American history, culture

BOLIVAR, Ohio — Fort Laurens Museum’s next Free Speaker Series event is scheduled for July 1 at 11 a.m. in the Fort Laurens theater.

Author, lecturer and artist Alan Fitzpatrick will discuss how Native Americans in the upper Ohio Valley lived before contact with Europeans in the mid-1700s as well as how European goods changed the way they lived forever through dress, artifacts and paintings.

Currently residing in Wheeling, West Virginia, Fitzpatrick is the author of six books about 18th century Native Americans, including “Wilderness War on the Ohio,” “In Their Own Words” and “The Place of the Skull.”

He is also known for painting oil portraits of his subjects in his books. Fitzpatrick has lectured for over a decade about the Native American culture in Ohio during the French and Indian Wars through the American Revolution.

For more information, contact Fort Laurens at 330-874-2059 or fortlaurens@gmail.com.

James Garfield site hosts author of new biography

MENTOR, Ohio — The National Park Service staff of James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor is pleased to announce a special event with author C.W. Goodyear at 2 p.m., July 15. Goodyear is the author of the new book “President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier,” the first new birth-to-death biography of James A. Garfield in more than 40 years.

The book, published by Simon and Schuster, releases, July 4. The author’s program, July 15 is free of charge; copies of the book will be available for purchase that day in the Eastern National bookstore at James A. Garfield National Historic Site.

James A. Garfield National Historic Site is at 8095 Mentor Ave. (U.S. 20) in Mentor. The site offers guided tours of the Garfield home, museum exhibits, two outdoor cell phone tours, and an introductory film. The National Park Service completely restored the house in the late 1990s, making it one of the most impressive presidential homes preserved for the public.

For information call 440-2558722, write 8095 Mentor Ave., Mentor, OH 44060, or visit nps.gov/jaga. Find the site as @GarfieldNPS on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

James Garfield site hosting naturalization ceremonies

MENTOR, Ohio — The National Park Service staff of James A. Garfield National Historic Site will host two naturalization ceremonies this summer. As in previous years, these ceremonies will take place close to the Fourth of July and Constitution Day.

The first will be July 7; the second will be Sept. 15. Both ceremonies will begin at 10 a.m. on the grounds of James A. Garfield National Historic Site. The public is invited to attend and see 25-30 people from across the globe become American citizens.

These ceremonies are planned in partnership with the League of Women Voters, the Citizenship and Immigration Service (U.S. Department of Homeland Security), and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

James A. Garfield National Historic Site is at 8095 Mentor Ave., approximately 25 miles east of Cleveland.