The Morgantowner: Brown County, Ohio

I wonder what it would feel like to be from a place that barely exists anymore? That question came up today exploring Brown County, Ohio. Wikipedia says this county is part of metropolitan Cincinnati, and that's apparent where I'm staying, in Mt. Orab, a town near the intersection of OH-32, the Appalachian Highway, which runs from the border with West Virginia at Parkersburg with US 50 to Athens, then continues to Cincinnati. At the intersection of OH-32 and US 68, there is a development of new houses, a giant Kroger, and a plethora of fast food restaurants. The rest of the county is a series of little farm towns, some looking empty.

The two most interesting towns, Georgetown, the county seat and the childhood home of Ulysses S. Grant, and Ripley, on the Ohio River, home of the Underground Railroad from Kentucky, are quaint and interesting to look at, but many of the storefronts in both towns are empty.

The sign at Mt. Orab (Hebrew Horeb, another name for Sinai?) say that it is thirty-six miles to Cincinnati, two counties over. There probably are places to shop in the closer-in suburbs west of here.

The young woman at the Chamber of Commerce-Visitor Center told me she is from Fayetteville, a smaller, unhappening town in the northern part of Brown County, but now lives in a town in the southwest part of the county, one I didn't visit. She swears her town is not suburban, and like many people I've met in almost-all-white rural areas, she can't imagine living in a big city. She recommended a restaurant up the street for lunch, and I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich with cheese and marinara sauce. Like most restaurant food, it had too much salt and came with chips and a pickle, putting the sodium content through the roof. They had homemade apple pie, so I declined the offer of either ice cream or whipped cream and had a slice. It was very good- good enough that I forgave myself the caloric indulgence. My check was $9.99.

For dinner tonight, I ate from the salad bar at Kroger, mostly salad (and some cottage cheese and Thai-style noodles). There were lots of sweet and salty selections. The bar was more boring than the Kroger salad bar in Morgantown.

Typically, I will eat at a small Chinese restaurant when I'm away, but there were no obvious Asians here. I nodded "hello" to one African-American on the street in Georgetown, and overheard two people greet each other in Spanish at Kroger. There is no sign that there was ever a Jewish presence in this county.

After arriving as it was getting dark yesterday, I only really explored today. I followed my plan-to be on the road by nine, stop an hour for lunch, go until four when I come back to my room for a nap. I saw probably nineteen of twenty-four places on The National Register. I didn't see any big park, mall or synagogue. I did see a small college run by the Ursulines, and a one-building community technical college. There is lots of farmland, fallow now, but usually planted in tobacco.

One thing that struck me is how General (and President) Grant is revered here. I could tell I was not in Virginia.

The high temperature today was 50 F., not as warm as it was last weekend, but still seven degrees warmer than average. The sun shone only briefly. The temperature was warmer on the Ohio River than inland by a few degrees. Indeed, I saw magnolia trees along the Ohio, but not inland.

There weren't a lot of people around to interact with and no traffic issues. The people I saw at the hotel, restaurants, Kroger and the Chamber of Commerce were happy to engage in conversation.

This is what I do for fun, and I enjoyed the Ohio River, the pretty towns, and the lack of anything to do except explore.

I did watch one hour of "The Voice" last night. We don't have a TV that works at home, so this was rare. I liked Jordan, because I thought he was the best singer, because he is a little gender ambiguous, and because he sang "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" from "The Sound of Music" and "God Only Knows" from The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" album. He was fortunate to have Adam Levine mentor him.

Next month (hopefully), Buchanan County, Virginia.