| Article by Josie Burkhardt, Staff Writer for the Times Leader |
BELLAIRE – Community members can visit the Bellaire Public Library to learn about local history and community development over the next couple months, with lectures on topics such as “Backyard Flora and Fauna of Belmont County” and “The Peopling of North America: Ohio and Beyond.”
The Bellaire Public Library is having its winter lecture series in partnership with the Great Stone Viaduct Historical Education Society. Sessions will be at 6 p.m. Wednesdays starting in February and running through March and will feature presentations of local history and community topics. The lectures are in the community room on the lower level of the library and will be free to the public. Light refreshments will be provided at each series presentation.
The first program is “Mapping the First Landowners in Belmont County” on Feb. 5, which will feature the Bureau of Land Management’s General Land Office records, including a record of first landowners, overlaying creeks and villages.
Each week will highlight a different topic, including “Why the West Went to War in 1812?” “A Historic District for Downtown Bellaire,” “West Virginia Mining History,” “Pulling the Thread: Untangling Wheeling History” and “I’ve never been to Heaven: But I’ve been to Oklahoma.”
Different speakers will also present each week, such as author Kurt Turner, associate professor of history at Marietta College Brandon Downing and associate professor of anthropology and archaeology at Ohio University Joseph Gingerich.
People can find the full list of the lecture series and when programs are presented on the websites for Bellaire Public Library or Great Stone Viaduct Society.
GSV planning committee member Erica Keller described the series as adult education, while trying to also bring in local high school students for a scholarship contest.
“The library is currently building a local history room,” library Director Erin Rothenbuehler said. “The programs are already bringing the people who are interested in history. So it helps expose people to the fact that this is going to be a repository for a lot of local history moving forward.”
This series is also continuing the library’s mission to provide lifelong learning opportunities to the community, she added.
“For Bellaire, I think that it’s local history and that it draws in all ages,” Keller said. “We have senior citizens, we have kids, we have a wide variety. So it brings the community together. It continues to educate and preserve the history of our area.”
