I've been riding my bike from Downtown to Lunken Airport, and along the way I noticed this sign:

Past the sign, hidden in the darkness of very dense foliage, is a half acre of green space.  There are a couple of tombstones visible, and they're not in the best of shape.

The first recepient of the Purple Heart is buried in a forgotten graveyard in Cincinnati?  Why is this ignored?  Why isn't this talked up? 

Well, it's because a) no-one can confirm he's there, and b) Sgt. Brown may not be the absolute first.  What we know as the medal for being wounded or killed in combat didn't start out as the Purple Heart.  But, that aside, this website, which apparently is the go-to for Purple Heart trivia, (enjoy the music), says Brown was one of the first three.

Even more interestingly, while several sites have said what exactly Brown did remains a mystery, Find a Grave has an account of the action at Yorktown.  And, they say in 2004, a new marker was placed in the nearby, and more accessible Pioneer Cemetery. 

Sgt. Brown's final resting place is unknown.

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On the other side of Cincinnati, in Lower Price Hill, there sits a former church.  St. Michael's closed as a church in 1998.  Now, it's being renovated and used as an artist colony/convention center.

I pedalled past it a few weeks before being invited to final night of the 2012 Cincinnati Film Festival.  (Saw Jay Gilbert there too.)

And in a week, they're hosting a TED Cincinnati event.

It's a very cool building to walk around in, even though it's a little rough around the edges. 

And they have foosball!