robert piepenbrink  | 19 Jan 2026 7:18 a.m. PST |
Behold! Only in the United States could the remains of towns founded in 1858 be called "ancient ruins." link For contrast, I think younger TMP members may see the 1,000th birthday of the New Forest, and Newgate is already well past that. (I told my father once on vacation that we were passing by the New Forest. He quite reasonably started looking for saplings.) Anyway, does this mean troops from the Mexican-American War are now Ancients? |
| Potters | 19 Jan 2026 7:58 a.m. PST |
My parents house is older than that! |
 Grelber | 19 Jan 2026 8:26 a.m. PST |
Yes, and the year I was born is about halfway between today and the Wild West era. Grelber |
| JimDuncanUK | 19 Jan 2026 8:35 a.m. PST |
I can see 'pre-historic' ruins (actually a pre-historic farm field) from my front door. And there are Iron Age forts just out of sight. |
| OSCS74 | 19 Jan 2026 10:51 a.m. PST |
Robert p The house I grew up in is about the same age. It had fireplaces, replaced by coal furnace. The township did not have property records until 1910. |
| Dave Crowell | 19 Jan 2026 10:56 a.m. PST |
Now I'm remembering again Max, the 2000 year old mouse. He was there! We are a young country in the US, but our view of "ancient history" is deeply flawed by only being taught about what happened after Europeans arrived on the continent. |
| KeepYourPowderDry | 19 Jan 2026 1:31 p.m. PST |
My house is older than that. |
| huron725 | 19 Jan 2026 1:48 p.m. PST |
As an American I have always loved how old everything is in the old world still standing. Quite impressive. If I had to do all over again I would skip engineering for archeology. |
| noggin2nog | 19 Jan 2026 2:09 p.m. PST |
The village I live in is in the Domesday Book. |
| robert piepenbrink | 19 Jan 2026 4:54 p.m. PST |
Hmm. Me too, Grelber. 1879 is a little late for serious Indian Wars--there was a Ute uprising--but I think still early enough for a number of classic TV westerns. The OK Corral is still two years in the future. Key the "Wyatt Earp" and "Bat Masterson" theme songs. |
| Korvessa | 19 Jan 2026 5:22 p.m. PST |
One of my favorite quotes which I may have heard here first goes like this:
The biggest difference between americans and british is that americans think a hundred years is a long time , and british think a hundred miles is the long ways. |
 etotheipi  | 19 Jan 2026 6:26 p.m. PST |
We are a young country in the US, but our view of "ancient history" is deeply flawed by only being taught about what happened after Europeans arrived on the continent. I suppose that's a function of where you grew up. I went to public school in Appalachia in the 1970's and we had tons of information about the older history of the area. I took a handfull of field trips to Serpent Mound (local-ish) at different levels of education with different focuses. We would have tribal reps come and do assemblies, then teach a few specific classes the same day. There was also a burial mound (probably Hopewell or Adena, but those peoples were long gone before Europeans showed up, so nobody knows and nobody is going to dig it up to find out). in the town where I grew up. It's adjacent to a Hardee's* parking lot on the "main drag" of the city (up to four lanes, in some places!). There's other stuff around it too, but the mound is still there. * note – It may not be a Hardee's any more, but I did check online quickly, and the mound is still there. So's the Ohio River, if you're curious… :) |
.