Picture this, as a kid you move to Brown County, closer to your grandparents. You spend warm summer days at yard sales and ice cream shops.
Your grandpa takes you to town and introduces you to what feels like every person in the county, he suggests one of his “Brown County shortcuts” on the way home. You know it will take an extra half hour after he stops and points out every house on the street, but you don’t say anything. He loves to tell his stories and you love to listen. The sound of AM talk radio is on low in the background.
Once you learn your grandparents’ definition of “we’ll be right back,” you start taking extra books for the long car rides.
You start school. You love school then you hate school and then you love school again — oh wait, maybe high school isn’t perfect for anyone.
You joined county fair pageants as early public speaking lessons and never stopped talking after.
At every assembly, pageant, game or theater production, you see your parents sitting in the audience. Your mom even coached your Parks and Rec teams.
As you grew, you dreamed of seeing the world, what you would study in college and where you would go after.
In a small college classroom in Columbus, you learned what you wanted to do, in an Indianapolis hall you learned who you wanted to be.
You challenged your beliefs and sought out new ideas. But as you were growing, so was your town.
You come home to find that everything is the same, but different. The mirage of your hometown is hazy and contrasting. The modern reality is new artwork, businesses and street signs.
Just enough places have remained, but you’ve found yourself becoming an explorer of where you grew up.
I would like help, Brown County, as I re-acquaint myself with the makeup of Nashville. My proposal: a scavenger hunt.
I will provide a photo of myself in front of a building or place in Brown County, if you guess where I am correctly, you can win your very own copy of the book 175 Years of Brown County. It’s simple, I’ll give you hints and you can send us an email at [email protected] with your guess.
Check out my Where’s There this week to see where I am!
Dakota is a reporter for the Brown County Democrat. She is a Brown County Native and is re-learning the nooks and crannies of her hometown through her work.
