Parke and Montgomery Counties in Indiana

We spent yesterday visiting the county roads, small towns, and rural areas of Parke and Montgomery County here in Indiana.  It has been very hot during the day and not cooling down much in the evening so sleep has been a little tough.  Since there are records of our family members coming from or having lived in this area we decided a road trip was in order.

Mia's side of the family has strong ties to the area while the only record of my family is my great great grandfather and his family having lived in the Marshall, Indiana area.  Mia's family hail from Crawfordsville and Waveland.  Waveland is a small town in south west of Crawfordsville.  Crawfordsville is a decent size city with a college population.  We went to Waveland early yesterday to see the sites.  It is pretty much boarded up with very few businesses still operating.

We went into the area around Waveland to get a sense of the rural life.  There is a large contingent of Amish in the area and the comparisons between them and the other folks is staggering.  While the modern farmer uses mechanization the Amish still use horse drawn farm equipment.  The modern farmer can work ten times the fields that the Amish farmer can.

Most of the farm yards are beautiful.  Nicely kept houses with yards and barns.  Wednesday must be wash day for the Amish as just about every farm had clothes hanging to dry on long lines above the farm yard.

We found several of Mia's relatives in the local cemeteries.

We found one of the 31 covered bridges in Indiana.  It is a long bridge across a very muddy river.  No swimming is allowed.  A sign says there have been drownings and you will be prosecuted.

In the late afternoon we spent time trying to find one of the homestead houses built sometime after 1912 by one of Mia's family ancestors.  With the help of our son and two or three trips into the rural area we were able to find the house.  We knocked to see if it would be okay for Mia to have a picture on the porch but there was no answer so we took some quick pictures and beat it.

The sun is rising and the birds are chirping while off in the distance a train is making its presence known.  Time to fix breakfast, get ready to do some laundry, and visit the local library.

Hope all is well and thanks for stopping by.