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National Park Mystery Spot 17 Revealed: If You Like Doric Columns, You Need to See This One

By Bob Janiskee - October 14th, 2010

The world's tallest Doric column is the hallmark feature of Perry's Victory & International Peace Memorial. Photo by UUMickey via Flickr.

To solve the National Park Mystery Spot 17 puzzle, you needed to work with these clues:

• Isn't that the one in which "Old Ironsides" earned eternal fame?
• Isn't that what happens if I don't get the short end of it?
• Isn't that strangely frightening, maybe like seeing a ghost?
• Isn't that the guy who played Chandler?
• Isn't that the biggest one ever built?

The answer is Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial. Located at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, this national park commemorates Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Erie (aka Battle of Put-in-Bay) on September 10, 1813, during the War of 1812.

Here is how you can work through the clues.

The USS Constitution earned its nickname "Old Ironsides" in honor of its victory over the British warship HMS Guerriere during the War of 1812.

If you don't get the short end of it, you've won -- that is, you've achieved a victory.

Something that is strangely frightening, such as a ghostly apparition, has an eerie character.

The actor who played Chandler on the long-running TV series Friends (September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004) is Matthew Perry.

The centerpiece attraction of this National Park System unit is a Doric column of unusually large size. Soaring 352 feet from base to tip, it is the biggest one ever built. On a clear day, people standing on the observation deck can see Cleveland, Toledo, and Detroit.

Oh, and about that photo clue posted with the puzzler yesterday. The fish in the quizmeister's hand is a bass. (OK; this fish is small enough to be called "bait" in Texas or Florida, but it's still a bass.) While the general location of Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial is the village of Put-in-Bay, Ohio, the specific site is South Bass Island.

Postscript: Be glad you weren't standing near the column on that day in 2006 when a 500-pound block of granite that was loosened by freeze-thaw weathering broke off from the column's observation deck and plummeted 315 feet to the plaza below. Deterioration of the memorial is currently being addressed via a TARP-funded renovation project that will cost about $7 million and take several years to complete.

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