between two and three years of issues on a reel of microfilm. This kind of chronological density gives a digitization project more to offer users in an efficient way.
Daily newspapers published in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are often less feasible options for immediate digitization, particularly if the desire exists to digitize a complete run of a newspaper title. When the DLG examined Savannah newspapers for possible digitization, chronological density was an immediate concern. The Savannah Morning News, currently the city's largest newspaper, accounts for nearly two hundred reels of microfilm covering daily issues between 1868 and 1922 in the Georgia Newspaper Project holdings. Organizers took the large reel count into consideration and eventually selected titles from earlier in the nineteenth century, including the Savannah Republican whose weekly publication between 1808 and 1865 amounted to less than fifty reels of microfilm.
As mentioned earlier, DLG also considered the completeness of a newspaper run when selecting titles for digitization. Newspapers can have gaps in their microfilm accessibility either due of a lack of availability of issues for microfilming or because portions of the title run were digitized by a commercial entity, making those issues unavailable due to copyright considerations. Luckily, the Georgia Newspaper Project's holdings are by and large comprehensive for cities and titles of historical and geographical significance. An exception is the Macon Telegraph online archive which has title gaps in the mid-1860s and early 1900s. Despite these interruptions in availability, the title was selected for publication due to its historical importance and user demand.
Repetition of Work
For obvious reasons, a major priority of the project was not to repeat the work of others. This consideration required the DLG to research the online newspaper landscape before coming to a final decision on which newspapers to digitize. Prior to the creation of the DLG's first newspaper archive, commercial entities had already digitized both the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Augusta Chronicle. For that reason, those two titles were avoided completely and the digitization of other titles from those two cities was delayed until titles representing some of the areas of the state with no digitized newspapers were added.
Initially, the DLG digitized newspapers one city at a time, and as a result, geographical distribution was not an immediate consideration. As the project addressed newspaper titles from some of the most populated and historically significant cities it became apparent that the southern portion of the state was being underserved. In the nineteenth century, South Georgia (aside from Savannah) was a rural and sparsely populated area of the state that was devoted almost solely to agricultural enterprises and this situation largely persists today. For this reason, newspaper journalism got a late start in the region and began to blossom in some of the larger cities by the mid to late 1850s.9 This left the DLG with few options for newspaper titles from the area with long chronological runs that could support an archive by themselves.
In response, organizers planned a regional newspaper archive to include newspapers from several South Georgia cities. This archive would have the benefit of including a comparable number of newspaper pages to other archives from larger cities farther north. It would also draw similar user interest by attracting researchers from cities over a large portion of the state. The venture has proved successful and has led to work on a North Georgia newspaper archive that will include titles from smaller cities and towns in the mountainous areas of the state. This regional approach has allowed the DLG to address newspaper selection with geographical distribution in mind.
Not surprisingly, the Atlanta archive is the most frequently used newspaper site in the Digital Library of Georgia, as Atlanta is both the capital of Georgia and its most populous city. The South Georgia archive is the next most used site due largely to its inclusion of newspaper titles from ten different cities. Those ten cities were added to the archive gradually, leading to constantly renewed interest in the site, which has undoubtedly boosted its visitation numbers. The Athens, Macon, and Milledgeville archives share similar numbers as the third most visited sites. Athens and Macon are among the largest cities in Georgia and share significant roles in the history of the state. Milledgeville is significantly smaller than the other two cities, but its unique history as the state's capital during the Civil War increases interest in its newspaper content.
The Columbus newspaper archive does not garner as much attention as the sites mentioned above. This low usage is particularly surprising, because Columbus is the second largest city in Georgia. Although no concrete evidence exists as to the reasons behind the site's low visitation numbers, it could relate to the city's inconspicuous role in the Civil War, which is of particular interest to Georgia researchers. Many of the DLG's other newspapers websites, including the Southern Israelite and Mercer Cluster archives, also have lower visitation numbers due largely to their specialized content.
User interest in the Savannah newspapers archive has yet to be determined. It has only recently been released to the public, so its visitation numbers are not yet comparable to the other sites. Early results, however, suggest that it will be among the most popular newspaper archives in the DLG. Furthermore, Savannah is one of the largest cities in the state and has a long and storied history as Georgia's first capital and primary port. For these reasons, it should be of particular interest to users going forward.
The newspaper digitization efforts of the DLG have been successful due in large part to the careful selection of newspaper titles. This process shares much in common with the procedures followed by organizations participating in the National Digital Newspaper Program, including factors related to content significance, copyright law, title completeness, and technical considerations related to microfilm. The selection approach differs in several key respects, however, including emphasis on user demand and supplemental funding. The selection criteria established by project planners at the DLG has helped the organization achieve the goals set forth by the initiative, but this procedure will continue to change and adapt as demand for newspaper digitization increases in the years to come.
The Digital Library of Georgia's newspaper digitization projects can be found online at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/MediaTypes/Newspapers.html.
1 Molly Kruckenberg. Plan For Selecting Newspapers To Be Digitized. 2009.
2 Ross Harvey. "Selection of Newspapers for Digitization and Preservation: A User Perspective," International Newspaper Librarianship for the 21st Century. Hartmut Walravens, ed. (Müchen: K. G. Saur, 2006).
3 Bart Ooghe and Dries Moreels. "Analysing Selection for Digitisation, Current Practices and Common Incentives." D-Lib Magazine. September/October, 2009. http://doi.org/10.1045/september2009-ooghe
4 Historical Newspapers Survey Report. GALILEO and Georgia HomePLACE. January 2009.
5 Ed Johnson, correspondence with the author, 27 August 2010.
6 Robert J. Wilson. "Milledgeville." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 6 December 2002; James C. Bonner. Milledgeville: Georgia Antebellum Capital (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1978).
7 Carol Ebel. "Louisville." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 2005.
8 Peter B. Hirtle. Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States. 1 January 2014.
9 Louis Turner Griffith and John Erwin Talmadge. Georgia Journalism, 1763-1950 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1951).
About the Author
Donnie Summerlin is the Digital Projects Archivist at the Digital Library of Georgia, where he oversees the ongoing effort to digitize the state's historic newspapers. He has a B. A. in history from the University of Georgia, a M. A. in history from Georgia College & State University, a MLIS from Valdosta State University, and has been a certified archivist since 2010.


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Mani house - Ktima Kriviana
HELLENIC TOURIST ADMINISTRATION LICENCE MHTE
-Mani House is located near Gythio town on the Mani Peninsula, at Laconia, an area of the Peloponnese rich in history.
Its residents, the Maniots, were forceful men and Mani has maintained its independence throughout the years.
Overlooking the “SKOUTARI” Gulf, 500 meters away from the sea, offers a stunning view of the sea along with the opposite slopes of the mountain "Taygetos".
The house of 441.32 sqm is built on a stone-fenced plot of 5015.41 sqm, with a living space of 275.75 sqm and 165..57 sqm for auxiliary space including a garage of 80 sqm and 2.7 height.
The traditional buildings of Mani were built of stone following a fortress-like design; many vendettas amongst the Mani families meant that people built homes to protect themselves. Elements of this traditional style are reflected in the design of Mani House.
The stone walls are combined with a modern interior focused on comfort. The traditional albeit unique property features all modern conveniences including, among others, a sound system for different areas of the house; satellite TV, BBQ, and wood oven as well as an infinity pool with breathtaking views.
The main entrance to the property is from the pool terrace. The infinity pool is large with dimensions: Length 12.80m x 5.45m width, 1.35m high in the shallow and 3.00m in the deep water. The wooden door leads to a bright and spacious central living area. Each part of this central living space fits beautifully into a perfectly designed interior.
The colours are simple, creams and stone, with a flagged floor that runs throughout. The shutters are painted in pale pistachio and bright magenta has been introduced throughout the soft furniture and dining chairs which give a contrast of brilliance to the colour scheme. Large French style doors lead from every area to the pool terrace which offers a perfect place to relax for every part of the day.
Enjoy your stay at Mani House using the sun loungers that surround the pool, the shaded areas to dine or sit under the shade of the huge oak tree whilst playing a game of chess or backgammon.
The kitchen is located at the rear of the large central living space and is fully equipped with all modern conveniences. It offers direct access to a patio at the back of the house which takes on a traditional, cafe-style appearance featuring pretty, metal chairs and tables and a BBQ and bread oven to conjure up the flavours of Greece.
On the same level but in a separate wing are three bedrooms. One has a double bed with an en-suite bathroom including a bathtub and a large dressing area. Next, there are two twin bedrooms, each one featuring an en-suite bathroom with shower. All bedrooms have direct access to the pool terrace.
The next floor features a bedroom with en-suite bathroom and shower and a comfortable double bed, along with an office desk. This room benefits from a balcony overseeing the pool terrace and sea view.
Finally, on the basement level, the guests can benefit from indoor parking for 2-3 cars.
On the same level, and for our guests’ comfort, the Mani house caretaker is based. He looks after the property and stays in a self-contained, totally independent apartment, on the basement level. He is very discreet and tends to the engine room located at the same level, as well as the pool, usually twice a week, very early in the morning or very late at night, leaving guests to enjoy their privacy unless he is needed.
The Mani House is located on a large piece of land which has been planted with colourful indigenous plants, shrubs, and trees. The stone paths, steps, and walkways meander through the property can lead to our old oak tree for the most wonderful shade in the heat of the day.
The property is very well located in terms of accessing the beach and taverns, shops and cafes which are all a short drive away.
The Mani House is really exceptional and is situated in a part of Greece that is truly beautiful, unspoiled and wild.
We look forward to welcoming you soon.
|Nearest Airport||Kalamata||90.3 km|
|Nearest Bar||21 km|
|Nearest Beach||Skoutari||4 km|
|Nearest Bus||Gytheio||21.5 km|
|Nearest Ferry||Gytheion||21.5 km|
|Nearest Restaurant||Ageranos||3 km|
|Nearest Train||Kalamata||90.3 km|
Upon Arrival in Kalyvia Village:
You will be met upon arrival by George, at the village of Kalyvia. Please call number, +30 6972090333 and we will come and meet you.
Directions from Athens Airport by Car: (292Κm)
1- From Athens Airport take signs of the motorway towards Corinth (Κόρινθος)
2- Once on the E94 keep going, past Corinth to E65 in the direction of Tripoli (Τίπολη)
3- Eventually you will see the city of Tripoli on your right-hand side. You now need to start looking out for your turn-off, for the road towards Sparta.
4- You will now turn right to join the national road to Sparta, (Σπάρτη) (make sure you are not going towards Kalamata!!).
5- After 45Km you will come down the mountain meeting Sparta
6- Keep going straight forward, till you meet the sign of Gythio (ύθειο).
7- Turn left to the direction of Gythio town.
8- Driving for 30Km now you have to watch so you won’t miss your turn off on the road towards “Areopoli” (Αρεόπολη).
Turn right as soon as you meet the Areopolis exit, and keep
driving till you meet the Kotronas/Skoutari/Kalyvia sign
Κότρωνας Σκουτάρι Καλύβια). At this spot a Greek
Orthodox Church will be on your right-hand side. Turn left at
“Kotronas/Skoutari/Kalyvia” sign, till you find the next sign with
direction to “Skoutari/Kalyvia/Paganea” (Σκουτάρι
Κακύβια Παγανέα). Turn left at the sign indicating the direction to “Skoutari/Kalyvia/Paganea”. Keep driving just following the road, without turning left or right, (be sure that you do not turn
right to Skoutari village). This road once followed, will lead you
straight to Kalyvia (Καλύβια) village. Once you enter the
village, keep driving through. You will drive past a small stone
built square with three trees, and a phone booth, where the main
road is following a 180/o turns to the left, sea view will be in front of you. Please park your car and Call on 0030 6972 090333.
the villa is 3 minutes by foot from this point.
Directions from Kalamata’s Airport by car: (90,3Km)
1- Leaving the airport gate, turn left. At the end of the road turn right joining E65 of “Kalamata Tripoli”. (Καλαμάτα Τρίπολη) Keep driving on the same road which changes name to “Iroon Politechniou” (ρώων Πλυτεχνείου)
2- At the end of the road turn right at “Artemidos” (Αρτέμιδος)
3- At the next turn, left at “Likourgou” (Λυκούργου) street.
4- Keep driving. Once crossing “Psaron” (Ψαρών) street the road
name changes to “Kritis” (Κρήτης). After counting 7 streets on your right-hand side, on the 8th “Akrita street ”, (Ακρίτα) you
5- This street leads to the sea water-front.
6- Turn left and follow the coastal road “Navarinou”
(Ναβαρίνου) straightforward till you meet the national road of “Areopoli" – (Αρεόπολη) "Kalamata”, (Καλαμάτα) then turn
7- Keep driving till you meet the sign to “Gythio”, (Γύθειο) few meters out of “Areopoli” town.
8- Turn left following the Areopoli-Gythio (Αρεόπολη-
Γύθειο) road for 20Km.
9- When you meet the sign to “Kotronas/Skoutari/Kalyvi
Local amenities // Surrounding area // Beaches // Taverns // Bars // Places of interest // Days out:
Groceries – fruits - vegetables - bakery shop. At Vathy village (Βαθύ), - (5.9 to 6.4 Km-12 min drive), are located two mini markets where you can cover your first needs. Besides, at the second one, you can find as well, fruits and vegetables.
Just opposite to it, fresh fruits and vegetables are offered as well, in an open-air shop. These fruits and vegetables are grown by local farmers. On the way between the two, you can find a bakery shop.
For more reasonable prices, it is suggested that you make your regular shopping from the supermarkets in Gythio or Areopolis.
Drive out the village, turn right, to the road down to the sea, follow the way until you meet, on your right-hand side, an old stone built, bridge. Turn right, (do not try to use the bridge). Keep driving in the direction of Ageranos, (do not turn right to Kamares village). Past Ageranos, continue on the main road till you reach, on your right-hand side, a mini market where you can park your car, and make your shopping, or continue driving for another half kilometre to meet the bakery shop and the next mini market.
A note has to be made that the water in the house is not potable, so do not forget to include table water among your shopping.
Butchers are situated in Gythio (22Km) in “Ermou” (ΕΡΜΟΥ) street, and in Areopoli (22Km) which is famous for its excellent - local organic meat, on the main town square, and not far from there, on the national road (highway) οf Areopoli/Mani to the direction of Mani.
Fishmonger – the local fishmonger visits the village at least twice per week, usually around 10 am Fresh fish can be bought in Gythio (22Km) on the main street of Vassileos Georgiou.
Nearest petrol station: 6Km away from the villa, on the way to Gythion town.
Post Office: – at Gythion city just opposite the city school, on “Ermou” street.
All other amenities can be found in Gythio town. (22Km drive).
Drive to the direction of Skoutari (Σκουτάρι) village meet the main road, turn right and continue driving until the end of the road. In front of you is a Greek Orthodox church. Turn right with direction to Gythio (Γύθειο) Keep driving straight forward till you meet the main national road which connects Gythio town with Sparta city. Turn right in the direction of Gythio.
* National Bank of Greece
* Alpha Bank
* Piraeus Bank
Taverns and bars near and around the village:
Vassili’s (Thalami-Θαλάμι): Fish tavern At Ageranos (Αγερανός-4,8Km 9 min drive) village
( Mainly open all day).
Grilled fresh fish, fried small fishes, squid, octopus e.t.c. Grilled meat, and traditional Greek oven, Italian pasta etc.
Located at Ageranos village is a pleasant place to sit and have your lunch in front of the sea view.
Driving out of Kalyvia, turn right with direction to Vathi/Kamares/Ageranos” (Βαθύ Καμάρες Αγερανός). The road will lead you down to the sea level and drive with slow speed, you will meet on your right hand, an old stone built the small bridge (be careful you don’t miss the spot). Turn to the right, (don’t use the bridge), just follow the road (avoid to turn right to Kamares/Καμάρες), Soon the road climbs up to a small hill. At the very top, of the hill, the Taverna is the first building to meet from the village, which climbs on your right-hand slope.
George’s Tavern: Located at "Drossopigi" village, (Δροσοπηγή-9.7Km 11.5 min drive) at the upper spot of a small mountain Open mainly at evening, A good inexpensive grilled food, some local dishes, eggs with “Syglino” (Smoked pork or pork sausage with aromatic herbs such as thyme, or oregano, mint, e.t.c, stored in lard with orange peel), traditional Greek oven dishes, such as, Mousaka, Pastitsio, stuffed vegetables etc.
Driving out of the village follow the direction to Skoutari (Σκουτάρι) village. When you meet the highway to “Areopolis/Gythion”, you turn right. Keep driving at low speed, observing for the sign to Drossopigi (Δροσοπηγή) village, on the left-hand side of the road. Turn left and
soon after that, as soon as you meet the sign (Δροσοπηγή) turn to the right following the sign, leading up to the mountaintop at the main square of the village where you park your car.
Skoutari (Σκουτάρι-4 Km 7 min drive) fish tavern (Kalamakia/Καλαμάκια): Located on the sandy beach of Skoutari village serves inexpensive fish they catch with their own boat and Greek dishes. It is a nice place for having lunch after a bath in the crystal clear sea waters, of the Skoutari gulf. It is as well recommended for an evening drink or meal. Follow the road to Skoutari village out of Kalivia. Turn left at the first road you meet on your left-hand side. Follow the sign to “Kalamakia” parking. Park your car and walk on foot to the direction of the beach.
Kotronas (Κότρονας-15.5 Km 19 min drive) is a picturesque fishing port and small seaside resort on the edge of a bay. It is a lovely place by the sea, for a coffee or a drink. You even can have your dinner or lunch, at the fish tavern located on the main square of the village.
Drive straight ahead, out of Kalivia village. Follow the road without turning left or right, till you meet the highway. Turn left, and keep following the road which leads you to “Kotronas” village.
Do not miss “Helias” tavern in Karvellas (Καρβελάς-14.3 Km 19 min drive) village. Every Saturday serves baby spit- roast pork. Try as well “Makarounes” and “Siglino” with eggs, which are both traditional dishes of “Mani”.
Drive straight ahead, out of Kalyvia village. Follow the road without turning left or right, till you meet the national road (highway). Turn right in a direction to Gytheion. At the end of this road, just in front of you the Saint Constantine’s Orthodox church. Turn to the right. just follow the road at low speed looking for the sign to “Karvellas Panitsa” on your left-hand side at a turn of the road, Follow the road up to the village. You will meet the tavern a few meters before you turn right to meet the main village square, where you can park your car. Walk on foot down, to the direction of the tavern
Fish Taverna “Takis” Limeni village
Driving down the slope of the mountain, “Limeni” (ΛΙΜΕΝΙ-19.8Km 25 min drive) suddenly appears inside a small cove with old stone houses hung on the Rocky hillside with cypress. The side of the sea with its deep blue colour is a unique landscape that you rarely meet elsewhere. The turquoise waters of the seashore are not salty because they are coming through subterranean flows from the rocks. It does worth to watch the sunset from “Takis” tavern. The superb fresh fish at this small restaurant in Limeni, the port of Areopoli, draws locals from as far away as “Kalamata”, so be sure to make a reservation if you want a seaside table. This is not the place to eat if you are squeamish about seeing fish prepared a few feet away from where you are eating. On the other hand, the seafood here is so good that you may find yourself coming back for a meal after meal while you are in Mani. The seafood's price is not cheap; be sure to ask for prices unless the price is not an issue.
The lobster “Diavolo” (lobster with spaghetti in a tangy sauce with green peppers) is among the memorable "fancy" dishes, but a plain grilled fish is equally delicious.
Drive straight ahead out of Kalyvia village. Follow the road without turning left or right, till you meet with the highway. Turn left with a direction to Gytheion. At the end of this road, just in front of you the Saint Constantine’s Orthodox Church. Turn to the left to the direction of “Areopoli” (Αρεόπολη) Before entering the town turn right at the sign to “Limeni” on your right-hand side. Keep driving down till the sea level, before the last left turn of the road, leave the main road turning to the left
Gytheio: (Γύθειο-21.5km 24 min drive) Taverna “Saga”: This is a good traditional Taverna by the sea in Gytheio. There you can find fresh fish, octopus, calamari, (squids), and other fish dishes.
Drive straight ahead, out of Kalyvia village. Follow the road without turning left or right, till you meet with the highway. At the end of this road, just in front of you the Saint Constantine’s Orthodox Church. Turn to the right. Keep driving till this road becomes quite larger, with 2 lanes in each direction. Then drive slowly looking for a sign on your right hand, with direction to Gytheio. Gytheio is signed with two different directions. The one indicates straightforward drive while the other direction indicates turn to the right. Follow the first choice, driving straight forward. Entering the town of Gytheio, you continue driving down the road to the sea. Around the corner on the south side is the coastal road lined with fish taverns which end by the small island called Kranai”. Just opposite the small island “Kranai” park your car, and enjoy your food at the Taverna.
In Gytheio, you can find a variety of restaurants and taverns along the walk of the coastal road.
“Areopolis” and mainly ¨Gytheion” are the nearest towns where you can find a variety of bars and coffee shops.
”Paralia Skoutariou” (Παραλία Σκουτάρι 4 Km 7 min drive),
is the nearest and most lovely sandy beach, just 4 minutes by car. It is there where “Kalamakia” fish tavern is located by the beach.”
Follow the road to Skoutari village out of Kalyvia. Turn left at the first road you meet on your left-hand side. Follow the sign to “Kalamakia” parking. Park your car and walk on foot to the direction of the beach.
”Paralia “Kamares”, (Παραλία Καμάρες-3.4 Km 8 min drive) is as well, close to the house, not more than 5 minutes by car, a sandy beach extended to 1.5Km long. Visiting that beach, it is recommended that you chose its upper end in “Kamares” village. Driving out of Kalyvia, turn right, down the road to the sea. Continue driving till you meet on your right-hand side, the old Stone Bridge. Turn right to the direction of the bridge. (Do not use the bridge). At the sign to “Kamares”, turn again right and follow this road until its end. Park your car and after swimming, you can choose between two local taverns for lunch.
Paralia “Vathy”, (Παραλία Βαθύ) 5.9Km 11 min. drive. It is a sandy beach nearby hotel “Belle Helene”. Turn right driving out of the village to the direction of “Vathy /Ageranos/Kamares”. Follow the road down to the sea, continue till you meet on your right-hand side the old stone bridge, (do not use the bridge). Turn right and follow the road to “Ageranos” village (without turning right to Kamares village). Once past “Ageranos” village, keep driving down the road. At your right is now “Belle Helene” hotel. Park your car, and pass through the hotel’s entrance to the beach.
”Paganea” (Παγανέα-1.7 Km) seashore, is 2 min. drive from the cottage. This is a small port for fish boats. Leaving the entrance of the villa turn left, following down the road.
At the first turn to the right. Keep driving down till you meet the sea. Beyond “Paganea” seashore, within a distance of 3 minutes’ drive, there are two more picturesque little gulfs, 5 minutes away from each other, very quiet and calm, out of the crowds, for only a few admirers, ideal for those who seek tranquillity and isolation.
Leaving the entrance of the villa turn left, following down the road. At the first roads cross keep driving straight ahead. Drive slowly since the road becomes narrow and difficult. Meeting the first choice to turn right drive till you meet the beach
”Petalea” (Πετελέα 15.2 Km 18 min drive) beach: is located at “Mavrovouni (Μαυροβούνι) bay”, is a sandy beach organized with umbrellas, chaise long, coffee and bar service at the beach and a restaurant for those who want to have lunch after swimming.
Drive straight ahead out of Kalyvia village. Follow the road without turning left or right, till you meet with the highway. Turn right with a
direction to Gytheion. At the end of this road, just in front of you the Saint Constantine’s Orthodox Church. Turn to the right. Keep driving till this road becomes quite larger, with 2 lanes in each direction. Then drive slowly looking for a sign with direction to Gytheio. Gytheio is signed with two different directions. The one indicates straightforward drive while the other direction indicates turn to the right. Follow the second choice, by turning right. Keep driving carefully since the road is an old one, and is full of turns right and left. When meeting the beginning of a straight road, turn right at the wooden sign indicating "Petalea”. (Be careful so you will not miss the turn off the road). Keep driving to the sandy beach, where you park your car.
Useful Telephone numbers:
-Emergency Call 112
-Doctors SOS 1016
-Road assistance 10400 (ELPA)
-Taxi Grafakos 0030 6944534282
-Health Centre (ΚΕΝΤΡΟ ΥΓΕΙΑΣ) is located in Gytheio town.
Tel: 0030 27330 22001 / 3.
Leaving Kalyvia village drive straight forward following the road (without turning right or left), till you meet the highway. Turn right with direction to Gytheio. At the end of this road, just in front of you the Saint Constantine Orthodox Church, turn right. Keep following the signs to Gytheio town.
-Sparta Hospital (Νοσοκομείο Σπάρτης) Tel 0030 27310 28671 / 5
Southern Mani peninsula
First, stop Areopoli / «Αρεόπολη» (20,1Km south of Kalyvia village 24 min. drive) has an austere look and plenty of towers and churches. Its name (town of Ares, ancient God of war) was bestowed for its efforts in the war of independence. You can enjoy your coffee at the main square which is the centre of life in the town and a great place to watch people.
The town sights are plenty. Its narrow alleys and cobbled streets are
a photographer’s dream and, being a historic town, there are a number of places worth visiting. (Kapetanakis tower, Mavromihalis Tower museum, (four-storey tower), Church of Taxiarhon (17th century). Drive straight ahead out of Kalyvia village. Follow the road without turning left or right, till you meet with the highway. Turn left with a direction to Gytheion. At the end of this road, just in front of you the Saint Constantine’s Orthodox Church.Turn to the left to the direction of “Areopoli” Αρεόπολη).
Drive straight ahead out of Kalyvia village. Follow the road without turning left or right, till you meet with the highway. Turn right in a direction to Gytheion. At the end of this road, just in front of you the Saint Constantine’s Orthodox Church. Turn to the left to the direction of “Areopoli” (Αρεόπολη) Following the map out of Areopolis, on the road to Diros caves (Σπήλαια Δυρού) (31 Km 39 min. drive). (Tel: 0030 733052222). They are among the most important natural sites in Greece and of great archaeological significance. The tour inside the cave is done with small gondolas.
Leaving the “Diros Caves”, drive to “Gerolimenas” / «Γερολιμένας» (44.1Km 49 min.drive) picturesque small coastal village at the southern end of the Mani Peninsula, Τhe name, which means "Old Harbor", is thought to derive from the ancient "Ιερός Λιμήν" (Ieros Limen), meaning "Sacred Harbor" One of the remotest settlements in the Peloponnese, with pebbly beach, and fresh fish taverns. Do not miss to visit for a coffee, the hotel “Kirimai” which is the result of restored old store buildings, used at old times to cover the transportation needs of the port.
Vatheia (Greek: Βαθειά, Greek pronunciation: [Βάθεια], also Vathia52.6 Km 1 hour drive) is a little town in Laconia, Greece, on the Mani Peninsula. It is part of the municipal unit Oitylo. Rarely is such a beauty encountered: a traditional residential district of Manι, full of towers. Vathia has located 65 Km from Kalyvia village and it is one of the most dramatic villages in Mani. It is famous for its grand towers (Pyrgoi). Vatheia is situated in a hilly setting and is linked with the road running north to Areopoli and Kalamata and south to Cape Tenaro/Matapan. To the north, hills and mountains overlook the town. Farmland and sparse forest cover the valley areas. On the hilltops are abandoned homes, which are coloured with earth and topaz along with its rooftops which are like fortresses and were built out of the stone south of the place (Plateia). Modern buildings exist in the centre. Now Vatheia is a tourist attraction in spring because of its wildflowers that cover the nearby hills and its breathtaking views. Not far away from Vathia, the villages Lagia (17 Km) and Alika (4 Km) are worth a visit.
The seaside villages of Archangelos (81.8 Km 1 hour and thirty-eight min drive) and Plitra are peaceful fishing villages with many beauties, sheltered port and sandy beaches with crystal clear waters. Both are an ideal place for relaxing holidays all year round, sea sports and fishing.
In Plitra (74 Km 1 hour and 27 min. drive) was an ancient city that was destroyed by an earthquake in 375 AD.
Monemvasia (Greek: Μονεμβασία 87.1 Km 1 hour and 42 min. drive), is a town and a municipality in Laconia, Greece. The town is located on a small peninsula off the east coast of the Peloponnese. The peninsula is linked to the mainland by a short causeway 200m in length. Its area consists mostly of a large plateau some 100 meters above sea level, up to 300m wide and 1 km long, the site of a powerful medieval fortress. The town walls and many Byzantine churches remain from the medieval period. The seat of the municipality is the town Molaoi.
The town's name derives from two Greek words, "mone" and" emvasia", meaning "single entrance". It's Italian form, Malvasia, gave its name to Malmsey wine. Monemvasia's nickname is the Gibraltar of the East or The Rock.
The town is built on the slope to the south-east of the rock, overlooking Palaia Monemvasia bay. Many of the streets are narrow and fit only for pedestrians. A small hamlet of about 10 houses lies to the northwest.
The town and fortress were founded in 583 by people seeking refuge from the Slavic and the Avaric invasion of Greece. A history of the invasion and occupation of the Peloponnese was recorded in the medieval Chronicle of Monemvasia.
From the 10th century AD, the town developed into an important trade and maritime centre. The fortress withstood the Arab and Norman invasions in 1147; cornfields that fed up to 30 men were killed inside the fortress. William II of Villehardouin took it in 1248, on honourable terms, after three years of siege; in 1259 William was captured by the Greeks after the battle of Pelagonia and in 1262 it was retroceded to Michael VIII Palaiologos as part of William's ransom.
It remained part of the Byzantine Empire until 1460, becoming the seat of an imperial governor, a landing place for Byzantine operations against the Franks, the main port of shipment (if not always production) for Malmsey wine, and one of the most dangerous lairs of corsairs in the Levant. The Emperors gave it valuable privileges, attracting Roger de Lluria who sacked the lower town in 1292. The town welcomed the Catalan Company on its way eastward in 1302. In 1397 the Despot of the Morea, Theodore I Palaiologos, deposed the local dynasty of Monemvasia, who appealed to Sultan Bayezid I and was reinstated by Turkish troops. In 1419, the rock appears to have come into the possession of Venice, though it soon returned to the Despot. About 1401, the historian George Sphrantzes was born in the town. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Monemvasia held out against the threats of Sultan Mehmed II in 1458 and 1460 when it became the only remaining domain of the Despot of the Morea, Thomas Palaiologos, claimant of the Imperial throne. He had no forces to defend it; he offered it to the Sultan and finally sold it to the Pope.
By 1464 the inhabitants found the Pope's representative feeble and the Pope unable to protect them; they admitted a Venetian garrison. The town was fairly prosperous under Venetian rule until the peace of 1502-3, in which it lost its farmlands, the source of its food supply and of Malmsey wine. The food had to come by sea or from Turkish-held lands, and the cultivation of wine languished under Turkish rule. The rock was governed by the Venetians until the treaty of 1540, which cost the Republic Nauplia and Monemvasia, her last two possessions on mainland Greece. Those inhabitants who did not wish to live under Turkish rule were given lands elsewhere. The Ottomans then ruled the town until the brief Venetian recovery in 1690, then again from 1715 to 1821. It was known as "Menekşe" ("Violet" in Turkish) during Ottoman rule and was a sanjak (province) centre in the Morea Eyalet.
The commercial importance of the town continued until the Orlov Revolt (1770) in the Russo-Turkish War, which saw its importance declined severely.
The town was liberated from Ottoman rule on July 23, 1821, by Tzannetakis Grigorakis who entered the town with his private army during the Greek War of Independence.
In 1971, Monemvasia became linked with the rest of the outside world through a bridge on the western side that connects to GR-86.
In more recent history, the town has seen a resurgence in importance with increasing numbers of tourists visiting the site and the region. The medieval buildings have been restored, and many of them converted to hotels.
Mystras and Sparta on Mountain Taygetos
(Μυστράς 59.8 Km 1 hour and 27 min.drive) the Byzantine city-state (59Km). Go on to the national road towards Gytheion, then, Sparta and Mystras.
Mystras occupies a steep foothill on the northern slopes of Mt. Taygetos, 5Km NW of Sparti. The castle on the top of the hill was founded in 1249 by the Frankish leader Wiliam Villeharduin. The whole of Mystras is an open-air museum, a reminder of the glorious era of power and culture.
“Taygetos” or “Pentadactylos” is the highest mountain in the Peloponnese, stretching between the river Evrotas - Megalopolis and Messinia. The top of a height of 2407 meters and is called, “Prophet Helias”. It presents a wide variety of flora and fauna due to the large size of only 25 endemic species while a passage for migratory birds. On the slopes of Taygetos are numerous small villages with great local colour and operates at an altitude mountain resort 1,600 meters.
Close to “Mystras” is “Trypi” village (ΤΡΥΠΙ 63.2 Km 1 hour and 10 min.drive).
Trypi is a small village of almost 300 inhabitants. Its main attraction is the steep ravine of "Kaiadas", where the Spartans were said to abandon their weak and deformed infants as well as the criminals, traitors, and war prisoners. “Kaiadas” is a very scenic gorge and may result a bit frightening for those who are aware of this tradition.
You can find the Byzantine churches of “Agioi Theodoroi” and “Koimisi tis Theotokou” in “Trypi” as well as the abandoned monastery of “Agios “Ioannis Prodromos”. Have also in mind that Saint Nikon lived and taught in the area and visit his cave.
Apart from historical attractions, “Trypi” is surrounded by beautiful scenery. It has many streams, among which we find the springs of “Karvasaras” and “Vasiloneri”. If you love nature, there are many hiking trails and a climbing park in the “Laggada gorge”.
”Trypi” also has some useful facilities. There are good restaurants with delicious local appetizers and traditional meals at moderate prices. It is recommended to experience Greek coffee prepared on the stove.
Oitylo - Stoupa
”Oitylo” (Οίτυλο 23.2Km 28 min.drive) is located 31Km from Kalyvia and 11Km from Areopoli and it is the hub transport of the area. It is a traditional village with long history, situated on the place of the ancient city as mentioned by Homer. The church of Saint George and the Monastery of Dekoulon with frescoes since the 18th century are worth a visit.
Drive straight ahead out of Kalyvia village. Follow the road without turning left or right, till you meet with the highway. Turn left with a direction to Gytheion. At the end of this road, just in front of you the Saint Constantine’s Orthodox Church. Turn to the left to the direction of “Areopoli” (Αρεόπολη). Before entering the town turn right at the sign to “Limeni” on your right-hand side. Keep driving down, following the road, and then up to the hill.
South of “Stoupa” (Σούπα 50.5 Km 51 min.drive) on the coast is the picturesque fishing village of “Agios Nikolaos”(47.8 Km 47 min.drive) / «Αγιος Νικόλαος» (4Km from Stoupa) still often called by its older Slavic name, “Selinitsa”. There are three exits off the main road to the coastal road that links Selinitsa to and “Trahila”. Alternatively, there is a gentle coastal path from Stoupa which takes less than an hour on foot (see the maps of both villages, where the walk starts and finishes – you cannot get lost in between). Life is centred on the harbour- a great place to sit, eat and drink while watching the boats coming and going. In the summer, the road is closed to vehicles, as taverns make use of the space to put tables and chairs right on the water’s edge. The beach is roughly a kilometre further south; about a 10-15-minute walk.
To reach the place, just follow the direction to “Areopoli” - “Limeni” - “Itilo” - “Agios Nikolaos”, then Stoupa.
“Elafonissos” is a very small island, just 19 square km on the southern eastern Tip of Peloponnese.
The distance from the mainland is a mere 570 meters of crystal clear water on top of the thin white sand. (22 nautical miles, far away from Gytheio). There is a boat sailing to the island three times a week from the port of Gytheio.
“Kithira” island in a distance of 35 km from
“GYTHION”. The same boat sailing from Gythio to Elafonissos reach the port of Kythira three times a week from the port of “Gytheion”.
Cythera (Greek: Κύθηρα), also transliterated Kythera, Kythira,
Kithira. The Italian Cerigo can be used in speaking of late medieval and early modern Cythera.) is an island in Greece, once part of the Ionian Islands. It lies opposite the South-eastern tip of the
Peloponnese peninsula. In Ancient Greek mythology, Kythira was considered to be the island of celestial Aphrodite, the Goddess of love, (cf. Cyprus, the island of Astarte, the Goddess of Love).
Since the late 20th century, the Kythirean economy has largely focused on tourism, and in the process, has become dependent this provides the majority of the island’s income, despite the fact that Kythira is not one of the most popular tourist destinations in Greece. The popular season usually begins with the Greek holiday of Pentecost at the end of May and lasts until the middle of September. During this time, primarily during August, the island's population will often triple due to the tourists and natives returning for the vacation. The largest villages are Potamos, Agia Pelagia, Chora (The capital of the island), Ano livadi, Kalamos, and Livadi
Επίδαυρος, Epidavros-213 Km 3 hours and 20 min. drive) was a small city (polis) in ancient Greece, at the Saronic Gulf. Two modern towns bear the name Epidavros (Επίδαυρος): Palaia Epidavros and Nea Epidavros. Since 2010, they belong to the new municipality of Epidavros, part of the regional unit of Argolis. The seat of the municipality is the town Asklipieio.
Epidaurus was not independent of Argos and not included in Argolis until the time of the Romans. With its supporting territory, it formed the small territory called Epidauria. Reputed to be the birthplace of Apollo's son Asclepius, the healer, Epidaurus was known for its sanctuary situated about five miles (8 km) from the town, as well as its theatre, which is once again in use today. The cult of Asclepius at Epidaurus is attested in the 6th century BC when the older hill-top sanctuary of Apollo Maleatas was no longer spacious enough.
The "Asclepieion" at Epidaurus was the most celebrated healing centre of the Classical world, the place where ill people went in the hope of being cured. To find out the right cure for their ailments, they spent a night in the enkoimeteria, a big sleeping hall. In their dreams, the god himself would advise them what they had to do to regain their health. Found in the sanctuary, there was a guest house for 160 guestrooms. There are also mineral springs in the vicinity which may have been used in healing.
Asclepius, the most important healer god of antiquity, brought prosperity to the sanctuary, which in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC embarked on an ambitious building program for enlarging and reconstruction of monumental buildings. Fame and prosperity continued throughout the Hellenistic period. In 87 BC the sanctuary was looted by the Roman general Sulla, and in 67 BC, it was plundered by pirates. In the 2nd century AD, the sanctuary enjoyed a new upsurge under the Romans, but in AD 395 the Goths raided the sanctuary.
Even after the introduction of Christianity and the silencing of the oracles, the sanctuary at Epidaurus was still known as late as the mid 5th century, although as a Christian healing centre.
The prosperity brought by the Asklepieion enabled Epidaurus to construct civic monuments too: the huge theatre that delighted Pausanias for its symmetry and beauty, which is used once again for dramatic performances, the ceremonial Hestiatoreion (banqueting hall), baths and a palaestra. The theatre was designed by Polykleitos the Younger in the 4th century BC. The original 34 rows were extended in Roman times by another 21 rows. As is usual for Greek theatres (and as opposed to Roman ones), the view of a lush landscape behind the skênê is an integral part of the theatre itself and is not to be obscured. It seats up to 15,000 people.
The theatre is marvelled for its exceptional acoustics, which permits almost perfect intelligibility of unamplified spoken word from the proscenium or skênê to all 15,000 spectators, regardless of their seating (see Ref., in Greek). Famously, tour guides have their groups scattered in the stands and show them how they can easily hear the sound of a match struck at centre-stage. A 2007 study by Nico F. Declercq and Cindy Dekeyser of the Georgia Institute of Technology indicates that the astonishing acoustic properties are the result of the advanced design: The rows of limestone seats filter out low-frequency sounds, such as the murmur of the crowd, and amplify high-frequency sounds from the stage.
Olympia (Greek: Ολυμπία Olympía 206Km 3 hours and 8 min. drive), a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, the most famous games in history.
The Olympic Games were held every four years throughout Classical Antiquity, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. The first Olympic Games were in honour of Zeus.
Olympia among the main Greek sanctuaries
The sanctuary, known as the Altis, consists of an unordered arrangement of various buildings. Enclosed within the temenos (sacred enclosure) are the Temple of Hera (or Heraion/Heraeum) and Temple of Zeus, the Pelopion and the area of the altar, where the sacrifices were made. The Hippodrome and later stadium were also to the east.
To the north of the sanctuary can be found the Prytaneion and the Philippeion, as well as the array of treasuries, representing the various city-states. The Metroon lies to the south of these treasuries, with the Echo Stoa to the East. To the south of the sanctuary is the South Stoa and the Bouleuterion, whereas the Westside houses the Palaestra, the workshop of Pheidias, the Gymnasion and the Leonidaion.
Olympia is also known for the gigantic ivory and gold statue of Zeus that used to stand there, sculpted by Pheidias, which was named one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World by Antipater of Sidon. Very close to the Temple of Zeus which housed this statue, the studio of Pheidias was excavated in the 1950s. Evidence found there, such as sculptor's tools, corroborates this opinion. The ancient ruins sit north of the Alfeios River and Mount Kronos (named after the Greek deity Kronos). The Kladeos, a tributary of the Alfeios, flows around the area. It is located in the part of Greece which is called Peloponnese. In Ancient Greece, Olympia was sacred ground to the Greeks.
For a history of the Olympic Games, see Olympic Games or Ancient Olympic Games.
Remains of food and burnt offerings dating back to the 10th century BC give evidence of a long history of religious activity at the site. No buildings have survived from this earliest period of use. Also, the charred remains of a Homo Heidelbergensis body were found at Olympia.
Geometric and Archaic periods
Ruins of the Temple of Hera
The first Olympic festival was organized on the site by the authorities of Elis in the 8th century BC – with the tradition dating the first games at 776 BC. Major changes were made to the site around 700 BC, including levelling land and digging new wells. Elis' power diminished and at the beginning of the 7th century BC, the sanctuary fell into the hands of the Pisatans in 676 BC. The Pisatans organized the games until the late 7th century BC.
The earliest evidence of building activity on the site dates from around 600 BC. At this time, the Skiloudians, allies of the Pistans, built the Temple of Hera. The Treasuries and the Pelopion were built during the course of the 6th century BC. The secular structures and athletic arenas were also under construction during this period including the Bouleuterion. The first stadium was constructed around 560 BC, it consisted of just a simple track. The stadium was remodelled around 500 BC with sloping sides for spectators and shifted slightly to the east. Over the course of the 6th century BC, a range of sports was added to the Olympic festival. In 580 BC, Elis, in alliance with Sparta, occupied Pisa and regained the control over the sanctuary.
The classical period, between the 5th and 4th centuries BC, was the golden age of the site at Olympia. A wide range of new religious and secular buildings and structures were constructed.
The Temple of Zeus was built in the middle of the 5th century BC. Its size, scale and ornamentation were beyond anything previously constructed on the site. Further sporting facilities, including the final iteration of the stadium, and the Hippodrome (for chariot-racing) were constructed. The Prytaneion was built at the north-west side of the site in 470 BC.
In the late classical period, further structures were added to the site. The Metroon was constructed near the Treasuries c.400 BC. The erection of the Echo Stoa, around 350, separated off the sanctuary from the area of the games and stadium. The South Stoa was built BC at the southern edge of the sanctuary at approximately the same time.
Ruins of the Philippeion
The late 4th century BC saw the erection of the Philippeion. Around 300 BC the largest building on the site, the Leonidaion, was constructed to house important visitors. Due to the increasing importance of the games, further athletic buildings were constructed including the Palaestra (3rd century BC), Gymnasion (2nd century BC) and bathhouses (c.300 BC). Finally, in 200 BC, a vaulted archway was erected linking the entrance of the stadium to the sanctuary.
During the Roman period, the games were opened up to all citizens of the Roman Empire. A programme of extensive repairs, including to the Temple of Zeus, and new building, took place. In 150 AD, the Nympheum (or Exedra) was built. New baths replaced the older Greek examples in 100 AD and an aqueduct constructed in 160 AD.
The 3rd century saw the site suffer heavy damage from a series of earthquakes. Invading tribes in 267 AD led to the centre of the site being fortified with robbed material from its monuments. Despite the destruction, the Olympic festival continued to be held at the site until the last Olympiad in 393 AD, after which a decree from the Christian emperor, Theodosius I implemented a ban. Apparently, the Temple of Zeus was destroyed around 426 AD following an edict by Theodosius II enforcing the ban on pagan festivals. The workshop of Pheidias was turned into a Basilica and the site was inhabited by a Christian community. Olympia seems to have prospered during the 5th century AD until Justinian's plague and two Earthquakes devastated it by the mid-6th century. Repeated floods ensured that the settlement was finally abandoned altogether in the early 7th Century. Archaeological evidence suggests that small-scale Olympic events (possibly in Christian guise) were still being secretly held until an earthquake in AD 551 finally destroyed the place of worship, burying it under mud and debris.
Discovery and early excavations
Over time, the site was buried under alluvial deposits, up to 8 meters deep, long thought to be the result of river flooding. Modern research hypothesizes instead—based on the presence of mollusc and gastropod shells and foraminifera— that the site was buried by ocean waters resulting from repeated tsunamis.
The exact site was re-discovered in 1766 by the English antiquarian Richard Chandler. The first excavation of the sanctuary at Olympia was not carried out until 1829, by the French "Expedition Scientifique de Moree".
Since the 1870s, the excavation and preservation of Ancient Olympia have been the responsibility of the German Archaeological Institute at Athens. The first major excavation of Olympia began in 1875, funded by the German government after negotiation of exclusive access by Ernst Curtius. Other archaeologists responsible for the dig were Gustav Hirschfeld, George Treu, Adolf Furtwängler (who worked alongside architects), A. Boetticher, Wilhelm Dörpfeld, and Richard Borrmann. They excavated the central part of the sanctuary including the Temple of Zeus, Temple of Hera, Metroon, Bouleuterion, Philipeion, Echo Stoa, Treasuries and Palaestra. Important finds included sculptures from the Temple of Zeus, the Nike of Paeonius, the Hermes of Praxiteles and many bronzes. In total 14,000 objects were recorded. The finds were displayed in a museum on the site.
The excavation was continued in a more limited way by Dörpfeld between 1908 and 1929, but a new systematic excavation was begun in 1936 on the occasion of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin under Emil Kunze and Hans Schleif. Their excavation focus was on the area to the south of the stadium, the South Stoa, bath complex and gymnasion.
1950 to present
Between 1952 and 1966, Kunze and Schleil continued the excavation joined by architect Alfred Mallwitz. They excavated Pheidias' workshop, the Leonidaion and the north wall of the stadium. They also excavated the southeast section of the sanctuary and out of approximately 140 debris pits found many bronze and ceramic objects along with terracotta roof tiles.
Mallwitz took charge of the excavations between 1972 and 1984 revealing important dating evidence for the stadium, graves, and the location of the Prytaneion. From 1984 to 1996, Helmut Kyrieleis took over the site and the focus shifted to the earlier history of the sanctuary with the excavation of the Prytaneion and Pelopion.
The Olympic flame of the modern-day Olympic Games is lit by the reflection of sunlight in a parabolic mirror in front of the Temple of Hera and then transported by a torch to the place where the games are held. When the modern Olympics came to Athens in 2004, the men's and women's shot put competition was held at the restored Olympia stadium.
The town has a train station and is the easternmost terminus of the line of Olympia-Pyrgos (Ilia). The train station with the freight yard to its west is located about 300 m east of the town centre. It is linked by GR-74, and the new road was opened in the 1980s; the next stretch N and NE of Olympia opened in 2005. The distance from Pyrgos is 20 km (12 mi), about 50 km (31 mi) SW of Lampeia, W of Tripoli and Arcadia and 4 km (2 mi) north of Krestena and N of Kyparissia and Messenia. The highway passes north of the ancient ruins. A reservoir is located 2 km (1 mi) southwest, damming up the Alfeios River. The area is hilly and mountainous; most of the area within Olympia is forested.
Panagiotis Kondylis, one of the most prominent modern Greek thinkers and philosophers, was born and raised in Olympia. When Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the International Olympic Committee, died in 1937, a monument to him was erected at ancient Olympia. Emulating Evangelis Zappas, whose head is buried under a statue in front of the Zappeion, his heart was buried at the monument.
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Moët Hennessy, the world leading luxury wines and spirits division of LVMH, is pleased to announce the addition of Joseph Phelps Vineyards to its portfolio. This acquisition follows Moët Hennessy’s development strategy, which aims to satisfy its consumers and distribution partners’ aspirations with an increasingly diversified and comprehensive portfolio, adding Houses with strong values of excellence, craftsmanship and heritage.
Founded by Joseph Phelps in 1973, the Napa and Sonoma-based wine collection is one of the most respected and acclaimed in the United States. It has made its way to the best tables and cellars across the country, and its legendary Insignia, a Bordeaux-style Napa-grown blend, is considered one of the most sought-after and desirable fine wines in the world.
Moët Hennessy plans to build on the admirable legacy established by Joseph Phelps, his children and grandchildren, maintaining the shared values of quality, craftsmanship, entrepreneurship and a focus on sustainability.
After the closing of the acquisition, the entirety of the Joseph Phelps collection of exceptional Napa and Sonoma Valley wines will be welcomed by Moët Hennessy’s customers, alongside its outstanding multi-centennial Champagnes and its growing offer of exceptional still wines from Europe and the New World.
Philippe Schaus, Chairman and CEO of Moët Hennessy declares: «We are delighted and very proud to welcome Joseph Phelps Vineyards to our portfolio of luxury wines and spirits. Through the combination of the wonderful vineyards of Joseph Phelps, the unrivalled experience and excellence of the Joseph Phelps team, and the support of our global distribution organization and unique expertise with premium, family-owned brands, we will continue the wonderful journey initiated by the founder fifty years ago and pursued by his heirs today. Joseph Phelps has been to the Napa Valley what Nicolas Ruinart, Joseph Krug and Claude Moët were to the Champagne region, and likewise we will continue to develop this new House in the respect of the founder’s heritage and vision.”
The Phelps Family commented, “Our father founded Joseph Phelps Vineyards in 1973 with a passion for innovation, an unwavering commitment to quality, and joie de vivre. Nearly 50 years later, we’re proud to have grown from a 600-acre cattle ranch and early pioneer of the Napa Valley to a critically acclaimed and internationally known producer of iconic wines. As we plan for the next 50 years, we believe that passing the care of this crown jewel of the Napa Valley and Sonoma Coast to Moët Hennessy will build on our family’s legacy well into the future. During our discussions with Moët Hennessy, it was abundantly clear that they value and embrace all of our brilliant and dedicated team members and, most importantly, are committed to ensuring that our founding mission and values remain at the heart of Joseph Phelps Vineyards.”


The Toquaht are the people of Toquaht Bay, Mayne Bay and western Barkley Sound, and are one of the Nuu-chah-nulth Nations who have lived along Vancouver Island’s west coast for over 10,000 years. As marine peoples, the Toquaht have always lived in respectful harmony with the sea and coastal environment. Our main summer village was Du Quah, situated at the mouth of Ucluelet Inlet, which was a strategic defence position.
Like other Nuu-chah-nulth communities the Toquaht Nation’s cultural focus was on whaling, but we were also hunters and gatherers. Salmon was foremost in fishing, along with sea mammals and shellfish.
“The whale hunters used to come from this area and they sited here in Macoah. There was a village here….and that was very important because of a big waterfall. This is where Chief Bert Mack and I lived. In the winter times, [you can get] winter springs. They were so plentiful because the small herring would come over here. All around, no matter where you are from, you can live year round on fish… there are fish all around us. If you want clams, it’s over here so there’s no shortage of anything at all. If you wanted some deer you could go up the river and there they were. That is why I always say water is very important whether you are an animal or you’re a human being. So I mentioned we have our cleansing areas. We have our waterfalls which are meaningful and have a great history to them.”
– Archie Thompson (1923-2009)
The Toquaht people relied heavily on red and yellow cedar. It was used to house and clothe the population. Large canoes were carved for whaling and fishing, as well as moving the community from one village site to another at different times of the year. Cedar was also used in basket weaving and box making to store everything from personal possessions to food and hunting gear. Planks were pulled off living cedars for house construction. Cedar bark was used in making clothing and mats for house floors. Berries, shoots and camus bulbs were gathered in the spring and summer.
Having been greatly impacted by disease and warfare throughout the 19th century, the Toquaht Nation is now one of the smallest of the Nuu-chah-nulth Nations. Despite our small size, we have been a leader within the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council and the Central Region First Nations through active political leadership, business initiatives, cultural events, and as a proponent of the Maa-nulth First Nations Final Agreement. Implemented on April 1, 2011, it is the second treaty to be implemented under the BC treaty process.
About 40 people live in the Toquaht Nation’s main community of Macoah, which is accessible off Highway 4 along Kennedy Lake. The rest of the citizens live in Ucluelet, Port Alberni and other cities along the coast. The Nation has about 175 citizens in total.


Friday, September 23, 2011
'BUY NOTHING NEW MONTH' OCTOBER 2011
I spent a wonderful afternoon last Sunday out at what was originally my Great Grandparents farm. My Great Grandparents migrated to Australia from Paisley in Scotland in 1854 and were a pioneering family and the first people to take up the land when the first allotments were sold off to the settlers. Two of my cousins were at the farm, so I was able to scan my Grandmothers hand written cook book as it is still kept in the kitchen drawer with the tea towels. The same place it has been for most of my life. Grandma had a new kitchen built around 1966 when the house was renovated and electricity was first connected. Before that Grandma had a small kitchen off the veranda and the breakfast room as it was called, a large room with a big open fireplace where Grandma cooked in pots that hung from iron chains. The room also had a large table where the family ate and an old fashioned rocking chair that Grandma sat by the fire in. An old clock ticked away on the mantelpiece and the old miner’s couch that sat at one end of the table had one arm worn flat where the kids climbed over it to get to the table to eat. My Grandmother had seven children over a period of 25 years and with no modern conveniences, I doubt that Grandma had a lot of spare time to sit when the family was all at home. Like many people who lived with little money to spend, most thing were reused and the cook book had apparently been used before as it had 'sheep book' hand written on the cover, then the year 1957, two years before I was born. Grandma Herd was born on the 4th April 1890 and died just before what would have been her 87th birthday in 1977 when I was 17 and was the only grandparent that I ever really got to know as the others had all passed away before I began school. Grandma was a tiny woman and none of the grandchildren were very old before we were as tall as her. Like most other women of her era, Grandma had little education and I am not certain if she received her ' Merit Certificate' But she was incredibly well informed about world and local happenings, had an amazing memory that she was well known for, and crossword puzzles, the larger and more difficult were her favorites. A dictionary sat beside her chair and was so well worn that it was held together with a fowler’s vacola rubber band. You were frowned upon if you gave her recycled magazines that someone else had begun the crossword in! It is difficult to imagine what her life was like as she had never ventured more than a 50 km radius from where she was born. My father commented often that his mother was a fabulous cook as she could make a family meal out of nothing. Because that is what they had some times, meaning very little. Grandma would go up into the sheep yards and pick stinging nettles to cook if they were the only available green vegetable. My father's youngest brother never married and returned home to the farm during the Second World War and lived there for the rest of his life. The original part of the house, three bedrooms and the lounge room was built out of mud brick in1907. The timber for the house was sourced locally and the door jams, skirting boards, architrave's and window frames were all hand cut using an adze. The trendy term now would be a "hand made" house. My uncle along with all of the rest of the family was a very simple type of person. Consumerism did not run in this family. Uncle Mac had about three changes of clothes, a pair of pajamas reserved for hospital stays and a suit to wear to funerals and not one other possession to his name that he did not need, use, or had not been passed down to him from his parents. The only changes in the original interior of the house apart from the electricity were that all of the rooms except Grandma's bedroom were re wallpapered in the 1930's. Four of the seven children were born in the that room, delivered by Grandmother's mother Julia, who acted as the local midwife.
In 2002 I took this photo of my son Coen standing in front of Grandmas bed, the bed that my father had been born in 90 years before. My cousin Yvonne commented to me after Uncle Mac passed away, how little there was in the house and that the kitchen dresser's bottom cupboards was only full of old washed jam jars, ready to be reused. Which by the way I am now using when I make jam. My oldest cousin Lindsay has celebrated his 80th birthday and I am the second youngest. We are blessed that as a family we can return to our Grandparents house and nothing much has changed, it is always the same as we remember it. Daniel Thomas in the catalogue of drawings by the artist Grace Cossington Smith says of ‘Cossington’, the artists family home ' The artist's own house, which like any long-inhabited home, had become a tribal sacred site for Smith family memories.' To the Herd family this farm and house are definitely our 'tribal sacred site'
This is a photo of my Grandmother sitting on the gate at the side of the house. I am not certain how old she would have been at the time but her oldest son was born just before the house was finished in 1907. The gate is still there and Rod was doing some welding on it to fix some problem with it while I was there on Sunday.
I took this photo of Coen down at the original orchard that my Great Grandparents had planted, and earned a living from. Coen is wearing a jumper that I knitted for him. I bought a cream coloured hand knitted jumper at an op shop for 50cents and un pulled it and dyed the wool to recycle into the jumper for him. It is amazing really how the world changed in the years after the Second World War. Manufacturing and consumerism rule now. Yvonne, Julia and I all agreed on Sunday that we were born at the wrong time, life for our parents was much simpler, there was more of a sense of community and having less is actually a LOT MORE!
I noticed after I scanned these photos that the bed on the scanner must have some of the flour that fell out of Grandma’s cook book onto it still. Somehow I think that it is nice to just leave the photos how they are.


Our Sustainable Farming Philosophy Delivers Natural, Maine-Made Yarn
All our wool is shipped to Bartlett Yarns in Harmony, Maine where it is turned into some of the best yarn you can buy.
The vintage woolen mill sits on Higgins Stream and holds the last remaining working spinning mule in the United States. It was founded in 1821 with the original spinnery being powered by an undershot water wheel. This was eventually replaced by a water turbine and then converted to electricity.
Bartlett Yarn's vintage machinery is some of the last of its kind in the USA.
Watch the video below for more about our partnership with Bartlett Yarns.


Built in 1909 in the heart of Boston College, Gasson Hall had developed problems with its aging masonry: cracks, chipping of the cast stone, crumbling mortar and general wear and tear had degraded the structure and its appearance.
This century building needed major restoration, planned over six years, starting with disassembly, piece by piece, of the top of the tower and followed by reconstruction of the spires.
More than 3 000 pieces were removed from the building, identified, designed, then sent to the BPDL plant. New wet cast concrete components were fabricated to the highest quality standards and sent back to the jobsite for installation. The restoration of Gasson Hall was one of the largest restoration projects in North America.


In our last episode, Tim and his brother Kevin bought G.I. Joe issue #94!
Part one of the NINJA COMMANDO’s spotlight reveals more about Snake-Eyes’ origin, and how he first crossed paths with the Baroness, and why she holds a grudge. (Played out in general that she’s on the Cobra side and he’s a Joe, and specifically that she goes after him in Switzerland while he’s anesthetized.) The flashback is Saigon, 1968. And Vietnam was of interest for me. Why?
My father subscribed to several military magazines, and those sat on our coffee table next to hardcover books on jets, and near novels and histories like God is My Co-Pilot, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, and Time Life’s WWII set. And while Dad was more interested in The Second World War than Vietnam, the latter was still fresh on the minds of many Americans. Saigon fell just two months after my brother was born. The Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, “The Wall,” was dedicated the same year Real American Hero debuted. And President Reagan’s rebuilding of the Armed Forces was still palpable. Mom worked for Senator Dodd. Dad worked for NASA. Neither of those related to Vietnam, the place or the war, but as an “inside the Beltway” family the TV news was on every night for two hours, so though we didn’t have anyone in the family serving in the military, we were aware of it.
The Vietnam War, or I guess The Vietnam Conflict, since America still doesn’t technically consider it a war (if my 12th grade history serves me), was recent. Americans were coming to terms with it. College classes were now being taught on it. Stone’s Platoon and Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket were earning box office dollars and winning accolades. At the same time, CBS was running a great TV series called Tour of Duty. This show only lasted for three years, and had the unfortunate timeslot of Saturdays at 10pm. (Not quite the kiss of death that it would be now, but still not great.) (This meant I would watch “The Golden Girls” with my mom at 8, Tour of Duty at 10 with my brother and father, and PBS’s broadcast of the BBC Robin Hood at 11. [Yes, I watched The Golden Girls because it was a well-written, well-acted, funny show.]
Tour of Duty was an hour long drama about the regular soldiers of Company B serving in Vietnam. Season 1 was filmed in Hawaii, so it looked great, and benefited from writing that portrayed the ups and downs, and the shades of grey the average Army grunt experienced in country. That this show came along when G.I. Joe was in full bloom, combined with my brother and father’s interest in war history and military armament, was a coincidence. But it only enhanced our appreciation of the military themes in G.I. Joe.
The show lasted three years, and was about as gritty as the accepted standards of the time. It was violent, but not overly so, and the violence was tastefully done. This was before TV ratings, back when a “Parental Discretion is Advised” disclaimer was rare, and a big deal. (The show didn’t have it. ABC’s 1989 broadcast of Robocop did, for comparison. And that was quite edited from the theatrical cut.) More importantly, Tour of Duty dealt with racism, ethnic divisions, moral ambiguity and the fog of war, and the hopelessness of the day-in, day-out slog. It, like G.I. Joe, was told from the grunt’s point of view. There were no cutaways to the White House, the Pentagon, or the Paris Peace Talks.
So with all this swirling around in the cultural ether — TV shows and movies and government — it was quite exciting when Marvel’s G.I. Joe veered into Vietnam via flashback.
Moreso, those three months of checking the spinner racks at the Montgomery Mall Waldenbooks, where we went from G.I. Joe issues 90 to 92, and then to 94, offered something even more focused: An entire comic book series about Vietnam.
What was it called? Tune in next week to find out!


Located in Woodbridge, Virginia
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was founded by Edward and Elmetta Nethercutt in 1964. A veteran of WWII, Edward Nethercutt has always cherished hard-work and family and has incorporated these values into his business. Family owned and operated, Woodbridge Glass Company has grown from a small glass shop
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Volume 3, 2009
In this third issue of the Journal, the Society celebrates the life and contributions of Judge Giles S. Rich on the tenth anniversary of his passing. One of the nation's most enduring and accomplished jurist, Judge Rich rendered unparalleled service to the development of the U.S. patent law both during his private practice career and in his work on the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals ("CCPA") and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He was one of the Judiciary's leading intellectual lights, and we remember him with respect, admiration and fondness in this Journal issue.
Phil Swain, former law clerk to Judge Rich, and the Society's immediate past-President, undertook the editing role for this issue of the Journal, managing the collection of original papers and reprinted articles, speeches, and tributes, and providing a biography. Through this biography, we learn about the person, Giles Sutherland Rich, and begin to get an understanding of the stellar lawyer and judge he became. Rounding out this look into the personal side, Judge Rich's daughter, Verity Rich Hallinan, and niece, Eleanor Van Staagen Mitchell, have provided their reflections on this beloved family man.
Judge Rich famously played a major role in the enactment of the 1952 codification of the patent law. The 1952 Act is the statutory foundation for the jurisprudence in that field through the last half of the twentieth century and still today. He was trained in the patent law and practiced in the field before his appointment to the CCPA in 1956. He was the first patent lawyer to serve as a judge on that court. Three years later, a second patent lawyer, Arther M. Smith, was added to the CCPA. Lynn Eccleston and Hal Wegner present a study of the impact on the patent law development under the 1952 Act during the "Rich-Smith Years of the CCPA," the period from 1959, when Judge Smith joined the court, until his death in 1968.
The writings of Judge Rich that Phil Swain selected for this issue begin with the rare publication of a 1929 primer he wrote on “Patent Law and Procedure.” We are honored to have an introduction to this document by Federal Circuit Judge Alan D. Lourie, and it is a fitting lead-in to the collection presented here, which additionally includes commentaries on the patent law written by Judge Rich in 1936, 1970, and as late as 1998.
As a preface to the selection of speeches, Dale L. Carlson, Historian and President-Elect of the New York Intellectual Patent Law Association, notes Judge Rich’s long association with the New York patent bar. Representative speeches included here span a long period of time, starting in 1952, when Judge Rich addressed the New York Patent Law Association on the Patent Act passed that year.
Many people have paid tribute to Judge Rich. We have included a transcript of the Special Session of the Federal Circuit held in 1999, which highlights the high regard and affection in which he was held, as well as the personal remarks of Senator Orrin Hatch and Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman. In “Turing the Corner,” “Remembrances and Memorial,” and “A Rich Legacy,” former law clerks John Witherspoon, Neil Smith and Janice Mueller, respectively, all of whom went on to have prestigious careers in their own rights, recall their personal experiences, impressions and lessons learned as a result of having Judge Rich as their mentor. Through all these tributes and remembrances, we come to better appreciate the force of the figure celebrated in these pages.
For additional information, please contact Maria Mirra at firstname.lastname@example.org.
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