Give your heart some love!
Try substituting extra virgin olive oil in place of less healthy fats like butter, mayonnaise, margarine, and other cooking oils. Not only is it good to use for roasting, frying, or sautéing, but it’s also good as a butter substitute in baking.
Extra virgin olive oil is rich in heart-healthy fats, vitamins E and K, and antioxidants which help fight inflammation and chronic disease.
We’ve been bringing great taste to you since 2012 from our inviting little shop in the heart of Brown County, Indiana.
We have curated a flavorful collection for your tasting pleasure with plenty to offer for foodies, the experienced cook, or the novice. It goes well beyond the high-quality olive oils and balsamics we built our reputation on. We’ve added jams, pastas, dipping oils, salsas, sauces, and much more. Come in for a tour of tastes and let us be your guide. You’ll be wild about our shop. Shop us online from anywhere, anytime at www.thewildolive.com
Brown Co Craft Gallery
Brown Co Model Trains
Brown Co Inn
Brown Co Winery
The Cheeky Owl
48 Clay Purl............................................. 41
Head Over Heels
Healing Hearts &Memory Making 58
Hoosier Artist Gallery
Kith & Kindred Gifts......................... 25
Lightspinner Studio-M. Sechler
Michael’s Flowers
Moonshine Leather
Nashville Spice Co............................ 63
New Leaf
Redhead Apothecary
Rhonda Kay’s
Gallery
C. Steele Art
The Totem Post
The Toy Chest
Uncommon Gourd-Rosey Bolte
Wishful Thinking
Woodlands Gallery
ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC
Brownie’s Bean Blossom Rest. ....... 49
Brozinni Pizzeria
The Candy Dish
Carmel Corn Cottage....................... 49
Cedar Creek Winery
Common Grounds Coffee Bar
Country Heritage Winery
The Ferguson House Bistro & Bar
Hard Truth Distillery
The Harvest Preserve
Heavenly Biscuit
Helmsburg General Store
Heritage Candy Store
Hoosier Buddy Liquors
Hotel Nashville
House of Jerky
Miller’s Ice Cream
Nashville BP
The Nashville House
28
25
3
58
Big Woods Pizza
23 Brown Co Inn
Brown Co Music Center
Brown Co Playhouse
Country Heritage Winery
Hard Truth Distillery
The Nashville House
Sycamore Saloon
FOOD & BEVERAGE
Abe Martin Lodge
Artists Colony Inn
Big Woods Pizza
Brown Co IGA
The Cheeky Owl ............................... 48
Head Over Heels .............................. 19
Moonshine Leather ......................... 18
JEWELRY
B3 Gallery ............................................ 3
Brown Co Antique Mall ................... 18
Brown Co Craft Gallery ................... 13
The Cheeky Owl ............................... 48
Hoosier Artist Gallery ..................... 22 Juls Etc. .............................................. 24
Kith & Kindred Gifts......................... 25
New Leaf ............................................ 19 Old McDurbin Gold & Gifts ............ 56
Rhonda Kay’s .................................... 44 Spears Gallery .................................. 22
The Totem Post ................................. 13
Touch of Silver Gold & Old ............. 24
LODGING/CAMPGROUNDS
Abe Martin Lodge ............................ 30 Abe’s Corner - Hidden Getaway .... 25 Artists Colony Inn ............................ 25 Brick Lodge ....................................... 31 Brown Co Health & Living .............. 61 Brown Co Inn .................................... 14
Cornerstone Inn ............................... 15
Harmony Tree Resorts..................... 41
Hills O’ Brown Vacation Rentals .... 45
Hotel Nashville ................................. 31
Moondance Vacation Homes ........ 41 North House ..................................... 31
Seasons Hotel & Event Center ....... 15
PET PRODUCTS
Bone Appetit Bakery ....................... 13
PHOTOS
B3 Gallery ............................................ 3
Hoosier Artist Gallery ..................... 22 Spears Gallery .................................. 22 REAL ESTATE RE/MAX Team ................................... 62 RECREATION
Grandpa Jeff’s Trail Rides ............... 52
Harmony Tree Resorts..................... 41 SERVICES
Amish Roofers .................................. 51 Dr. Lisa Baker, DDS .......................... 44 Kara Barnard Lessons...................... 56 Bear Hardware’s Bagged Trash ...... 60 Blitz Builders ..................................... 58 Blue Elk Family Clinic: Dr. Larry Sanchez .......................... 61 Misty Sanchez- Mental Health .... 62 Bluestone Tree .................................. 59 Brown Co Convention & Visitors Bureau ................................... 4 Brown Co Eye Care........................... 60 Brown Co Health & Living .............. 61 Brown Co Massage .......................... 45 Brown Co Tire & Auto ...................... 60 Brown Co Community YMCA ......... 62 Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp Tracy J. Landis ................................ 29 Heartland Tattoo .............................. 61
Healing Hearts &Memory Making 58 Helmsburg Sawmill Inc/ Pool Enterprises Inc ......................... 61 IN Seamless Guttering .................... 61 McGinley Insurance (Farmers)....... 61
Michael’s Flowers ............................. 18 Nashville BP ...................................... 58
Precise Books & Payroll................... 60 Rainwater Studios ........................... 62
Rambling Dog Design - SIGNS ...... 62 Zieg LeDoux & Assoc....................... 60
SHOES
Head Over Heels .............................. 19
Moonshine Leather ......................... 18
The Totem Post ................................. 13
SPECIALTY SHOPS
Bone Appetit Bakery ....................... 13
Brown Co Model Trains ................... 12
Clay Purl............................................. 41
Fallen Leaf Books ............................. 13
Fireplace Center ............................... 48
Head Over Heels .............................. 19
Healing Hearts &Memory Making 58
Health For U ...................................... 61
House of Jerky .................................. 48
Michael’s Flowers ............................. 18
Moonshine Leather ......................... 18
Nashville Spice Co............................ 63 Redhead Apothecary ...................... 58
Weed Patch Music Company ......... 19 The Wild Olive .................................... 2 Wishful Thinking .............................. 48
WEDDINGS
Abe Martin Lodge ............................ 30
Artists Colony Inn ............................ 25
Harmony Tree Resorts..................... 41
Hotel Nashville ................................. 31
OTHER
Amish Roofers .................................. 51
Blitz Builders ..................................... 58
Health For U ...................................... 61
Flower and Herb Barn ..................... 61
WFHB Radio ...................................... 62 WFIU Radio ....................................... 62
Jeff Tryon is a former news editor of The Brown County Democrat, and a former region reporter for The Republic. Born and raised in Brown County, he currently lives with his wife, Sue, in a log cabin on the edge of Brown County State Park. He is a Baptist minister.
Joe Lee is an illustrator and writer. He is the author of Forgiveness: The Eva Kor Story, The History of Clowns for Beginners, and Dante for Beginners. He is an editorial cartoonist for the Bloomington Herald Times, a graduate of Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Clown College, and a veteran circus performer.
Mark Blackwell no longer makes his home in Brown County where “the roadway is rough and the slopes are seamed with ravines” He now resides within sight of the sixth green of an undisclosed golf course. He was born in the middle of the last century and still spends considerable time there.
Julia Pearson wrote for a Franciscan magazine for ten years and served as its human interest editor. She now resides in Lake Woebegone Country for life’s continuing adventures. Julia enjoys traveling and visiting museums of all types and sizes, with her children and grandchildren.
Chrissy Alspaugh is a freelance writer and owner of Christina Alspaugh Photography. View her work at <ChristinaAlspaughPhotography. com>.She lives in Bartholomew County with her husband Matt and three boys.
Jim Eagleman is a 40-year veteran naturalist with the IN DNR. In retirement, he is now a consultant. His program “Nature Ramblings” can be heard on WFHB radio, the Brown County Hour. He serves on the Sycamore Land Trust board. He enjoys reading, hiking, music, and birding. Jim and his wife Kay have lived here for more than 40 years.
Cindy Steele is the publisher and editor of this magazine. She sells and designs ads, sometimes writes, takes photos, and creates the layout. For fun, she likes to play the guitar or banjo and sing.
Paige Langenderfer is a freelance writer and consultant. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Indiana University and her master’s degree in public relations management from IUPUI. Paige lives in Columbus with her husband and daughters.
Ryan Stacy and his wife recently moved to Pennsylvania and continues to stay connected with our Brown County. He appreciates good movies, good food, and enjoys cultural events. His other interests include reading, photography, and playing music.
Boris Ladwig is a Columbusbased journalist who has worked in print, online and TV media in Indiana and Kentucky and has won awards for features, news, business, non-deadline news, First Amendment/community affairs and investigative reporting.
*Tim Tryon hails from Hamblen Township where his roots run deep and wide. He has spent most of the last thirty tears kicking around the Lower Salt Creek Valley, playing and teaching music, and taking a few photographs along the way. Tim counts the paintings of T.C. Steele and the photographs of Frank Hohenberger among the many inspirations for his photographic adventures.
Special thanks to Michele Pollock for her poem and photos, and to Bill Weaver/Joe Lee for the Remember When reprint.
Thanks, Mom, for making it happen!
Born in 1899, this artist painted landscapes like most of the early Brown County artists, but he first made a living as art designer for a big city newspaper, ad agency, calendar company, and greeting card publisher. He invented and patented the “Pop-up” concept for children’s books. He was probably most famous for creating toys that were found in Cracker Jacks from the late 1930s on through the 1960s. His home/studio on the big hill, just south of Nashville, produced millions of toys. Who is this artist?
As they approach their winery’s 40th anniversary, Dave and Cynthia Schrodt look forward to handing the reins of the business to their sons.
Dave started Brown County Winery in a rented garage in 1985.
“We were too poor to have our own garage, so we had to rent one,” Dave said. “It was a real struggle at first. We didn’t have a lot of resources. Everything we had, we put towards the business.”
Another challenge the winery faced was a strong “anti-alcohol” outlook in the community.
“There was a lot of resistance from a lot of different levels,” Dave said. “There was a letter to the editor in the newspaper every week about it. That made it really tough, but we made it through—I think because we weren’t a bar and we didn’t serve by the glass.”
In the rented garage, Dave produced five varieties of wine the first year.
“I was an experienced winemaker and I felt like there was an opportunity in Brown County to make wine and sell it,” he said. “I was one of only nine wineries operating in Indiana at the
”I decided to make wines that were very simple, fun, country wines. They tasted good, were fun to drink, and had a wide ranging appeal.”
—Dave SchrodtDave and Cynthia Schrodt. courtesy photos
time. I could not believe that you could make a living doing something that was so much fun.”
Dave based his wine list from the fact that most people from the region were not familiar with wine.
“I decided to make wines that were very simple, fun, country wines. They tasted good, were fun to drink, and had a wide ranging appeal,” he said. “People didn’t quite know what to do with wine, so we began offering free tastings. They would say it was the best wine they had ever tasted.”
Very early on, Dave took an interest in making a variety of fruit wines, including blackberry, plum, and cranberry.
“Not all of those first decisions were good ones, but we still sell several of the first wines,” Dave said. “The fruit wines became our flagship. People love them because they are flavorful and aromatic.”
Experimenting with different flavors has been one of Dave’s favorite parts of the job.
“It’s fun to try new things and see what people think,” he said. “We really get instant feedback and can change things so that our products are what people want. And I tend to agree with them most of the time.”
Cynthia started working full time at the winery in 1994.
“We were making enough sales that we could afford for me to quit my job,” Cynthia said. “I took over the business side of things. He was in the back making wine and I was in the front selling it.”
Cynthia said the customers have been her favorite part of the job.
“We get people from all over the United States and from different countries. We have customers who have been coming back for 25 years. It has been a lot of fun meeting people and connecting with them as they come back every year,” she said. “People are usually in a good mood because they are on vacation and wine is an easy sell to make.”
Cynthia said she believes there is one main reason people continue to come back.
“We want people to have a good experience every time they visit us. We try to make the wine tasting very approachable so that people feel comfortable,” she said. “We tell them to trust their taste buds.”
The winery has grown considerably from the days in the rented garage.
Dave and Cynthia built the current winery location in 2000 and have added to it twice since.
In 2021, the winery sold 30,000 gallons of wine. That is 150,000 bottles.
Cynthia continues to work in the office a few days a week, but Dave has handed over the reins of wine making to their son Jonas.
Jonas, 38, said he remembers helping his parents with the winery at a very young age.
“My job was bottling and it was much less automated than it is now,” he said. “It was fun, but it was work too.”
Jonas said his parents never pushed him and his brother Ben to take over the business.
“Coming back to the winery and working was always an option, but they didn’t push it on us,” he said. “They just supported us in whatever path we chose.”
Jonas said his dad was a great teacher.
“He was really great at making a consistent product
and building relationships in the industry,” Jonas said. “He was also very good at explaining the process and telling me why he did things a certain way. He is mostly retired, but I ask him for advice all the time. It really helps having that experienced adviser.”
Ben, 35, has taken over much of the office work, including payroll, taxes, and paying bills.
He also remembers bottling wine when he was very young.
“The winery is like two years older than me,” Ben said. “I basically grew up in the winery.”
After college and a 10-year career in the biomedical engineering industry, Ben said he was ready to go back to the winery.
“Being out in the world required me to move around a lot,” he said. “Coming back to the winery is more stable. Plus it feels cool to be helping run it now.”
Ben and Jonas agree that their parents built a strong, successful business and they hope to continue the legacy. While they hope to grow in some ways, they plan to keep most of the business the same.
“There are about a dozen wines on the list that have been there since almost the beginning and they will always be on the list,” Ben said. “One future goal we have is to expand distribution into Ohio and Kentucky.”
Currently, Brown County Winery wines are sold throughout the state of Indiana through distribution. The company has been shipping across the country since 2019.
The winery is located in Gnaw Bone, at 4520 State Road 46 E. There is also a downtown tasting room located at 47 E. Main Street in Nashville. Both locations are open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
For more information visit <browncountywinery.com>.
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284 S. Van Buren • Nashville, IN (next to Subway) 812-988-2267
Evansville schools last year put out litter boxes in bathrooms for students who identify as cats. At least that was the rumor spreading in the community.
The rumor was so persistent that EvansvilleVanderburgh School Corp. Superintendent David Smith addressed it in a school board meeting. “There are no litter boxes in our schools. Period. There never will be,” Smith said, according to the Evansville Courier & Press.
Brown County resident Bob Gustin, a retired newspaper editor, worries about those kinds of incidents, which have increased in frequency in the last few years, primarily because of social media. Gustin has given presentations in Brown and Bartholomew counties to provide people with tips on how to distinguish real news from fake news, whether satire, rumor, misinformation, or disinformation.
Gustin is a Colorado native who got a journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. After working for papers in Colorado and Nebraska, he joined the staff at the Evansville Courier in the mid-1980s. He switched to the Evansville Press and, when that paper folded, he moved to Brown County and became managing editor of The Republic, in Columbus. He retired from there as editor in 2011.
Gustin lives in rural Brown County with his wife, Chris, who runs the Homestead Weaving Studio. The couple have two adult children, Erin, a psychologist; and Andrew, a geologist.
Gustin said that in retirement, he has tried to engage in the community in meaningful ways, joining the Brown County Literacy Coalition, the Brown County Community Foundation Scholarship Committee, and later the board of the Brown County Library, where he recently gave his presentation on fake news.
The term itself has become a victim of falsification, of sorts. Fake news used to refer to news articles that were intentionally false, but it’s been lumped in with rumors, satire, and erroneous reporting, where the author made a mistake but did not mean to. More prominently, and in a more sinister way, the term is being appropriated by politicians who label as fake news anything that
”There’s fake news on the left. There’s fake news on the right. There’s fake news in the center.”
~by Boris LadwigBob Gustin giving a Brown County Public Library lecture. photo by Chris
Gustin
makes them uncomfortable or that doesn’t conform with their preconceived notions (or that of their supporters).
While some types of fake news merely make people who believe it look silly, other types can have serious consequences, such as when people spread false information about polling places, terrorist attacks, or the effectiveness of vaccines.
Gustin said the more he researched the topic, the more he came to understand the nuances and extent of the problem.
“There’s fake news on the left. There’s fake news on the right. There’s fake news in the center,” he said.
To home in on that point, Gustin in his presentation uses a chart from Ad Fontes Media, which scores news sources on bias and accuracy.
“Media such as The New York Times might be high on reliability but have a left wing bias. And media such as The Wall Street Journal may be high on reliability but have a right-wing bias. And (podcaster) Joe Rogan might be right in the center for political bias, but way down at the bottom in terms of reliability.
Gustin said he most trusts the Associated Press, which ranks high on accuracy and low on bias.
“I also contend that your local daily newspaper is one of the best sources of unbiased news reporting. And our example here in Brown County of the Brown County Democrat is a case in point. That newspaper has been the best or nearly the best weekly newspaper in Indiana for over a decade, as determined by the Hoosier State Press Association.”
“But local newspapers are struggling,” he said. “They’re struggling financially. They’re struggling circulation-wise. And as their financial struggles continue, staffing is cut. And as staffing is cut, it becomes harder to produce the same newspaper… with fewer people. And so that makes newspapers even more important now than they have been because of all the other sources of information and primarily the Internet where basically anybody can post anything they want, without any regard to the truth. So it becomes a very confusing landscape.”
The explosion of electronic media and the ease with which people can put information online also has fractured every American’s perception of reality, in part because people can choose a news slant that fits their own biases.
Gustin urges people to consume their news from multiple sources and to be aware of those sources’
Jan./Feb. 2023 • Our Brown County 27
GUSTIN continued from 27
bias and reliability for accuracy.
“If you like CNN, watch Fox once in a while to see what Fox is doing. And if you like Fox, watch CNN once in a while to see what the other side is presenting,” he said.
And, Gustin said, don’t rely on either of those two as your sole news source, because the channels actually present little news, and a lot of people talking about the news.
“If people watch those talking heads giving their opinions about the news, and believe that is the straight, unfiltered news, then that becomes consumption of fake news,” Gustin said.
People also should pay attention to how often they see news outlets acknowledge that they’ve made mistakes, he said. Human beings, even in the best news organizations, make mistakes, and they should acknowledge the mistakes they’ve made and correct them.
“When I was editor of The Republic, I put corrections on the front page. I thought they were important, and we put them in a prominent spot,” he said. “I think that helps news media credibility, rather than hurts it.”
While false information has existed for as long as information has existed, Gustin said false information now travels much more quickly because of so-called social media, which amplify and spread primarily news that generates strong feelings, and usually negative ones.
It’s a sad thought, he said, that many people get their news primarily from Facebook, which has few filters or “truth patrols.”
“When I was a kid, if I wanted to find the answer to a question, and it wasn’t in my family’s set of encyclopedias, I had to go to the library to find…the answer. And maybe that’s why I love libraries. Now you can research things and find good credible
answers (online), but you can always also find all of these lies and misrepresentations. So it becomes harder, instead of easier to find the truth because there’s so much information available so readily.”
Brown County resident Randy Jones, who attended Gustin’s presentation at the library, called it informative and useful.
Jones said he has shared the media bias chart with friends and family, so that they’re aware of the leanings and accuracy of the news source they consume.
“I think it’s a real concern that more people need to hear about.”
Jones, 69, was an environmental scientist with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management but moved to Brown County with his wife, Marcia, from the Newcastle area after retirement.
The self-professed bibliophile serves on the Friends of the Library board because he said
he believes libraries serve as a “vital resource for any community.”
They are “refueling stations for the mind,” he said.
They’ve become even more important as people are being bombarded from every direction with information. A lot of people unfortunately don’t access newspapers and instead rely on information they get from social media, where, as Gustin points out, there are few filters or truth patrols that protect people from false information.
Sometimes, Jones said, people have to do a little bit of work to figure out whether the information they’ve been given is accurate and fair.
Jones said Gustin’s presentation provides people with some help on how to figure that out. And getting people to read, listen, and watch with a bit more skepticism can help inure societies against threats both foreign and domestic.
“It’s a lot easier to fool people than to convince them that they’ve been fooled,” Jones said.
Former newspaper editor Bob Gustin has put together some tips on how to spot fake news: Bias and accuracy: Be aware of where your news source stands on bias and accuracy. Check the Ad Fontes Media bias chart, which you can find at <tinyurl.com/hznkpsx2>.
Diversify: Get your news from multiple sources, especially if your primary news source has a particular slant.
Be skeptical: If it sounds outlandish, be suspicious. Check to see whether other news outlets are covering the story. Ask yourself who benefits from this story being out there. Sources to trust: Associated Press, local newspapers, network news (Gustin says the 10 p.m. shows on ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox are generally unbiased and accurate.)
Beware of social media: Before you hit that “share” button, run a quick internet search or check with fact checkers to verify the story’s accuracy, especially if the story is on a site that seems sketchy.
As a local mortgage lender who lives and works in Nashville, I understand the area and would love to help finance your next home, vacation home or investment property! Contact me today to learn more!
Tracy J. Landis
Loan OfficerNMLS #256205 Office: 317-658-5933
tracyl@fairwaymc.com www.landisloanpro.com 91 West Mound Street Nashville, IN 47448
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Opportunity. FW1790703
Jan./Feb. 2023 • Our Brown County 29
Independent Mortgage Housing
King Bee and The Stingers with Zeno Jones January 7 at 7:30pm
The Maltese Falcon Radio Play February 3 & 4 at 7:30pm
Greg Hahn & Dave “The King” Wilson February 17 at 7:30pm
Henry Lee Summer February 18 at 7:30pm
Tab Benoit with JD Simo February 21 at 7:30pm
Chris Collins & Boulder Canyon
John Denver Tribute Band February 24 at 7:30pm
Escape The Music of Journey February 25 at 7:30pm
Dogs of Society
The Ultimate Elton John Rock Tribute March 4 at 7:30pm
There are lot of folks who look forward to the winter months. They can hardly wait to indulge in skiing, sledding, ice skating, and hockey, “dashing through the snow,” and “walking in a winter wonderland.” I suspect that there are even some people who get all tingly contemplating shoveling their driveways. But that’s a tribe I don’t belong to—anymore.
Back in my younger days, sometime in the mid-part of the last century, I could get excited about a big ol’ mid-winter snowfall, especially the kind that heralded school closings. I remember sliding down big hills at breakneck speed, building snowmen, and tracking wildlife. I also remember spraining my ankle ice skating on a farm pond, snowball fights, and getting smacked senseless by hard-packed ice-balls to the head.
I remember breaking ice to water the livestock and wondering how old the youngest person was to die from a heart attack shoveling snow. I remember being frozen to the bone. We didn’t have any fancy North Face insulated underwear and “puffer” jackets like they have now. I did have a SearsRoebuck long handled union suit, complete with the flap in the rear. And I remember, at times, wondering what hypothermia feels like…and is this it?
Well, I am not young anymore, and I am not interested in how much punishment my body can endure. I am now more than fifteen years past my first senior discount and I have
learned many lessons over the years, chiefly, if nature puts something on the ground, it is not necessarily my job to rake it or shovel it.
However, enough of reminiscing about winters past, let me tell you about how to enjoy a good snowfall or any random winter day for that matter.
First, you need some essential equipment—a comfortable chair, doesn’t really matter what kind just as long as it’s comfortable. It’s also nice to have some kind of lap robe to keep the chills at bay. Second, you need a good source of radiant warmth. That can be anything from a wood stove to a fireplace, or even a space heater. Third, a warm libation, coffee, tea, hot cocoa, or toddy, if you like. And fourthly, a good book to get lost in.
To help you out, I’ve made a short list of books concerning the history and culture of Brown County.
My first choice is a history book from 1884, Counties of Morgan, Monroe and Brown, edited by Charles Blanchard. You can find editions at your local library. It contains general historical overviews of the county as well as the development of the various townships, up to 1884. The bad news about the book is that it is 800 pages long, not including the index. The good news is that you can skip the first 678 pages because they are histories of the other two adjoining counties.
The next book is: If You Don’t Outdie Me, by Dillon Bustin, 1982 Indiana University Press. This is a book about Brown County in the 1920s, based on photographer and journalist Frank Hohenberger and the folks he photographed. It is a very intimate look at some of the folks who still populate the stories and myths of the county. It is my favorite telling of Brown County in transition from the “county that time forgot” to artist colony and tourist destination.
Another good general history is History and Families Brown County 1836–1990 by Dorothy Birney Bailey. This is a locally but professionally produced history of the different aspects of Brown County—from the first settlers, to the schools, churches, and post offices. It covers various prominent families and enterprises that made up the economy. Like If You Don’t Outdie Me, this history is generously illustrated with photographs. For county residents, there is a lot of information about families which are still here and might be your neighbors.
I am sure there are folks out there who wonder about just who is this Abe Martin character and what’s he got to do with Brown County, anyways? Well, the next book on my list, The Best of Kin Hubbard, by David Hawes, is a good introduction to the feller who said, “Talk is cheap or some folks would be broke all th’ time.” And “A friend is like an umbreller. He’s never there when you want him, an’ if he is, he’s broke.”
Frank McKinney “Kin” Hubbard was a selftaught artist who worked at The Indianapolis News as a sketch artist and caricaturist. It was there that
he created “Abe Martin” in December of 1904. He moved him to Brown County in early 1905, where he stayed for the next 26 years commenting on whatever topic caught his attention. Abe is pretty much the heart of the county.
Any list of books about Brown County must include The Artists of Brown County, a1994 large format book by Lyn Letsinger-Miller with a forward by Rachel Perry. From the turn of the 20th Century right up to the present,Brown County has been home to a colony of artists of national and international repute. This volume contains stories of 16 artists, along with a generous assortment of color reproductions of their works.
So, there you have it—a good way for cold weather haters to stay warm and comfortable. Just ignore the frosty miseries and educate yourselves. And maybe when the rest of you come in from the weather, you will consider settlin’ down in a rockin’ chair, warmin’ up by the fire, and learnin’ a little more about good old County Brown.
Jan./Feb. 2023 • Our Brown County
photos by Tim Tryon
The schedule can change. Please check before making a trip.
Mar. 11 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Mar. 17 Girl Named Tom
Mar. 19 Scotty McCreery
Mar. 26 Lewis Black
Apr. 26 Brian Regan Apr. 30 Buddy Guy May 17 Chicago 812-988-5323 www.browncountymusiccenter.com
Feb. 3 Davis & Devitt
Feb. 4 Spanks & Friends
Feb. 9 Steve Plessinger & Devin Brown
Feb. 10 Coot Crabtree
Feb. 11 The Hammer & The Hatchet
Jan. 7 King Bee and The Stingers with Zeno Jones
Feb. 3 & 4 The Maltese Falcon Radio Play
Feb. 17 Greg Hahn & Dave “The King” Wilson
Feb. 18 Henry Lee Summer
Feb. 21 Tab Benoit with JD Simo
Feb. 24 Chris Collins & Boulder Canyon John Denver Tribute Band
Feb. 25 Escape - The Music of Journey Mar. 4 Dogs of Society
The Ultimate Elton John Tribute 70 S. Van Buren Street 812-988-6555 www.browncountyplayhouse.org
Open Mic Nights Wed. 6:00-9:00
Hill Folk Series Thurs. 7:00-9:00
Fri. & Sat. Live Music 8:00-11:00 Acoustic Brunch (AB) Sat. Noon-3:00
No (AB) on Jan. 7, 21, 28; Feb. 4, 11, 18, 25
No Music on Jan. 5, 6, 7
Jan. 12 Joel David Weir
Jan. 13 Gordon Bonham
Jan. 14 Dave Sisson (AB) Scrapper & Skelton
Jan. 19 The CoPilots - Chuck Wills & Braeden Brown
Jan. 20 All day - Brown Co Uke Festival
Jan. 21 All day - Brown Co Uke Festival
Jan. 26 Mickey Harden
Jan. 27 Luke Powers & Tyler Hood
Jan. 28 Rich Hardesty
Feb. 2 Jayme Hood, Joe Augustin, Tyler Hood (In the Round)
Jan. 19 Big Head Todd & the Monsters
Jan. 27 Rick Springfield
Jan. 31 Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Feb. 3 “Weird Al” Yankovic
Feb. 9 Josh Turner
Feb. 17 Dave Mason
Feb. 18 Dailey & Vincent
Mar. 8 Blue October
Our Brown County Jan./Feb. 2023
Feb. 16 Elkins Jamily
Feb. 17 Austin James
Feb. 18 Gary Applegate & Joe Rock
Feb. 23 Kenan Rainwater & Zach Benge
Feb. 24 Steve Smith
Feb. 25 Allie Jean & Friends
51 State Road 46 East 812-988-2291 www.browncountyinn.com
Music Fri. & Sat. 6:00-9:00
No Music Jan. 6
Jan. 7 Live Music
Jan. 13 Amanda Webb Band
Jan. 14 Live Music
Jan. 20 Forrest Turner
Jan. 21 Coner Berry Band
Jan. 27 Jason Dozier
Jan. 28 Ruben Guthrie & Albert Nolting
Feb. 3 Paul Bertsch
Feb. 4 Rusted String Swindlers
Feb. 10 Forrest Turner
Feb. 11 Wayne Pennington
Feb. 17 Live Music
Feb. 24 Forrest Turner
Feb. 25 Coner Berry Band
225 S. Van Buren Street 812-988-8500 www.countryheritagewinery.com
at Harmony Tree Resorts
Wed. Trivia Night 6:00
Thurs. Karaoke & Open Mic Night 8:00
Fri. & Sat. Live Music 8:00
Sun. Football Noon
Jan. 6 Forrest Turner
Jan. 7 Big John & Marguerite, Clearwater Band
Jan. 13 Ike and JT Hickman Jukebox
Jan. 14 Homemade Jam
Jan. 20 JT Hickman
Jan. 21 Throwback Trio
Jan. 27 Brandon Rutherford
Zion Crossroads
Jan. 28 1-4-5 Blues Band
Feb. 3 Rose O’Neal
Feb. 4 Big Dog Blues Band
Feb. 10 Eli Cherry
Feb. 11 King Bee & The Stingers
Feb. 14 Valentine’s Day Special
Feb. 17 Slide & Harmony
Feb. 18 Zion Crossroads
Feb. 24 Briana Faith
Feb. 25 Black Cat and The Bones 1292 SR 135 S, Nashville 812-200-5650 www.harmonytreeresorts.com
Big Woods Pizza
Jan. 21 Cookies & Canvas event
Feb. 18 Mardi Gras special menu 44 N. Van Buren Street www.bigwoodsrestaurants.com
Music at Abe Martin Lodge
Fri. & Sat. 5:30-8:00, in restaurant Brown County State Park 1810 SR 46 East, Nashville 812-988-4418
Most music 6:00-9:00
Jan. 6 Pressed in Black
Jan. 7 Joel Weir
Jan. 13 Zion Crossroads
Jan. 14 Jonah Leatherman
Jan. 20 JC Clements & Blankenship Band
Jan. 27 Justin Moyer Band
Jan. 28 Amanda Webb Band
Also, Canvas & Cocktails event
Feb. 3 Dylan Raymond
Feb. 4 Connie
Feb. 10 1-4-5s
Feb. 11, 14 Valentine’s special dinner menu
Love of Mixology
Feb. 17 Rich Hardesty & Little Nashville
Feb. 18 Mardi Gras special menu Feb. 24 Jenny & the Don’ts 418 Old State Road 46 812-720-4840 www.hardtruthhills.com
Brown County State Park
Jan. 1 2 mile hike 11:00-2:00 Strollers, wagons, bicycles, & leashed pets welcome. Interpretive stations, hot chocolate. Meet at Nature Center 812-988-5240 Eli Major, park naturalist emajor@dnr.in.gov
Brown
Jan. 6 Lake Ogle Hike 5:30-7:00
Feb. 4 Lake Ogle Hike 6:00-7:30
Mar. 4 Lake Ogle Hike 6:30-8:00 1.2 miles-moderate/but night rugged. Meet at Lake Ogle parking lot. No pets on night hikes. 812-988-5240 Eli Major, park naturalist emajor@dnr.in.gov
Brown County State Park
Jan. 7 Kelp Village 11:00-12:30
1.5 miles round trip-least rugged Jan. 14 CCC Ruins 11:00-noon
1.5 mile-easy to rugged Feb. 4 Lake that never was 11:00-1:30
2.5 miles long-very rugged Feb. 18 Bolder in the Tree 11:00-1:00
2 miles round trip-quite rugged off trail, dress for weather, creek crossings, boots essential Feb. 25 10 O’Clock Line 11:00-1:00
2.5 miles-moderate, along fire trail/Nature Preserve
Meet at Nature Center
No pets on off trail hikes
812-988-5240 Eli Major, park naturalist emajor@dnr.in.gov
Extreme
Jan. 14, 10:00-5:00 | Hard Truth Hills Extreme trail races-runners on a tour thru hilly terrain of Hard Truth Hills property. 418 Old State Road 46 812-720-4840 www.hardtruthhills.com
Jan./Feb. 2023
• Our Brown County
~by Ryan Stacy
Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent have been busy. As the multiple-award-winning bluegrass and country powerhouse Dailey & Vincent, the pair have spent the past year releasing a new album, touring the country, playing multiple dates at the Grand Ole Opry, and shooting the latest season of their own TV show. But they’re making time to visit us on February 18, when they perform as part of a band at Brown County Music Center.
Darrin’s story goes back way before he met Jamie, he says. Born into a musical family in Missouri, Darrin and his sister Rhonda—who would herself grow up to win a Grammy and become a member of the Grand Ole Opry—were raised playing and singing onstage. Since then, Darrin’s picked up a few Grammys himself, sharing stages and studios with icons like the Oak Ridge Boys, Dolly Parton, Earl Scruggs, and many others.
It was during his time with one of his highestprofile gigs, as a guitarist in Ricky Skaggs’ legendary Kentucky Thunder, that Darrin’s musical path crossed Jamie Dailey’s. Sitting with Skaggs and his wife Sharon in the audience at the International Bluegrass Music Awards years back, Darrin recalls, a vocalist in one of the show’s live acts caught his ear. It was Jamie, performing in Bluegrass Hall-of-Famer Doyle Lawson’s band Quicksilver. “We were all three just smitten by Jamie’s vocal performance that night,” says Darrin. “By the time it was over I was standing up, clapping.” He made a beeline for Jamie after the show to introduce himself, and in short order the two found themselves talking music at a Cracker Barrel one morning. In the parking lot, Jamie let Darrin listen to a recording of a song he’d just written, and the two gave singing it together a try. “Man, our voices just blended like it was
my family. We really had a kindred spirit there musically,” he remembers. “I really do feel the Lord has put us together.”
Dailey & Vincent was born that day, and there’s been no looking back. Since 2008, their albums have hit number one on the bluegrass chart, they’ve won armfuls of awards (IBMA, SPBGMA, Dove), and have been nominated for Grammys. They’ve toured and recorded alongside of the biggest names in the business, hosted a radio show together, and played with just about everybody on their Dailey & Vincent Show on TV, which is set to air its sixth season.
For Darrin, part of D&V’s success comes from the strong personal bond he and Jamie share. “We have a lot of the same beliefs, and it’s really refreshing and unique that our business works together, then we get out on stage and put a lot of wonderful people around us,” he explains.
Fresh off their Christmas tour, the pair and their band are on the road now to support their latest release, Let’s Sing Some Country. The album, which departs from D&V’s
signature bluegrass stylings in favor of straight-ahead country favorites, was released in September to a warm welcome. Their version of the Karen Staley song “I’ll Leave My Heart in Tennessee” on the album got some historical recognition last year, when it was chosen as an official state song.
Along with the new tunes, Darrin says, they’ll be playing crowd favorites and maybe even a surprise number or two. Jamie and guitarist Aaron McCune always provide a laugh in addition to great music, and Indiana’s own child mandolin prodigy Kyle Ramey—now full-grown and in the band—will be performing as well. “Our stage shows are fun and entertaining, and we work together and to bring joy to the audiences that we get the opportunity to perform for,” says Darrin.
For more information about Dailey & Vincent’s upcoming performance at Brown County Music Center, please visit <browncountymusiccenter.com> or call the box office at 812-988-5323.
There’s no predicting the exact piece of art that will emerge when Bruce Adamson’s twopound sledge begins working a glowing-hot horseshoe.
The farrier-and-artist, now a featured member at Hoosier Artist Gallery, knows that forged steel and equines, more often than not, have minds of their own.
But Adamson is uniquely attuned to watching a situation unfold and adjusting his plans accordingly: he’s also a Baptist pastor who has followed God’s unexpected plans for his life more times than he can count.
“I just keep a smile on my face and keep following Him,” Adamson said with a laugh. “God strengthens us to do whatever He gives us to do.”
So far, the 67-year-old has been given a lot. Adamson was 13 when his family bought its first horse. He was fascinated watching the farrier form horseshoes on an old coal forge. At age 18, Adamson began learning the trade himself. He fell in love with every aspect of the equine world, and even met his eventual-wife, Sheryl, in 4-H.
After high school, Adamson attended IUPUI and became an X-ray technician.
But at 21, he felt a calling to preach. He began shadowing several ministers over the next eight years, all while working in the field of radiology, as a farrier on the weekends,
and while the couple raised three children. At some point, the growing pile of old, leftover horseshoes also inspired him to repurpose them.
“I’ve always slept well at night,” Adamson said with a chuckle.
Though seemingly dissimilar, his careers as a farrier, radiologist, artist, and pastor all were interconnected.
“My office at the hospital often felt more like my ministry office than my church office did, counseling and praying with doctors and nurses who came to me emotional wrecks,” Adamson said. “And when I’m working with the horses, it’s crazy but probably 70 percent of the time, I shoe the horses, and then the clients and I end up talking about the Lord. It’s no different with my art: customers come in to talk, and the fact that I’m an open door to share Jesus inevitably gives me opportunities.”
He’s held church services for groups of neighbors in barns. He’s preached inside saddle club tents to an audience on horseback. He’s even shared his faith with a 4-H crowd sitting in bleachers waiting for another event.
“Your ministry doesn’t stop when you step out of the pulpit. That’s where it begins,” said Adamson, who has pastored four churches throughout his career and is currently working as an assistant pastor at Charity Missionary Baptist Church in Greencastle, where his son-inlaw serves as pastor.
After 44 years in radiology, the Danville resident retired as the director of radiology at Terre Haute Regional Hospital.
But his schedule still remains full—working as a farrier on the west side of Indianapolis, being involved with his grandchildren riding and showing horses, and creating custom horsethemed art in his metal shop.
His creations range from door hangers and coat hooks to a currently commissioned full-scale running horse and anything else his clients can envision. Adamson said he loves meeting with customers, sketching their ideas, and eventually forging them to into life.
“It’s exciting. I love to get to my shop and just get lost in the work,” he said.
Tom Duffy, the Hoosier Artist Gallery’s co-op president, said Adamson’s unique skill and style Continued on 45
continued from 43
have made him a great addition to the gallery. Hoosier Artist is a cooperative fine arts and crafts gallery featuring the handmade art of more than 20 southern Indiana artists, whose pieces include photography, glass, pottery, jewelry, painting, gourds, weaving, sculpture, furniture, stone, and more.
New art is juried, and the gallery eagerly welcomed Adamson as a member in February.
“We look for unique work that will stand out to our customers, and Bruce’s work with horseshoes is just phenomenal,” Duffy said.
The gallery’s member artists each work two days per month and occasionally give live demonstrations. Adamson said he loves getting to meet customers while working at Hoosier Artist.
“Not one day have I gone to whatever work I was doing that day thinking, ‘Boy, I’m going to reach a lot of people today,’” Adamson said with a laugh. “It’s just about being willing, able, and ready to be the piece of the puzzle that helps others find Him, whenever and wherever that moment comes.”
For more about Adamson and his art, visit <hoosierartist.com/bruce-adamson>.
Driving through Brown County today often has “Take me home, country roads” as a soundtrack in our minds. Not in the beginning, though. An estimated 150 settlers, with needed supplies for homesteading loaded into oxen-pulled wagons, made their way on narrow paths through hardwood forests, populating the hills by 1830.
On February 4, 1836, the Indiana State Legislature passed a bill to form Brown County from sections of Bartholomew, Monroe, and Jackson Counties. The county is 320 square miles of rugged wilderness. Jacksonburg was chosen as the county seat in 1836 and the town was renamed Nashville, after Nashville, Tennessee, in 1837. Records show that by 1840 the population had risen to 1,364.
Villages evolved in pockets of the countryside and were self-contained, with busker wagons bringing hardware and household supplies to homesteads. These communities had their own blacksmith, church, post office, medical doctor, and one-room schoolhouse. Dirt trails were often
rutted so deep that wagons pulled by oxen or horses were not possible, and horseback was the only alternative. Brown County family-lore mentions that some folks never made the trip to Nashville in their entire lives.
Cars showed up in Nashville in 1913, before the county roads were ready for them. In the special-issued hardbound pictorial by the Brown County Democrat entitled 175 Years of Brown County, the black and white photos show the story of Brown County roads better than any wordsmith listing dates and descriptions. The late Rob Lawless was quoted: “Nashville was very isolated. The road into town was a riverbed. A lot of artists walked into town—that was a means of getting here in the early 1920s.”
State Road 135 from Nashville north to Morgantown was built and hard-surfaced in 1933. On the four mile stretch of highway between Nashville and Bean Blossom is the Bean Blossom Overlook, a panoramic view of the entire Bean Blossom Valley. This was a popular pullover for day trippers making a Sunday afternoon one-
hour drive from Indianapolis. October would find 4,000-5,000 cars, with drivers and passengers alike, rubber-necking at the beautiful landscapes as they drove into Nashville for family suppers or to the Brown County State Park.
Wanda Bunge, who grew up on the Parsley family farm on Gatesville Road, said, “Everything changed in the 50s.” She noted that the Parsley home got its first telephone and indoor bathroom. Gatesville Road and other gravel roads throughout the county were hard-surfaced and automobile-friendly.
Passable roads brought tourists with their pocketbooks to Brown County. They were attracted to the beautiful natural scenery that inspired the artists of the famous artist colony that started around 1908. Music lovers came to Bean Blossom to the Bill Monroe Memorial Music Park and Campground, known and beloved by bluegrass and country music lovers internationally. Studios of potters, weavers, carvers, and crafters of musical instruments continue to this day.
Between Bloomington and Nashville, State Road 46 was improved until it was considered one of the best roads statewide. Drama students making up the company players for the Brown County Playhouse traveled the 16 miles from Indiana University to Nashville in the open bed of a truck for the Playhouse’s earliest production in the summer of 1949. Charles “Buzz” King wrote in an essay for 175 Years of Brown County how members of the DeMolay served as tour guides for the fall tourists. He said, “That was around 1960. That was a fun time, and that was when the transition started. In ’61 or ’62, they started building 46. That alleviated the
traffic coming in and that changed downtown forever.”
Barbara Livesey, a textile artist and collector of Brown County history and tidbits, noted when she moved to Brown County in 1998 that everyone driving a pickup truck carried a chainsaw, “just in case a limb is down it can be cleared from the road.”
Jim Kelp, who served as Brown County’s highway superintendent from January, 1994 until retiring in 2003, recounts helping out in the 1960s: “Back then if we had a snowstorm, it took two men shoveling sand out of the back of the truck onto the road.” In 1994, there were four trucks with snowplows. If people couldn’t get through due to snow, they would park the car and walk, returning the next day for their car.”
Founded about 1905 on the Illinois Central Railroad, Helmsburg was just two miles west of Bean Blossom. A nearby livery stable provided a buckboard for hire to take passengers to Nashville. A garage and filling station replaced the livery stable when the roadway provided a safe traveling surface for automobiles.
Employment was had in Monroe County, Bartholomew County, and even north in Indianapolis.
The roads led to the loss of the small communities. Post offices closed as mail was delivered to rural homes. The one-room schoolhouses were consolidated. Smithies and mills no longer peppered the hills.
Trails that became roadways retain their early names, and the settlements with names like Pikes Peak, Story, and Gnaw Bone have their own stories waiting to be discovered.
Jan./Feb. 2023 • Our Brown County 47
Charley Wilson repairing a Brown County road, by Frank Hohenberger.
~by Jim Eagleman
Itook a second look at the bird feeders one morning—something was different—not the normal chickadeenuthatch-titmouse convention, with doves and jays on standby. This time there was a group of large, chunky birds, with predominantly yellow and gray shades, and big bills. I watched them, males with females, and juveniles, too. I yelled to Kay, “evening grosbeaks,” as she said the same. What a treat!
Since that first encounter a few weeks ago, we’ve watched to see if they would come around again. Absent during mild weather, they returned at the onset of a cold spell. We thought their appearance here was a bit unusual. After confirming with friends, we began researching the behavior.
Biologists call it an irruption when a redistribution of a species occurs due to natural causes. It might be from a higher birth rate, followed by competition for food that results in an influx; weather, predation, and disease could also explain it. Recently, high numbers of purple finches and evening grosbeaks have been moving south from summer homes. Brown County residents who feed birds may notice them.
Evening grosbeaks are known for their thick bills. Their head feathers remind me of the University of Michigan football helmets. They arrived at the state park’s Nature Center bird observation window a few winters ago. We stocked sunflower seed feeders daily for a variety of birds. The year-round attraction gives visitors an up-close look through a one-way glass. I didn’t see them every winter, or with predictable cold fronts. They flew in from the nearest open vista, arriving at every feeder, noisy and busy. Soon flurries flitted down. Unlike the rose-breasted grosbeak, an unrelated springtime migrant here, these birds waited for the cold.
The evening grosbeak, or EGB to birders, is a member of the finch and old-world sparrow Fringillidae family, in the order Passeriformes. The length is about 8 inches with a wingspan of 14.5 inches. They weigh about two ounces and are short. Watch for field identifiers: white wing patches, a massive head, short tail, and pointed wings. The big bill, like the cardinal, is the standout. It
allows seeds of many kinds to be consumed, the hulls faintly turned, opened, then dropped as it feeds. “The evening grosbeak has the largest bill among the North American species in the family,” says Sibley in his Guide to Bird Life and Behavior.
This edition joins our companion copy of The Sibley Guide to Birds, a large and cumbersome field guide that has been taken on bird outings. Our well-worn copy shows the thick wavy pages from being dropped in a few creeks. Now we wait to consult both copies when we get back home and opt for something easier to carry. Like most birders, we find a small guide better, tucked in a back pocket, with hands free on the binoculars.
“You could do a lot worse than to be a bird watcher,” says Sibley, and probably other nature authors. Birds, and particularly winter birds, are easy to feed and certainly fun to watch over morning coffee when they feed voraciously at daybreak.
But what’s missing? Soon a few different feeders with different kinds of seeds, like thistle or safflower, are added; and a suet feeder; then a
heated water bowl; and a brush pile of discarded branches to provide needed cover. There you have it: food, water, and cover, the necessary ingredients for a successful winter bird feeding program.
People sometimes ask about the benefits birds derive from our feeding them. Birders will claim they put out feeders for the joy of seeing the birds. Do birds become dependent on our daily offerings? If we are away a few days and unable to stock feeders, will they suffer? Birds are far more resilient and resourceful than we might think. When they aren’t at our feeders, they resume foraging. Supplemental feeding is in addition to what they will find naturally.
The evening grosbeaks were here from what happened elsewhere in their range. While a temporary bonus for us in southern Indiana, it isn’t all that unique. Birds react to weather fronts and move where food and conditions are tolerable. Home feeding can help.
Why not start your own bird feeding program and look for these beauties this winter?
The snow caught in the grooves of oak tree bark is enough to stop me in my tracks. The snow cupped in the seed pods of the wild yam is enough to make me forget the temperature. That orange mushroom would have been reason enough to walk this far in the cold.
Oh, to stand in this glittery forest forever!
To listen to the pileated woodpecker thunk & thunk. To leave my own footprints in three inches of fresh snow, proof, at least for a while, that I was there. I was there.
Snow like dust collecting on the thinnest branches, on the tiny fluff of last autumn’s asters, last summer’s black eyed Susan seeds. Each beech leaf cradles snow. Each turkey tail mushroom a little shelf for holding snow. Snowflakes caught in old spiders’ webs, tiny garlands in the winter woods.
Michele PollockBoth of my parents were born in large families, so when I was growing up, I had scads of aunts and uncles on both sides. While my uncles were interesting in various colorful ways, it is my aunts who have lingered in my heart all these years.
On my mother’s side, there’s Aunt Flossie, Aunt Eula (Pat), Aunt Delores, Aunt Clara, and Aunt Josephine. On dad’s side there’s Pearl, Stella, Rose, and Mabel. I also have two Aunt Gertrudes and an Aunt Lucille by marriage.
Because my parents came near the end of those large families, some of my older cousins were roughly the same age as some of my aunts. I was pretty old before I learned that “Aunt Ruth” was really my cousin, just like Aunt Joann, and Aunt Molly.
These women formed a large support group/ communications network/work team that amounted to a huge extended family. When the women got together for mass food canning, or sewing, or laundry work days, we would run around having fun with all of our cousins like a big, happy family of primates.
Of all mom’s sisters, Aunt Clara was the one who stuck and stayed in Brown County. There was a fishing pond behind the house where we would swim with tire innertubes, and catch little sunfish.
Aunt Clara was the single hardest-working person I ever knew. I mean, she really knew what work was. If she was awake, she was working. She was from a very hard-working group. They all came up poor in the grip of the Great Depression.
They made big gardens and canned vegetables. As younger women, they worked in the canning factory at Trafalgar. They shepherded the flock of ornery kids, cleaned house, sewed, and did massive loads of laundry.
They produced three hot meals on the table every day. Every day.
Aunt Clara had lived in the old home place in Alabama and Aunt Pat lived here in Brown County, over in what is now the heart of “Arnoldville.” They switched houses. Clara moved here, and Pat moved to Eureka, Alabama.
Aunt Clara always had something to eat on the stove. No matter when you walked into her house—night or day—she’d say, “There’s a little stew (or chili, or soup) on the stove. Get you a bowl.” She was always feeding people.
For years I’ve had these mental pictures of my various aunts as older ladies. Now, I sometimes come across pictures of them when they were in their teens and twenties.
I was not as close to my father’s sisters as I was to my mother’s, mostly because of geography, but at least two of them had a big impact on me.
Aunt Rose was my favorite aunt as a child, and no wonder; she always brought me a birthday present and something really nice at Christmas. She gave me my first (and to date, only) model train set. One of the greatest Christmas presents ever bestowed, based on hours of fun provided,
was a tiny plastic “Give-A-Show Projector,” a kind of flashlight-powered slide projector you could shine up on the ceiling when you were supposed to be sleeping.
When I graduated from high school, Aunt Rose gave me a card with a crisp 100 dollar bill in it. This was mind boggling. I had never been in possession of such a thing before. I’m not sure I’d even seen one. This was not the sort of thing that happened in our family.
I have since learned that when the twins (my dad and Uncle Edward) were small, two of the older sisters each took one in charge. Aunt Rose took dad.
She lived to be a hundred and she never stopped reading, even when she was down to reading books one letter at a time with a super strong magnifier.
But of all my fantastic and saintly aunts, none is more dear to my heart than mother’s older sister Eula, who the family called “Pat.”
After Aunt Pat moved from Brown County back to Alabama, I would only see her one week of the year, when we went on summer vacation. But she was always the sweet one, the nice one. She was a strong character, a real mountain woman, and just as nice as the day is long.
When I was a teenager and into my 20s, I went to Alabama to seek my roots and try my chances in the newspaper business. Aunt Pat took me in as if I were her own, housed me, fed me, and was endlessly interested and supportive of me in all my endeavors. She was like the grandmother I never really had.
She was very wise and so kind and generous. She literally wouldn’t harm a bee. She knew all about animals and nature. She was a great
raconteur and keeper of the family history and genealogy, a devoted diarist and writer at heart.
Aunt Pat was a professional photographer for many years back in the days of the big wooden
box cameras and 4-by-5 sheet negatives. She took mostly portraits, including baby pictures of me and my brothers, all naked on the bed in the old fashion. She hand-tinted her sepia-toned portraits with transparent oils—truly a lost art. They were all women of strong religious faith.
My father’s sister Aunt Mabel would play the piano, and she would rock that thing, I mean really rock it. Of course, it was sacred music, hymns.
Shortly after I entered the ministry in mid-life, Aunt Mabel was visiting with some of my dad’s people. As they were leaving, she got me aside and asked me, real serious, “Now, when they ordained you, did they lay hands on you?”
“No ma’am.”
Aunt Mabel real quickly slipped her hand up around the back of my neck, bowed her head and asked a prayer of blessing on me and my ministry right then and there. No fuss, no muss, all done in 30 seconds.
They were all interesting people.
2010.
