Putnam County, Indiana is not only the home of Judy's sister Rita and husband Bob, but also that of many of Indiana's famous covered bridges. We have visited many of them in this rural, hilly farming area.
Heavily wooded hillsides, split by small, rushing creeks hide deer, turkeys, squirrels and coyotes. Traveling the many rural gravel roads through cornfields and meadows of hay often brings one to a beautiful view of an age-old historical bridge. The perfect spot for a picnic lunch.
For those who take their time and dig around a little, a visit to an old cemetery often uncovers interesting findings.
A leisurely day trip to seven bridges also included the discovery of the Boone-Hutcheson Cemetery, "home" to several apparent relatives of my boyhood hero, Daniel Boone.
The Putnam County Courthouse, center of the Greencastle city square, prominently displays on it's lawn one of the best preserved remaining German V I rockets from World War II.
These were the infamous rockets that fell on Great Britain and destroyed parts of London before the invasion of Europe. After the War, Werner Von Braun, developer of the V I, and many other German rocket scientists came to the U.S., primarily to White Sands Missle Range and Test Center, to become major contributors in what is now our NASA space program.
Another piece of interesting history around the square is the old Central National Bank building, site of the biggest heist of the John Dillenger gang.
On 10/23/1933, Dillenger and his buddies arrived here with tommyguns and left with almost $75,000 in cash. Clicking on the picture below will enable you to read it.
The building, now a retail store, is a National Historic Landmark. De Pauw, a small private university, is located near the town center. It's many beautiful buildings, fraternity and sorority houses, and students lend a cultural aspect to this quiet Mid-Western town.
After two weeks at Bob and Rita's house and a few earthquake tremors and aftershocks, we moved North to Illinois and a visit to see our kids and grandkids.
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