White County Tour

I took a day of vacation today.  My goal was to find a headstone for two relatives who were buried in Monon, White County, IN.  I had limited time to accomplish this as we had a shortage of help to watch Dad at both ends of the 9 to 5 day shift.  As soon as the help arrived at 9:30am, I showered and then headed up I-65 towards Monon.  I was familiar with the route, since that was the way I used to go to visit my college roommate who used to live in Laporte, IN.  Once I exited the interstate, I called fellow blogger and author, Frank W. James.  I had met Frank briefly at an Indy Blogmeet a few months ago.  He is a farmer living in White County.  As luck would have it, Frank was heading south as I was heading north.  Frank said he would be home around 3pm and to call back.

Around 11:30 I arrived at the Monon library, a nice two story building.  I was shown to the Indiana Room where the genealogy materials were stored.  I asked the nice librarian if they had copies of the local newspaper back to 2002.  She handed me the book.  I think I was the first person to open this book as the crisp pages were stuck together.  I quickly found the obituary of the husband that I was seeking, and made a copy (10 cents...gotta love that).  This also told me the name of the cemetery, Bedford Cemetery, east of town about 5 miles.  I drove there and was noticing what a beautiful cemetery it was, overlooking Lake Shafer.  I was going to park my car on the far end and work my way back through the cemetery.  As I parked the car, I looked up and saw the name Weaver.  It was the headstone I was searching for.  I got my camera and also wrote down the information on paper.  Then I headed back to town.  Now that I had the wife's date of death, I found her obituary and made a copy.  I walked out of the library at 1pm with my two obituaries and a photo of the headstone.  I couldn't believe the good luck I was having.  

One of the librarians suggested a restaurant just north of town.  It was called The Whistle Stop and is a part of a railroad museum called the Monon Connection.  The Monon Railroad was a famous railroad that ran for many years from Chicago to Indianapolis and down to Louisville.  A great portion of the railroad's path through Indianapolis has been converted to a trail.  My friend Nora lives right off of the Monon Trail in Indy.  

The restaurant was quite busy and the food was good.  They had a restored caboose on the property that you could walk through.  I had no idea that they were that large.   I really would have liked to tour the facility but by now, I needed to start heading back south. 

I called up Frank and he said he was home and to stop by.  I love the fact that most of Indiana has converted to a numbering system for their rural roads, for 911 emergency purposes.  Even with a house number and a street name like 6250 E 700 S, I easily found Frank's house.  His barn has a big smiley face on it, so it was hard to miss.  We talked about farming, crops, animals, genealogy, and guns.  Frank is a real down-to-earth guy.  He's calls 'em as he sees 'em.  I'm sure glad I looked him up.  I hope he does the same if he ever heads down towards Indy.  Frank's a good egg.

I hit the road about 4pm and was home in just under an hour.  I may have exceeded the speed limit a smidge.  It sure was fun to get out and blow some stink off.  Hadn't done that in a while. 

Comments

[Hoosierboy]

I was in Monon on Wednesday for work.

[cliff]

Nicely done descriptive entry Jerry. I wouldn't have been so lucky.

[Rachel]

Seems luck was with you Jerry!! Glad you got a day out and about.

No picture of the smiley face barn??