This and That

Back to Brown County

By Helen Kaverman, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Tuesday, September 2, 2008 (4 months, 1 week ago)
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Once you’ve visited Brown County, Ind., you’ll want to go back again and again.
It’s really special when you can spend time with an uncle and aunt who live there. I was lucky enough to spend a week in July with my Uncle Ralph Grothouse and his wife, Christine.
We spent many hours reminiscing about family and living in Delphos and discussing Christine’s life in Germany before coming to the United States.
Christine was growing up in Germany when Hitler came into power. She HAD to spend at least a year as a young adult in the work camps. It was not fun and games. Her father, because of his Jewish grandmother, was sent to a concentration camp and was never heard from again. Christine’s family put her in a Protestant Nun’s boarding school to keep her from being discovered as having Jewish ancestry.
When the war was over, her hometown of Hermsdorf was part of the area of Germany which became part of Poland under soviet control. She managed to escape, with her dog, to Bavaria and was there the day the war ended.
Christine had many experiences to talk about. She asked me to collaborate with her in writing a book of her life. During our visit we spent many hours a day with the tape recorder, along with pen and paper.
We had time for other activities also … bird watching was especially fun, like observing seven or eight hummingbirds at the feeder at one time.
Their home up on Lanam Ridge Road was just like a state park resort and Christine’s cooking was even better than that of any five-star resort.
Ralph took us on a couple road trips through the county. Our first one was a tour of the Brown County State Park, with a stop for a nice lunch at the Abe Martin Lodge. There are many over-looks in the park to get a good view of the mountains or hills. (When do hills become mountains?) These were good photo opportunities.
It is especially beautiful in autumn, when the leaves change colors. There is a double-lane covered bridge (built in 1838) at the North entrance of the park. The state park includes a nice horse camp. My sister,  Beth, plans to return to Brown County this fall with her horse. They have special trail rides for campers.
On another day, we visited the home and studio of T.C. Steele, a well-known artist from Brown County. He was the best known member of the “Hoosier Group” of American impressionist artists. Steele was attracted to Brown County in 1906 by the spectacular scenery he encountered while hiking in the area. We toured his large historic studio and his House of the Singing Winds. The best I could afford was a set of four cards, including a winter scene and “Week’s Wash” of a lady hanging her weeks laundry on the line.
Because of the heat and humidity, we shopped very little but Nashville is a shopper’s heaven. I’ve been told there are more than 200 shops in the village. I never counted them. My favorites are the Holly Christmas Shop, the scrapbook store and the candy store, where you can buy delicious home-made fudge and salt water taffy. The town is full of good eating places and the area is a flea market paradise.
Many visitors enjoy the “Little Nashville Opry” with some of the big name country musicians.
There are other little towns like Bean Blossom, which has another covered bridge. The college town of Bloomington is nearby for those who want the mall shop. The nearby Monroe Reservoir is a really good spot in the area for camping and fishing and other water lovers. All this can be found just an hour south of Indianapolis.
The most scenic time to visit Brown County is in the fall, when the leaves are changing. The roads and town become pretty crowded at that time also. Get your plans ready because that season will soon be here.

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