Around Columbia: Boone County

Showing posts with label Boone County. Show all posts

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Another Little Free Library

About one hundred yards from the Daniel Boone Regional Library, here in Columbia, I found another little library. This one is actually registered with Little Free Library at www.littlefreelibray.org.

As you can see it even has a registration, or charter, number on the lower right side.

I am a huge believer in books. Not the ebook, or digital version, which I think provide an inferior experience, but rather the old fashioned kind that you can hold in your hand.

I plan on building one over this winter to launch this coming spring but I am going to specialize in children’s books. There are only two chartered ones, this one and another one I do not have a picture of yet. The one I wrote about two days ago does not have a charter, and there are bound to be others. Columbia is a college town, and is generally a book loving community. KOMU TV ran a story about several I have not seen yet, some without charters, in July of this year.

Here is what the Little Free Library web site has to say about how the project got started:

n the beginning—2009--Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, built a model of a one room schoolhouse as a tribute to his mother, a former school teacher who loved reading. He filled it with books and put it on a post in his front yard. His neighbors and friends loved it. He built several more and gave them away. Each one had a sign that said FREE BOOKS. Rick Brooks, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, saw Bol's do-it-yourself project while they were discussing potential social enterprises. Together, the two saw opportunities to achieve a wide variety of goals for the common good.

In September 2015, the organization reported over 32,000 chartered Little Free Library sites in all 50 U.S. states, and in over 70 other countries world wide.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Pinnacles Youth Park in Northern Boone County

Heading north on Highway 63 about eleven miles outside of Columbia, located about a mile east on a well marked access road, is the 27 acre Pinnacles Youth Park. The Missouri Department of Conservation has a compact but extremely informative page on this natural area which is highly recommended.

It was the site of a recent family outing. After realizing I had been neglectful by not taking my two youngest children to this very attractive area I decided to do so last Sunday afternoon. When we were making plans my oldest daughter informed me she did not remember having ever visited either so she came along with us. It may be well over twenty years since I visited it myself. I also decided to do a photographic survey of the grounds as well as the more scenic vistas.

The Bluffs

These are the bluffs which have been the scene of much mischief (foolishly alcohol related) as well as injuries and if the rumors are true even two deaths. Missouri rock is not good for climbing. I know my own brother broke his ankle here and when I worked at a group home one of the residents badly hurt her ankle at an outing climbing the bluffs pictured below.

Not all of the area is bounded with the scenic bluffs.

There are several well maintained lanes for hiking along the bank on the west side of the creek with various paths leading down to the water. Bring bug spray. The bluffs are all on the other side and you have to cross the creek to get to them.

This is what is known as switch cane (Arundinaria gigantea tecta see: http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2002/10/30.htm)

The Overhang

I do not know what else to call it. This is the most interesting feature. It is an overhang created by the water during heavy rains when the area becomes flooded. This is about a quarter mile, maybe less, from the main area and I do not recall having visited this part of the nature area before. I think many people overlook it but it is well worth the walk. There were no bats, at least none that I saw, under the overhang but there were plenty of swallows.