Columbus Day?

Tin can banjos for sale

I have mixed feelings about the controversy between Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day, but I'm pretty clear that having a national museum closed on a minor holiday when folks might actually have the day off to visit is a really dumb idea. Particularly when the choice to remain closed is not evident on the website. It was Google and Yelp that informed us, not the site itself nor the message on their answering machine. Sigh.

Ruthie is moving and I have had a week of contractors behind me and a week coming up so we decided we'd claim a "found" day and head home. On the way in to Cincinnati, we stopped again at the lovely town of Metamora,

Lunch!

IN to visit the shops, pet the draft horses, shoo the ducks and admire the only wooden aquaduct still functioning in America.

We were hungry and when we asked around we were directed to The Smelly Gourmet. The menu was pretty limited to a ribeye sandwich with caramelized onions which was pretty good. But the real discovery was their "hull-less" popcorn. Apparently Smelly's (we didn't ask) nephew, in deference to folks suffering from diverticulitis, developed and now cultivates hull-less varieties of popcorn. I have

Main Street

brought a bag home to try but if the caramel corn I had for dessert was any indication, I may be mail ordering my popcorn from now on. The stuff was good and my dentist should have no complaints. I took the picture of their wall of tin can banjos for my son who used to enjoy making them and teaching his fellow 4Hers how to make and play them. At $32 a pop, he might should get into making them again.

My grandmother Burnside's family came from Metamora, the Gordons. Any history of Metamora starts with their incorporation in 1838. My late friend and

Little Free Library

amateur historian, Bill Dow, years ago sent me an article about a Scottish experimental community by the name of Metamora. Wish I could find it. My Gordon ancestors were mentioned. Indiana, at one time, was full of experimental communities--communes long before the age of hippies. Residents shared property and all worked for the community good, until they didn't and my great something grandparents moved away

Horse drawn canal boat

and in 1835 build my grandmother's house. I have asked several times, and searched the Internet for the history of Metamora before 1838. Either the town is ashamed of their hippie past or the Scottish community was located somewhere else, but family lore has it as the Metamora we visited. The shops and scenery are fun and we make a point to visit whenever we are in the area. That said, the state of the buildings and the merchandise for sale indicate the difficult economic situation of the local farmers that might visit for a Sunday afternoon to ride the canal boat or the

How a canal crosses a creek

steam train with their grandkids.

We did enjoy the good food. And we bought some stone ground cornmeal from the water-powered grist mill. We didn't buy any chatchkas this trip but I suspect we'll be back to support them as we can. They are working hard to keep this town of 188 going. And they do bother to keep the correct hours on their website...

Mill dam at the start of the canal