By Lindsey Rowland
news@wbcowqel.com
There is a lot of history that saturates Crawford County, and on Saturday the Crawford Park District wanted to dig a little deeper-literally. Saturday morning, a group of curious explorers met at Lowe-Volk Park and pursued an archeological dig with their sights set on the old Seccaium Park located between Bucyrus and Galion on Route 19.
Seccaium Park (Sek-I-um) was a massively popular destination in the late 1800 and early 1900’s that featured such things as picnics, swimming in one of the largest swimming pools in the Midwest, food, baseball, music and dancing, performances, a casino, and even a roller coaster; the remains of which can still be seen. The Park remained up and running until 1948, when a fire swept through the property and put Seccaium to rest.
Park District Naturalist Chris Rothhaar was in charge of the operation and was excited to take a look at the remnants of the trash pit, dining hall, and outhouses. Upon a survey of the sight, Rothhaar said he had already seen some beer bottles made in both Bucyrus and Galion and hoped to find more things with dates and names on them.
“It’s definitely a historic sight in Crawford County,” Rothhaar said, “The artifacts themselves will tell a story.”
In addition to bottles, he suspected they would find things such as coins as well. According to Rothhaar, ever since the concept of the outhouse was introduced, people would throw things into them. This bygone habit served the archaeological purpose well, bringing to those excavating a sense of discovery not just of the objects, but also of the past.
Rothhaar said, “I think it will put things in perspective for people who find them…and entertainment! It will maybe show them how different it was back then.”
For more information on the wonderful programs that the Crawford Park District offers, visit www.crawfordparkdistrict.org.