Lenawee County History: April 8, 2024, solar eclipse was a positive, historical event

By the time this appears in print, the 2024 solar eclipse will be “old news,” but bear with me.

Last week, I pondered the April 8, 2024, total eclipse the night before it was to take place, because of column submission deadlines.

The eclipse, to me, exceeded all expectations.

I had never seen a total solar eclipse before. I saw an annular one in 1994, where the moon crosses the sun completely but doesn’t obscure it. I’ve also seen plenty of partial eclipses.

In order to be in the right place to see a full eclipse, a road trip was in order.

We pulled our young daughter from school to see this historical event, as her classmates would be watching the eclipse through an online video channel. Besides, where we live was only going to experience 98% totality. Our destination was Fremont, Ohio, but as we got closer, high clouds had us looking for a less cloudy place. The skies were still blue toward Port Clinton and Sandusky, so we recalibrated the GPS and continued on our way.

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People tend to remember the historical events based on their negative impact: 9/11, the start of a war, the assassination of a president. This was an opportunity to experience something memorable in a good way.

We practiced how to safely glance at the eclipsing sun with rated glasses, and talked about what to expect as it got slowly darker outside. Once we arrived at our destination in Port Clinton, Ohio, we camped out in a serene spot, away from others, and took the spectacle in.

At about 85% totality, you could feel the temperature drop slowly, and looking around gave the appearance of looking through sunglasses. By 98% totality, I told my daughter this is as good as it would get for her classmates, and to hang on, it was going to get better for her.

Within a few moments, the shadow of the moon crept up over the horizon, which itself had taken on a post-sunset glow that extended in all directions. The shadow turned the hazy blue sky to dark blue-gray, and then black as the line crossed the sun. My daughter excitedly said she could no longer see the sliver of the sun through her solar glasses, and when I looked up, I saw for the first time in my life a blacked-out sun, surrounded by the glow of its corona.

For 3 minutes and 29 seconds, we took in the sights, taking pictures, enjoying the view. In all directions, we could hear the distant, ethereal echoes of cheers, whoops and boat horns on Lake Erie. We captured a selfie with the blacked-out sun over our shoulders as the moon’s shadow withdrew from the area.

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Then, it was over. Daylight returned, and slowly the dull light brightened to full force. We made the two-hour drive back home, with traffic no heavier or lighter than any other day; that is, until we reached the area along the Ohio Turnpike south of Morenci. That is where our proverbial luck of the day took a downturn, resulting in a significant delay in getting back home. We were appreciative we didn’t run into the same on the way to the totality zone.

As it turns out, many of my friends were also in the area, some scrambling as we did on a whim to find the optimal place to view the eclipse. We all have fond memories of the event, and while the next one over Michigan won’t be until 2099, a number of us now have been “bitten by the eclipse bug,” and are thinking about driving to the southern U.S. in 2045 to relive what we experienced “back in 2024.”

— Dan Cherry is a Lenawee County historian.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Dan Cherry: Solar eclipse was a positive, historical event