History Hiding in Clear Sight

A couple months ago I was talking to someone about how Mount Vernon doesn’t do a great job of presenting their interesting history. He asked me, “Have you seen the plaque about the log jam?” No, I hadn’t! I *know* about the log jam, but I had never seen a plaque about it. “Well, it’s up there on the revetment somewhere”. I made a mental note to search out this item of interest.

In my mind’s eye I was envisioning a small plaque on the railing, or one of those state sponsored historical plaques you see all over the place—a pole with a metal sign. A couple weeks later I was making a quick run to a store downtown. I parked in the place I always park when going downtown, got out of my car and looked up to see this: That’s no rinky-dink plaque, that is a full on memorial! And it is beautifully crafted--a true work of art.

And I had parked next to it dozens of times! In my defense, you have to walk up a ramp from the parking area to get to the walkway that this borders. But really? How had I missed that so many times? And how does everyone miss this? Most people I talk to don’t know the first thing about the infamous log jam. It seems simply crazy, how is history managing to hide in plain view like this? Perhaps we all need to look up from our cell phones more often...