Heavener Runestone Park

Heavener Runestone Park
A map of Oklahoma showing the location of Heavener Runestone Park
A map of Oklahoma showing the location of Heavener Runestone Park
A map of Oklahoma showing the location of Heavener Runestone Park
A map of Oklahoma showing the location of Heavener Runestone Park
LocationLe Flore County, Oklahoma, United States
Nearest cityHeavener, OK
Coordinates34°54′00″N 94°34′41″W / 34.9°N 94.578056°W / 34.9; -94.578056
Area55 acres (22 ha)
Established1970
Governing bodyCity of Heavener, Oklahoma
www.travelok.com/listings/view.profile/id.3398

Heavener Runestone Park (pronounced /ˈhiːvnər/) is a 55-acre (220,000 m2) park located in Le Flore County, Oklahoma near the city of Heavener, Oklahoma.[1] Formerly a state park of Oklahoma, it was transferred to the City of Heavener in 2011, and is now operated by the Friends of Heavener Runestone, a non-profit organization. The Festival held at the park on two weekends a year serves as a fundraiser for operating and maintaining the park.

Opened in 1970, the park has been erected around the Heavener Runestone, a rock found in 1923. The stone is located on Poteau Mountain just outside the town's limits in the scrub-forest foothills of the Ouachita Mountains.

Assessment of the runestone

Further information: Oklahoma runestones

Media state that the inscription was probably a claim marker meaning "valley belonging to Glome," or "Glome's Valley."[2] There is no evidence of Norse presence and nothing similar has been found anywhere near Heavener or even in the Midwestern United States. Two additional sandstone slabs, each with short runic markings, were each found a mile north and south of the stone.[3] Scandinavian presence in the nearby town of Heavener is early and the likeliest source of the carving of the stone.[4]

Runestone Festival

The park became the site for the annual Heavener Runestone Festival Fundraiser in 2011. It actually occurs on two weekends each year. Features of the event include Celtic and folk music, swordplay, displays of variety of merchant booths, games, a hike to view the runestone, and overnight camping. Cast and Volunteers are all dressed in costume and many attendees dress up as well. The purpose of the festival, besides pure enjoyment, is fundraising to support the park.

Park facilities

Heavener Park offers , picnic tables, outdoor grills, primitive campsites with showers available, amphitheater, playground, hiking, exploring, and educational programs about the Runestone. The park also offers the top portion for private use for special events such as weddings, reunions birthdays etc for a fee.

Transfer from state to city park

The Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department announced in March 2011 that it would close the Heavener Runestone State Park on August 15, 2011, due to budget cuts.[5] However, the City of Heavener agreed to assume ownership and operation of the 55-acre park beginning July 1, 2011.[6] The park is now managed by a group of volunteers that make a 501c3 non profit organization.

Notes

References

  1. ^ "Heavener Runestone State Park". Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
  2. ^ Wallace, Josh. "Oklahoma runestone is impressive but not from Vikings, Swedish scholar says". NewsOK. May 27, 2015. Accessed August 6, 2016.
  3. ^ Brandes, Heide (October 31, 2022). "The mysterious Viking runes found in a landlocked US state". BBC. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  4. ^ Tompsen, Lyle (2011). "An Archaeologist Looks at the Oklahoma Runestones". Epigraphic Society Occasional Publications. pp. 5–43. Retrieved March 27, 2013 – via Academia.edu.
  5. ^ Regina Smith (March 5, 2011). "Heavener Runestone State Park Closing Due To Budget Cuts". Poteau Daily News. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011.
  6. ^ Mary L. Crider (June 11, 2011). "Brushy Lake State Park Transfers To Sallisaw". The Times Record.[permanent dead link‍]

See also