By Linda Tancs

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad built their main line between 1869 and 1872 through the labors of thousands of freed African-American slaves and Irish Catholic immigrants. Of thousands of African-American railroad workers, John Henry became the stuff of legend and the subject of a ballad. Historical research suggests that Henry was a real person, a steel driver blasting a tunnel through Big Bend Mountain in West Virginia. Legend has it that he died during a contest between a steel drill and steel drivers. Whether man or myth, a statue of him stands outside Great Bend Tunnel at John Henry Park in Talcott.

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Billed as the Great North American Eclipse, a total solar eclipse will cross North America on April 8, 2024, passing over Mexico, the United States and Canada. The path of the eclipse begins in Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The eclipse will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. This will be the last time any solar eclipse will be visible within the United States until 2045. 

Be prepared! So long as supplies last, you can purchase eclipse glasses and other accessories, like a phone app and photo filter, from American Paper Optics, a NASA-approved manufacturer. The link in the preceding sentence is an affiliate link, which means that if you click on the link and purchase merchandise from the page, then I may receive a small commission.