Stories in the woods is a community-based history told along the green hiking trail of the Wintergarden/St. John’s Nature Preserve in Bowling Green, Ohio. It is complemented by a webinar open to the public on April 21, and this companion webpage that you are reading. The signs are on display from April to June.
The seed of the idea was planted in Dr. Amilcar Challu’s environmental history graduate seminar in fall of 2019. In the seminar we brainstormed the idea, pitched it to the Parks & Rec Division, and refined it with interviews to potential community visitors. We mocked up signs, a narrative and eventually obtained funding from Ohio Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. COVID-19 delayed the execution of the project, initially slated for spring of 2020.
We warlmly invite community members of all ages to visit the preserve for fresh air, captivating stories, and a rejuvenating walk in the woods. The nine signs located along the green trail of the Wintergarden/St. John’s Nature Preserve narrate historical features of the park, from indigenous occupation, to farming, to the present preserve. QR codes on the signs connect visitors via their smartphones to the Stories in the Woods website, providing more information, primary sources and a short reflection.
Dani Tippmann, Plant Tradition Bearer of the Myaamia Nation, will visit us virtually the webinar “Honoring Our Plants” on Wednesday, April 21, from 3-4:30 p.m. Tippmann, along with our own Cinda Stutzman and Chris Gajewicz (City Parks & Rec) will share ecological information about the native and European plants in St. John’s Woods. Join the webinar at bgsu.edu/storiesinthewoods.
Follow the project on this blog, blogs.bgsu.edu/storiesinthewoods and please post any pictures or comments in social media using the hashtag #storiesinthewoods.
The sign design and webpage contents are primarily the responsibility of the instructor and students in the Environmental History Seminar and other students in the history and ACS programs:
- Amílcar E. Challú (director; Faculty, History Department)
- Addison Kennedy (sign design, public relations; American Culture Studies MA)
- Charles “Rob” Baither (sign production; History MA)
- Carolyn Dailey (webpage; History BA)
- Dee Elliott (public relations; American Culture Studies MA)
- Peter Funk (German-History MA)
- Julian Gillilan (German-History MA)
- Keith Lenhart (History MA)
- Jared Miller (History MA)
- Mohammad Rahman (American Culture Studies Ph.D.)
- Madison Stump (Environmental Policy B.A.)
Our planning team and advisory board provided feedback on the webpage, signs and overall design of the project:
- Chris Gajewicz, Nature Resource Coordinator, City of Bowling Green
- Rebecca Mancuso, Associate Professor of History, BGSU
- Jerry Schnepp, Associate Professor of Visual Communication and Technology, BGSU
- Andy Schocket, Professor of American Culture Studies and History, BGSU
- Cinda Stutzman, Naturalist, City of Bowling Green
- Dani Tippmann, Myaamia Tribal Plant Tradition Bearer and director of Whitley County Historical Museum, Indiana
We were fortunate to have the assistance of campus and community members throughout the process. While they helped us, the responsibility is all ours:
- Sue Sweeney, Communication & Event Specialist of the College of Arts and Sciences BGSU (press release, advertising, media relations)
- Brenda Oyer, Office of Sponsored Programs and Research at BGSU (proposal design)
- Amy E. Karlovec, BGSU Marketing (trained us in graphic design)
- The Wyandotte Nation, through its Chief Billy Friend, gave us permission to use the turtle picture featured in the sign “On the back of the turtle.”
- Paul Cesarini and Wolf den in Pack 422 of Boy Scouts (permission to use photo in sign)
- Jeremy Kohler, Mike Barbour and Diane are Bowling Green residents who graciously agreed to be interviewed as part of our design process.
- Special thanks also to several BGSU students that we interviewed after your classes; we are sorry that we did not keep your names!