Tuesday, May 20, 2008

our house and town, circa 1895




(Etna, pretty much unchanged: 200-300 residents, post office, church and cemetery and playground BUT we no longer have the tannery, creamery, 2 stores, 2 hotels and train depot and school!)
Our house is the left hand white square on the left in each lower picture. There used to be a mill pond just behind the house, but the dam was blasted and the river resumed its course. People tossed all kinds of junk into the mill pond, and it is all still there, half buried along the river bank behind my house.
Etna was originally named Columbia, but because there were at least 2 dozen illegal whiskey stills in 1895 the name was changed to match the volcano named Etna in Sicily: because at night the town glowed like a volcano!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a thing for old towns and old houses. I might have a thing for whiskey, too. Maybe that is what I should name my dog? You know, the one I still need to adopt. Guess it needs to be a nice amber brown color! With smooth fur.

Reb said...

This is so cool Gary. I love old houses and historical photos.