JACKSON— Unlike last year’s “Rendezvous at the Rock”, which was a cold overcast day with approaching thunderstorms, this year the weather was perfect.
A large crowd gathered for the 3rd annual “Rendezvous at the Rock” event, which is a celebration of fort ancient and Native-American cultures held at Leo Petroglyph State Memorial Park. The event was free to the public and consisted of Native American entertainment throughout the day, along with exhibits and demonstrations.
At the site folks got to check out the Leo Petroglyphs, which are some of the most outstanding examples of Fort Ancient Indian art found in the United States.
The Country Carving Boys done demonstrations called “chain saw art” while Chris Cook had exhibits on his “stone carving” methods and techniques. Ray Streischek gave lessons using the ancient weapon known as the atlatl.
There was delicious food and beverages provided by the Jackson Historical Society. Some of the food included “Petro Pups” (hotdogs), “Flint Chips” (potato chips), “Glyph” (Cookies) and “Mastodon Munchies” (donut) and “Prehistoric Popcorn”.
This year the Friends of Leo Petroglyph dedicated an additional to the park. The additional was a 4.6 acre piece of property, which was purchased by Friends of Leo Petroglyph with the help of some generous donors.
The dedication for the land took place during the “Rendezvous at the Rock” event by way of a ribbon cutting ceremony. Present for the cutting of the ribbon were Jackson Historical Society President George Kitchen, President of Friends of Leo Petroglyph Michael Stroth, WesBanco Banking Center Manager Denise Brown and Jim Meacham member of Friends of Leo Petroglyph.
“This land was purchased by Friends of Leo Petroglyph for future expansion,” explained Jim Meacham member of Friends of Leo Petroglyph. “We hope it will act as a barrier to slow down civilization that is heading this way. That way we can preserve what we have here.”
Meacham added, “The parking lot was the only area we had to have the Rendezvous at the Rock event so we decided to go ahead a purchase the land, which came available about a year and half ago.”
“Our first and largest donor was WesBanco, who donated $4,000, to kick off the purchasing of the land. We thank WesBanco very much,” said Meacham. “There were many other donors, some sizable donors from the Jackson Historical Society and many other smaller donors as well. We thank you all.”
Jackson Historical Society President George Kitchen stated, “I want to thank Bill Martin for doing all of the legal work, a big thank you to Michael Stroth, Jim Meacham and all of the other people on the committee that put forth effort to get this accomplished. I’m really proud of everything that they have done out here on the Leo Petroglyph property it looks great and the event today is just great.”
Leo Petroglyph is located north of Jackson about 5 miles on U.S. Route 35. To get there, travel north on 35 and turn right on County Road 28, Sour Run Road, about 2 miles; then turn left on Township Road 224, Park Road. The site is about .5 miles.
via “Rendezvous at the Rock” celebration held at Leo Petroglyph – The Jackson County Times-Journal: News.