Brown County on My Mind
Hello lovely blog readers! Yes, I am alive. No, I did not slip into a coma. Yes, I have been caught up in one of the craziest months at camp. No, I have not abandoned you! My hiatus was hopefully just that, and hopefully breaks like that won't come again because I do love writing this blog.
In order to make up for my absence, I wanted to write about the place where I live, the place that I somehow fall more in love with pretty much every day. Brown County, Indiana is easily one of my favorite places in the world now, and I wanted to share some of the reasons why I love it so much.
The Nature
Brown County is literally famous for its beautiful scenery. Brown County State Park is the largest state park in Indiana, and it is packed with people for nearly the entirety of October who come to see the changing of the leaves taking over the rolling hills. If that doesn't exhibit the hysteria around trees here then the giant statue of autumn leaves in downtown Nashville might make it more clear. To live in a place that is popular because of its natural gorgeousness is such a gift. I find so much joy in driving the back roads and just getting to watch the incredible colors of the trees go by. There are certain points where I'm on one of the hills and I see the incredible trees laid out in the valley and I'm just so totally dumbstruck by the sheer awesomeness of how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place. I'm only half-joking when I talk about buying any log cabin on a back road that has a "For Sale" sign out front. One of those houses for sale has over 31 acres and a LAKE on one of the roads behind camp, so, dibs, obviously.
The county as actual Brown County has been around nearly as long as Indiana has been a state. It includes wonderful place names like Fruitdale, Gnaw Bone, and Bean Blossom. Part of the state road system even used to run through camp property, which I find endlessly amusing because I imagine a rickety little car in the 1930s trying to go up and down the ridges at camp. The county seat of Nashville grew in prominence as an artists' colony in the early 20th century, which it still is today. You can visit galleries for paintings, weaving, stoneware, glass fusing, glassblowing, wood carving, pretty much any kind of art that you can imagine. Going from attending a university that was the epitome of metropolitan college life to living in a county where the county seat has a population of just over 1,000 people has been an incredibly refreshing change. Visiting town and seeing buildings that have been largely unchanged for a century or two is so amazing for me, the self-confessed history lover.
The People
The nature and the history of Brown County are truly incredible, but none of that would matter if the people weren't as great as they are. Nearly everyone that I've met here has made me love BC even more, and pretty much every conversation that I've had has made me feel pretty uncool. However, to give myself a little credit, it's pretty hard to sound cool when you're talking to the local glassblower who has been working in Nashville for nearly 50 years while he is creating a life-size orchid out of molten glass. I got into a conversation with one of the local potters and I found out that her grandfather was actually the one who donated the land that became the camp where I work. We visited the local whiskey distillery and got a tour from the master distiller himself, who told us all about how all the grain they use comes from within 20 miles of the distillery and all of the partnerships that they have with local food businesses. I've gotten to meet local artists, impressive kids from the high school leadership group, and hilarious and hardworking staff that work on camp with me. Our facilities manager is from here but he used to be a photographer and videographer who traveled the world and lived this amazing and exciting life, and then he still decided that Brown County was where he wanted to retire and be with his family. Yesterday, I was able to work at the local YMCA's trick-or-treat trail. I had so, so much fun and I know that I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much if the kids hadn't been so adorable and the parents hadn't been so into supporting our awesome Alice in Wonderland theme. Even the man who redid all of the roofs at camp last year came by with his family. This job has given me such an awesome opportunity to build relationships with people in town, not just see them once and then leave town. I can truly say that I had one of the best Halloweens of my life because the people that I got to interact with were so wonderful (also $3 burritos from Chipotle). I just hope that living here makes me half as nice and interesting as the people that I've met.
In order to make up for my absence, I wanted to write about the place where I live, the place that I somehow fall more in love with pretty much every day. Brown County, Indiana is easily one of my favorite places in the world now, and I wanted to share some of the reasons why I love it so much.
My laptop displaying some of my loves: cupcakes, LUNA music, and Brown County, Indiana
Brown County is literally famous for its beautiful scenery. Brown County State Park is the largest state park in Indiana, and it is packed with people for nearly the entirety of October who come to see the changing of the leaves taking over the rolling hills. If that doesn't exhibit the hysteria around trees here then the giant statue of autumn leaves in downtown Nashville might make it more clear. To live in a place that is popular because of its natural gorgeousness is such a gift. I find so much joy in driving the back roads and just getting to watch the incredible colors of the trees go by. There are certain points where I'm on one of the hills and I see the incredible trees laid out in the valley and I'm just so totally dumbstruck by the sheer awesomeness of how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place. I'm only half-joking when I talk about buying any log cabin on a back road that has a "For Sale" sign out front. One of those houses for sale has over 31 acres and a LAKE on one of the roads behind camp, so, dibs, obviously.
The view of camp in all of its fall gloriousness
The HistoryThe county as actual Brown County has been around nearly as long as Indiana has been a state. It includes wonderful place names like Fruitdale, Gnaw Bone, and Bean Blossom. Part of the state road system even used to run through camp property, which I find endlessly amusing because I imagine a rickety little car in the 1930s trying to go up and down the ridges at camp. The county seat of Nashville grew in prominence as an artists' colony in the early 20th century, which it still is today. You can visit galleries for paintings, weaving, stoneware, glass fusing, glassblowing, wood carving, pretty much any kind of art that you can imagine. Going from attending a university that was the epitome of metropolitan college life to living in a county where the county seat has a population of just over 1,000 people has been an incredibly refreshing change. Visiting town and seeing buildings that have been largely unchanged for a century or two is so amazing for me, the self-confessed history lover.
A picture of the original jail from the late 19th century.
A modern picture of the jail. It's now a museum, but the building has been standing for nearly 150 years.
The People
The nature and the history of Brown County are truly incredible, but none of that would matter if the people weren't as great as they are. Nearly everyone that I've met here has made me love BC even more, and pretty much every conversation that I've had has made me feel pretty uncool. However, to give myself a little credit, it's pretty hard to sound cool when you're talking to the local glassblower who has been working in Nashville for nearly 50 years while he is creating a life-size orchid out of molten glass. I got into a conversation with one of the local potters and I found out that her grandfather was actually the one who donated the land that became the camp where I work. We visited the local whiskey distillery and got a tour from the master distiller himself, who told us all about how all the grain they use comes from within 20 miles of the distillery and all of the partnerships that they have with local food businesses. I've gotten to meet local artists, impressive kids from the high school leadership group, and hilarious and hardworking staff that work on camp with me. Our facilities manager is from here but he used to be a photographer and videographer who traveled the world and lived this amazing and exciting life, and then he still decided that Brown County was where he wanted to retire and be with his family. Yesterday, I was able to work at the local YMCA's trick-or-treat trail. I had so, so much fun and I know that I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much if the kids hadn't been so adorable and the parents hadn't been so into supporting our awesome Alice in Wonderland theme. Even the man who redid all of the roofs at camp last year came by with his family. This job has given me such an awesome opportunity to build relationships with people in town, not just see them once and then leave town. I can truly say that I had one of the best Halloweens of my life because the people that I got to interact with were so wonderful (also $3 burritos from Chipotle). I just hope that living here makes me half as nice and interesting as the people that I've met.
A very merry unbirthday, I mean, Happy Halloween!
Thanks for everything so far, Brown County. I love you!
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