CLS: The Wild West

Learn about the Native Peoples, American settlers, wildlife and how the west was changed.

Caitlyn Clark

Monday, June 3, 10:30 a.m. | Orchestra Hall
“Meriwether & William: The Men Behind the Lewis & Clark Legend”

The Lewis and Clark Expedition has reached a certain level of fame that is difficult to achieve in the modern day. It’s no exaggeration to say that its participants have entered the realm of legend.

Too often we forget that they were individuals, men and women who had lives before the fame that they eventually came to achieve. They were human, and being human means that, for better or worse, they created historical ripples that they could never have foreseen.

Who were these people outside of the legend? How did their individuality contribute to the expedition’s successes and failures? Furthermore, what did their journey mean for science? For humanity?

Tuesday, June 4, 10:30 a.m. | Orchestra Hall
“From the Treaty City to the Western Sea: Lewis & Clark in Greenville, Ohio”

When Lewis and Clark set off on their historical expedition of discovery, they had already known each other for a number of years. And though many people know of the expedition itself, few are aware of the circumstances of their meeting.

When Lewis and Clark met, one was highly praised by his superior officers, a man who was noticed early on for his natural leadership abilities. The other was preparing to represent himself in a military court, facing the possibility of a career-ending court martial.

Yet, despite their different backgrounds, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark somehow found common ground, founding a lifelong friendship. Though Louisville, Kentucky, is often recognized as the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, it’s far past time that we talked about where these two legendary men met for the very first time – Greenville, Ohio.

Caitlyn Clark is an author, teacher and all-around history buff who found her love of history at an early age and has been studying Lewis and Clark since seventh grade.

The Arcanum High School and Wright State University graduate found her way to working at the Thomas Jefferson Plantation, Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia. President Jefferson was responsible for organizing and appointing Lewis to the expedition to discover the waterways that would lead to the west coast.

Clark’s interest and research into the Lewis and Clark Expedition began long before she knew she was related to the famous explorer. Her book, From the Treaty City to the Western Sea: Lewis & Clark in Greenville, Ohio, explores how significant these explorers time in Ohio was.

Clark is currently on staff at the at Garst Museum, The National Annie Oakley Center in Greenville, Ohio.

Linda Witowski

Monday, June 3, 7:30 p.m. | Steele Memorial Bandstand
Historic Portrayal: Calamity Jane

Thanks to Women in History Ohio, a nonprofit dedicated to the education of all people through the dramatic re-creation of the lives of notable women in history, we will be visited by Calamity Jane, portrayed by Linda Witowski.

Dr. Robert Kroeger

Wednesday, June 5, 10:30 a.m. | Train Station
“Ottawa County Barn Stories & Painting Demonstration”

In collaboration with the Ottawa County Historical Society, Robert Kroeger will speak, provide a painting demonstration and share barn stories from his two books, Historic Barns of Ohio and Round Barns of America. Both books will be available for sale.

Kroeger was the Ottawa County Historical Society’s featured speaker in June 2023 at Port Clinton’s The Arts Garage. While visiting, he toured the county’s historic barns and completed 14 paintings. These paintings will be on exhibit at the Train Station from June 1-30 and will be part of the Society’s online Bidding Owl Auction to benefit the Ottawa County Historical Society’s Scholarship Fund.

While Kroeger has done painting demonstrations in 19th-century barns, outside one-room schoolhouses, a county home, a coffee shop, a former pumping station, in historic homes, buildings and museums, this will be the first time doing a fundraiser in a 19th-century railroad depot.

Kroeger will be do a demo painting of a county barn, then tell barn stories from 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m., followed by a book signing of Historic Barns of Ohio and Round Barns of America.

Artist and author Kroeger lives in Cincinnati and travels in search of historic barns and their stories in many states, but mostly in Ohio. Each year he completes hundreds of oil paintings of old barns and documents their stories in essays in an effort to preserve their histories – since so many barns are vanishing.

His books and nearly all his paintings go into fundraisers for historical societies in Ohio and Indiana. His book, Historic Barns of Ohio, features an old barn and its story in each of Ohio’s 88 counties. His newest book, Round Barns of America, includes 75 round barns in 32 states, including 11 in Ohio.

Kroeger is currently working on a project involving stone barns in more than 40 states.

Taylor Keen

Thursday, June 6, 10:30 a.m. | Steele Memorial Bandstand
Historic Portrayal: Chief Standing Bear

As part of Lakeside’s Historic Portrayal Series, we will be visited by Ponca Nation Chief Standing Bear, portrayed by Taylor Keen.

Friday, June 7, 10:30 a.m. | Orchestra Hall
“The Other Trail of Tears: The Removal of the Ohio Indians”

This lecture is based on Mary Stockwell’s book, The Other Trail of Tears: The Removal of the Ohio Indians.

It tells the story of the fight for Ohio up through the War of 1812, the U.S. government’s post-war attempt to find an equitable policy for all the people in Ohio (including the tribes ), the successes and failures of that policy among the Native Americans, the calls for removal from several local tribes and President Jackson, and the final decisions of Ohio’s five major tribes (Delaware, Seneca, Shawnee, Ottawa, and Wyandot) to move west of the Mississippi River.

Stockwell has lived most of her life in the 12-mile by 12-mile square block carved out around Fort Miamis on the Maumee River that Anthony Wayne purchased from the Indians in the Treaty of Greenville in 1795.

She got her love of history from her father, John Stockwell, and her love of storytelling from her mother, Elizabeth Schultz Stockwell.

Stockwell received her bachelor’s in history from Mary Manse College in Toledo and master’s and doctorate in history from the University of Toledo.

After graduation, Stockwell worked as a writer at the Fermi II Nuclear Power Station, where she wrote the instructions to operate and secure the plant. She later became a history professor and a department chair at Lourdes University in Sylvania, Ohio.

She left her teaching and administrative career to accept the first of two Earhart Foundation Fellowships at the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan and to become a full-time writer. Shop for her books at The Fine Print Lakeside.