“Just a couple of Parke County Boys” or A series of fortunate encounters…

It is strange and surprisingly pleasant how our trips can lead us to encounters that we would not have imagined when starting out.  This past week The Princess and I headed out to Parke County, Indiana. Never been there before and only heard of its existence a couple of weeks ago. We had stopped at a Loves Travel Center to do a little spring cleaning of the tanks (if you have a travel trailer you know what I am referring to) when a particularly good-looking rig pulled in next to us.  I asked the driver a few questions which led to a 30-minute conversation and a tour of the rig during which I learned of Turkey Run State Park located in Parke, Co. IN.  We checked our schedule and took to the road.

After doing a little research I learned that the are 31 covered bridges within a short drive from the park.  We thought it would be fun to follow the gravel roads and find as many as we could during our given three-day time frame.  I wish we had planned for a fourth day but commitments at home prevented a longer stay. 

The first day out we tracked down a handful of bridges, took a lot of photos, explored Rockville and stopped at an antique shop; the Princess found a treasure we needed.  Seldom can Sherrie and I pass up an art gallery, here we found an oil painting by a local artist that just had to follow us home.

The second time we drove past a local winery it was late enough in the day (it was five-o’clock somewhere) to stop and sample. This is where another pleasant encounter made the trip even more interesting.  As it turned out the “Cross at a Walk Britton Winery” had only been open a week or so.  https://www.facebook.com/crossatawalkbrittonwinery/  While sampling a good chardonnay and then a merlot at the counter we met the owner, Terry Britton.  After we talked a little about his winery and a little about our quest to find the bridges, Terry told us that his great-great grandfather, JA Britton, and his great-grandfather, Eugene, had built many of the bridges in the county. The name of the winery is a nod to the covered bridges his family built. 

“Cross This Bridge At A Walk” is painted at each end of the covered bridges as a reminder to keep your horses at a slow pace to control the vibrations set off by their hoofbeats.  There is a lot of physics involved so I won’t take any further. The Britton family have been residents of Parke County since the early 1800’s.  http://www.indianacrossings.org/builders/britton.html )

We commented how beautiful the intricate iron work in the winery was. A beautiful fireplace hood, custom wine glass rack and some very interesting buzzards.  Terry Britton asked if we would like to meet the artist.

He introduced us to John Bennett by telling us they were “just a couple of Parke County boys”. https://www.jbartistblacksmith.com/ .  It didn’t long for this encounter lead us off in another direction for the rest of the evening.

After the glass of wine, we were invited back to the blacksmithing shop to see where he creates his art. I have seen historical recreations of historical blacksmith shops, never seen a modern one so we accepted the invitation.  After several miles of gravel roads and numerous turns, we were led to a small shop in the woods. 

The space was filled with heavy tools designed for pounding steel into works of art.  I can’t imagine how he accomplished it, but the artist actually built a spiral staircase inside this space. One of his specialities is building exact replicas of deer antlers for clients. The detail is truly amazing.

Between the time at the winery and the tour of the shop we enjoyed several hours of conversation.  As we were leaving John told us about a restaurant / bar across the valley that was owned by cousin.  It was past dinner time so we again followed him down some more gravel and found ourselves at Shoe’s Ridge Bar. 

A restored and converted barn. Big windows, nice view and great brisket sandwiches accompanied by more conversation. http://www.shoesridgebar.com .   If you are in the area and fortunate to be there when they decide to open, stop in since there is no telling who you might meet or where the encounter might lead.

Dennis and Sherrie