Thursday, September 02, 2004
Batesville
I stayed at the library until late, then again made it just outside town to find a place to sleep. I picked a spot between the railroad running just south of the highway and a cornfield just south of that. I continued on to the small town of New Point, which again seems to be located mostly off the highway; all I found was a convenience store where I could sit for a while. I didn't expect to reach Batesville until late afternoon, but I was offered a ride by a gentleman who lives a couple of miles north of here in Oldenburg. He told me a little bit about the history of the town: it was settled in about the 1840s mostly by German immigrants. Oldenburg was settled about the same time, largely by immigrants from Oldenburg, Germany. However, when the railroads came through, it went through Batesville, which grew, and bypassed Oldenburg, which didn't. Bateville's present claim to fame is for manufacture of caskets, and for hospital equipment. When I mentioned that he was going through the library, he said that it has a fine library and hospital, (he also pointed out the golf course as we went by), in spite of its rather small size of about 5000, thanks to a "Sugar Daddy", the family that owned the casket factory. They are also responsible in one form or other for employing most of the people in town.
When I stopped in New Point, I found a table where I could sit down and do a little thinking and writing. I started rewriting the historical sections of the more populous nations based on the historical research I have done in the past few days. It may take a few more days before I can get through all of these. This is going to be a process of gradual improvement, rather than sudden large advances, and I still don't have a way to actually get it posted to the site. But eventually I'll get there.
I thought from the map that it might be another full day before I got to Batesville, so I'm pleased to get here in time to do this update. There isn't a good highway that goes directly from there to Oxford, Ohio, my next goal. I'm going to have to take some small county back roads. I don't yet have a good map of Ohio, but I expect that once I'm actually in the state I should be able to pick up a good state road map, which will help me out considerably in deciding the exact route I want to take.
When I stopped in New Point, I found a table where I could sit down and do a little thinking and writing. I started rewriting the historical sections of the more populous nations based on the historical research I have done in the past few days. It may take a few more days before I can get through all of these. This is going to be a process of gradual improvement, rather than sudden large advances, and I still don't have a way to actually get it posted to the site. But eventually I'll get there.
I thought from the map that it might be another full day before I got to Batesville, so I'm pleased to get here in time to do this update. There isn't a good highway that goes directly from there to Oxford, Ohio, my next goal. I'm going to have to take some small county back roads. I don't yet have a good map of Ohio, but I expect that once I'm actually in the state I should be able to pick up a good state road map, which will help me out considerably in deciding the exact route I want to take.
