Parke County Indiana bills themselves as having the most covered bridges in the
country. There are 30 scattered about the county.
From Rockville there are 5 auto tour routes that you can follow to see them.
On Friday and Saturday we went on two (the red route and the black route). While on the tours we also stopped at three very small towns that were celebrating fall and their towns. Darlington, Bridgeton, and Mansfield.
Darlington's Old Fashioned Days included singing by local high school students. Some vendors with crafts and "junk". A great display of old restored tractors. My Dad would have loved seeing them. One was just like a tractor he used to own.
I bought a really pretty small Christmas table cloth at their Garage sale for a dollar. And two new pictures for 25 cents each. It was fun walking around this very small town (population 853) town for an hour or so.
That was Friday...then yesterday.. we stopped at Bridgeton. The Historic Bridgeton Mill is the oldest continually operating mill in Indiana. It has been open for over 180 years, and it was open for business when we arrived. There is also a covered bridge that was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 2006. It was rebuilt to resemble the original bridge.
We watched the owner mill wheat for bread flour. The mill has been a flour mill and a grain mill. Fire has forced changes over the years. But each time a fire occurred the mill was re-built and continued to operate. In 1970 a set of 48 inch French Buhr Stones were installed and it started operating as a grist mill again. The stones weigh over 2000 lbs and are estimated to be 200 years old. The stones grind the wheat into flour and corn into cornmeal. The small town of Bridgeton has 27 buildings in their National Historic District. We enjoyed walking around. They were celebrating with several crafts folk there showing off their skills. We watched a blacksmith create a rose out of metal. A lady was making a belt on a card loam. Another one working on a triangle loam making a scarf. We listened to some bluegrass music provided by a man with his guitar and a lady with a fiddle.
When going into one of the stores we were stopped by a lady that asked if we were from Carolina. I was wearing a blue Carolina t-shirt. We said yes..we were from Durham. And can you believe it..so was she..and her friend with her was from Creedmoor. Wow!!! What a small world we live in. They were up visiting her sister and brother in law who live in Greencastle not to far away. We spent several minutes talking with them. Miss Elli also enjoyed some ear rubbing. Turns out she had had a Dodie for many years before it passed away.
We continued following the black route (we had done the red on Friday) and on to Mansfield. They were having their Cornbread Festival. This small town is also built on the banks of lazy Big Raccoon Creek and is famous for it's covered bridge. They have a chair lift ride which as far as we could tell goes no-where..just up ...down a few hundreds yards..turns around and comes back..I guess it's so you can admire the view. Which is pretty good..with the bridge and the creek. In October the Covered Bridge Festival is held for 10 days and Mansfield is right in the middle of it all. They have a lot and I mean a lot..of spaces set up for vendors and parking. Too bad we won't be here then...:( I think it would be a sight to behold.
Today..we drove over to western Illnois to Arcola. They were having their Corn Broom Festival. Once upon a time, corn broom straw was a main crop in the area. This straw was used to make brooms of all sizes. Today the industry has pretty much gone away but the history is still celebrated. We watched a young man make a broom using the corn broom and a couple of different machines. Very much a hand crafted item. I learned there has never been a machine invented to harvest corn broom and that is one of the reasons the industry has been lost. Very expensive manual labor to harvest the corn broom and to then make the brooms. This festival was the largest we've been to. Many, many vendors. We listened to music and even watched a 7-8 year old kid petaled tractor pull. Girls and boys gave it their all to win ribbons and trophies.
We had lunch at the Dutch Kitchen right in the middle of the festival. This popular restaurant had pretty good fried chicken and baked steak. (We'd call it country style steak). Afterward we came home and enjoyed an afternoon nap. All this sightseeing is tiring!!! Then...football...football..football..how many games can you watch in one afternoon?? Ask Gary...I'm sure he'll be glad to discuss it with you. (my nap lasted longer than his did).
Hope you all are doing well..write(email) or call..we love to talk to you all.
Love, Deb
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