Invisible Ground

22/07/2024

Support the work of Invisible Ground with a small monthly or annual contribution on Patreon! Levels start at $1 a month and have lots of cool perks like stickers, prints, records, and of course behind the scenes content. We would love to grow our Patreon membership, and thanks to everyone who has contributed so far.

You can also make a charitable donation in support of Invisible Ground via our fiscal agent and exhibition partner the Southeast Ohio History Center! Reach out if you would like more information.

immersive historic markers, documentary podcasts, and more

15/07/2024

Summer Tour! Who's making the grilled cheese? All events are free.

Thursday, July 18 - Invisible Ground in Chauncey - Summer at the Library 6pm-7pm

Tuesday, July 23 - Invisible Ground at Albany Enterprise Academy - Summer at the Library 6pm-7pm

Saturday, August 17 - Invisible Ground Marker Tour: Part 1 - Athens County Driving Tour 10am-3:30pm

Saturday, August 17 - Invisible Ground Marker Tour: Part 2 - Uptown Athens Walking Tour 4pm-7pm
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Podcast: invisibleground.simplecast.com or Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts already

App: available for Apple and Android in their respective stores

Support: patreon.com/invisibleground

More Info at www.findinvisibleground.com

03/07/2024

From 2022, our fourth episode of Invisible Ground was about The Berry Hotel, a historic establishment and business owned and operated by Edward and Martha Jane Madrey Berry, a Black couple from Athens. Hear all about this incredible story, and the first of our Immersive Historic Markers that lets you see The Berry despite being demolished in 1974.

Always good to revisit the older episodes! And this one is only 25 listens away from 1000! Help get it there and listen to it yourself or send it to a friend.

Subscribe, rate, review, and share, Invisible Ground is available on Simplecast (at the link below), Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

What do you lose in a story when a building is gone? This episode focuses on the story of The Berry Hotel, a historic and well-known Black-owned business in Athens started in the 1880s by Edward and Martha Jane Berry. The Berry's attended the Albany Enterprise Academy, have deep connections to Mount...

18/06/2024

Just put up two works-in-progress photos on the Patreon page for supporters! You can see a photo each from early testing of Immersive Historic Markers at Stuart's Opera House in Nelsonville and on Main Street in Shawnee. Immersive Historic Markers are coming to those two spots (and inside at Stuart's too) later this year, along with markers in Rendville, and at the Athens Armory.

Support via Patreon is huge for a project like this. That support, along with charitable donations via the Southeast Ohio History Center and business underwriting provide essential funding to keep this project going and work moving along in between grant reimbursements and grant writing. And it is so important for a scrappy little project like this one.

If you can support what we do, check out the link below and for $1 a month you can be a member! I am also always interested in hearing about new potential foundation funding, project grants, collaborators, and partners as we start planning for 2025.

invisibleground.simplecast.com
www.findinvisibleground.com
patreon.com/invisibleground

Get more from Invisible Ground on Patreon

17/06/2024

Thanks to Her Two Wheels for featuring Invisible Ground in your visit to Ohio's Windy 9! We always think history and motorcycles go hand in hand. What a great video, and it features our good friend David Butcher and the Tablertown People of Color Museum too. Check it out!

My Secret Motorcycle Destination in the Heart of the USA | Ohio's Windy 9 Join me, Jess, as I take you on an epic three-day motorcycling adventure through th...

16/06/2024

Is anyone coming to Athens from Zanesville tomorrow and can bring some Juneteenth Donalds Donuts this way? I will split a dozen with you, on me.

This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we are selling special Juneteenth donuts! 100% of the proceeds go to the Gant Foundation. We are very proud to be apart of this organization, Nelson T. Gant is a fascinating chapter in our community’s history. Stop in and pick up a great donut for a great cause! ❤️🍩🧡

14/06/2024

Visited Rendville in Perry County this morning for some testing for our new Immersive Marker later this year! This historic Black community has so many important stories. Took a trip up to Rendville Cemetery and will share those photos soon too.

Rendville Historic Preservation Society and Little Cities of Black Diamonds are great resources to learn more about this amazing place.

Immersive marker for the app and a podcast coming later this year!

13/06/2024

These are photos from an old family photo album of my late Grandfather John “KJ” Koscho from his time in World War II, and at Camp Pendleton before that. My grandpa was in the United States Army and part of the North Africa campaign and the invasion of Italy. I am very lucky to have this album and several others from his time in the Steelworkers Union, in politics, and decades of softball and bowling photos. Seeing him and his time in the service and at war in his early and mid 20s through his own eyes is very powerful.

These are just quick photos from the phone but I’ll keep sharing these, and we will be scanning and preserving, and doing more soon. He passed away in 2006, but always feels present in my life and work, but much more so in the past week of checking this out. Anyone want to host a gallery show of these photos in 2025? This is such a small fraction!

Find out more about my work with Invisible Ground at www.findinvisibleground.com, and support the work at patreon.com/invisibleground

Our podcast is available wherever you listen you your favorites already including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more or at invisibleground.simplecast.com

05/06/2024

Invisible Ground is seeking people who personally know about, or know people who know about two very different topics:

1. The Grateful Dead show at Memorial Auditorium in Athens, Ohio on 11/23/68. Did you go to this show? Do you have photos or tickets? Do you know someone who went or was involved with the Dead coming here? Any other connections between the band an Athens County?

2. The Athens Armory, I am looking for people connected to the Armory. Especially someone who trained there or worked there. I am also looking for historic photos of the inside of the building. Connections to that geographic space (Carpenter and Court, North Hill, etc) are also encouraged to reach out.

[email protected] or message on here!

31/05/2024

Support the work of Invisible Ground on Patreon with a monthly or annual contribution! It helps a ton.

We will also be reconfiguring our Patreon and adding new benefits and support throughout our levels. Thanks to all 63 of our Patreon supporters, donors, sponsors, and everyone else who helps make this work.

You can always support Invisible Ground with a charitable donation to the Southeast Ohio History Center via check or online. Reach out to us if you'd like to do that and we can make it happen.

immersive historic markers, documentary podcasts, and more

22/05/2024

Happy Berry Week! Celebrate by supporting Mount Zion Black Cultural Center with purchases and specials from a bunch of great Athens businesses. And you can use the Invisible Ground app to SEE The Berry Hotel just like it was in the 1890s and 1950s right on Court Street. Link in comments! App is available for Apple and Android devices.

Photos from Ohio University Libraries digital archives and special collection, myself, and Megan Westervelt.

08/05/2024

New stickers are available! https://invisibleground.square.site to get yours in colorways for the Guardians, Mets, or (Athens) Bulldogs for $2 and help support Invisible Ground! I put records and shirts on sale for ONLY $10 this week, which is really cheap. Shipping included. Please help us raise a little money and clear some space!

03/05/2024

Want to underwrite an episode of Invisible Ground? Advertise your business, event, or organization on our podcast and reach a growing audience! Like what we do? Support our project with a charitable donation to the Southeast Ohio History Center for us! Reach out via direct message or email [email protected] to talk more about sponsorship! Photos courtesy of the Southeast Ohio History Center Digital Collections.

30/04/2024

Support Invisible Ground on Patreon and you can see this behind-the-scenes photo of some work we've been doing for a future site at the Athens Armory! We just sent it out to supporters on there as an update. The end of the month is always a good time to remind you that you can support the project on Patreon for as little as $1 a month, or even do a one-time charge for a year.

If that kind of giving isn't your thing you can do so the old-fashioned way with a check to the Southeast Ohio History Center in support of the project, they are our fiscal agent and exhibition partner.

Get more from Invisible Ground on Patreon

25/04/2024

As with all cemeteries the passage of time has taken its toll on the City of Athens’ cemeteries, its headstones, monuments and mausoleums. The fragility of these historical artifacts and

23/04/2024

Lots of historic marker talk on NPR this week! Very interesting conversations here about important topics and something Invisible Ground tries to get right in our markers and work.

More than 180,000 historical markers dot the U.S. in a fractured and confused telling of America — where offensive lies live with impunity, history is distorted and errors are both strange and funny.

22/04/2024

We are working on a multimedia walking tour of the historic West State Street Cemetery in Athens with the Andrew Jackson Davison Club at Athens Middle School, and got to take a tour of the cemetery grounds last week! The project will be completed in November and produce a digital tour, an in-person event, and a print piece that the students will help research, produce, and edit. Thanks to Tantrum Theater with support from the Ohio Arts Council for supporting this project in community storytelling and historic interpretation! Thanks to our collaborators on this project too: Mount Zion Black Cultural Center, Appalachian Understories, Southeast Ohio History Center, and everyone else helping out!

Photos by Shamar Semple ( on Instagram)

12/04/2024

We are busy working on more podcasts, Immersive Historic Markers, and community projects for 2024 and you can help support that work!

Support Invisible Ground with a monthly or annual contribution on Patreon at the link below and get cool stuff like prints, records, and stickers. You can also support the project with a donation to the Southeast Ohio History Center for Invisible Ground. And we can always used underwriters and business sponsors too! Message with any questions. Thank you to all who have supported or been a part of this project!

immersive historic markers, documentary podcasts, and more

08/04/2024

Happy Eclipse Day!

Lyceum Lunch - February 15, 2024

05/04/2024

Episode 14 is up and it covers the Immersive Historic Marker part of the Invisible Ground project.

https://invisibleground.simplecast.com/episodes/immersive-historic-markers

Hear eight interpretative audio pieces about the sites we have our experiences at, all told by one voice each, a person with close connections to the location and its history. Then download the Invisible Ground app for Apple or Android and go visit the markers: in Athens at Mount Zion, The Berry Hotel, Athens County Courthouse, Soldiers and Sailors Monument, and the Athens Asylum, and also in Albany (at the Volunteer Fire Department), Chauncey (at the Chauncey-Dover Community Park), and Tablertown (at Kilvert Church). Share the podcast, tell your friends, and go see some history out where it happened. Enjoy the episode and learn more about all of these sites, and more here is a full podcast episode for each one too if you want to learn more.

19/03/2024

Whoa! 10,025 listens as of today for Invisible Ground. We have made 13 podcast episodes with listeners from 47 states and 37 countries.

7 Immersive Historic Markers are out in the world too, with at least 5 more to join this year and many more podcast episodes.

Thanks so much to everyone who has listened, supported the project, and contributed in any way. It means a lot.

More info at www.findinvisibleground.com and you can support the project at patreon.com/invisibleground

Photo from the Southeast Ohio History Center Digital Collections.

14/03/2024

Thanks to Keri and the Athens County Independent for this fantastic story about Invisible Ground!

"What began as Brian Koscho’s Ohio University graduate thesis is now eight interactive, immersive historical markers that bring local history to life. With more markers on the way, these spots showcase local history — often transcending Appalachian Ohio with ties to historical moments nationwide — and time itself."

Explore the rich history of Athens County with these eight immersive historical markers.

11/03/2024

We are looking for business underwriters and new individual donors and supporters for 2024! Got a business that wants to reach a solid podcast audience? Are you a person who likes what we do and wants to make a tax deductible donation to the Southeast Ohio History Center in support of the project? I cannot paint an ad on the Elm Rock these days, but this is probably the modern equivalent, right?

Message or comment if you are interested in learning more about how you can support Invisible Ground! Lots of new episodes and sites coming this year. Reach out, those underwriting spots are really limited!

📷: Southeast Ohio History Center Digital Collections of Elm Rock in 1910.

01/03/2024

It’s one of those Bandcamp days where artists get to keep a little more of the $$ from selling their records. Which makes it a perfect day to go pick up The Music of Invisible Ground on vinyl, CD, or download from our dear friends Aquabear Legion. Any orders from today will get free stickers! ❤️

16 track album

16/02/2024

Our newest marker for Tablertown (Tablertown People of Color Museum ) is up in the physical form, but the app version for the immersive marker will have to wait until Spring or so. Go check out the sign at the Kilvert Church and learn about this amazing and important story. There is a full podcast episode (and a video we did too) also tell part of this story, and I will put those both in the comments.

Thanks to David Butcher and his family always for everything, and to all of these incredible Rural Action AmeriCorps Members who did so much work out there this week.

And if getting community internet out to a rural community that could definitely use that and bringing that marker to life sounds like something you are interested in helping with, send me a message!

08/02/2024

New Immersive Historic Marker at the Athens Asylum up at The Ridges! The sign is coming soon, but for now you can see two historic images by standing on the green circles found by the flagpole and on the steps, both out front of the Kennedy Museum of Art at the Ohio Museum Complex at Ohio University.

Get the Invisible Ground app for Apple or Android at:
https://findinvisibleground.com/app/