When one is “pretty sure” one knows where one is going-it’s best to have a map.

In this gadget-filled world there would only need to be a few entries into a GPS and locations automatically would pop up inside the car, if not outside too.

A smart phone is another marvelous electronic marvel that has the potential for identifying destinations-a voice will even locate one’s preference for coffee, restaurants, clean rest-rooms, stores, etc. However, if one is as inept as this writer, who has trouble with a hand-cranked can opener, programing said devices is beyond the horizon.

Therefore, it is best to have a map. Paper map, printed with street names, road names, towns, cities and if one is lucky-history.

With a new interest in exploring Miami County, much like our past Rambling Roads columns about Clark and Champaign Counties, we procured the latest DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer for Ohio. A whole book of maps and loads of information about each county is contained therein. If one can get excited about a map, this book brought on smiles, exclamations of Wow and an overall sense of direction for future trips.

Immediately perusing Miami County pages turned up an interesting point. Long lost towns are right there with current ones. We identified some from a program we attended back in the summer at the Troy library given by Douglas Christian. The program brochure identified twenty small communities which at one time thrived with houses, stores, railroad stations and post offices.

Eventually, with the advent of modern transportations, the communities broke up and were abandoned. One might still see an occasional remnant of a barn or store or homestead. Names that stood out were Cowlesville, Polo, Clayton, Blind Corners, Mulberry Grove, Circle Hill, Pattytown and Brown (Brown Station).

While it would take a lot of research into families who made up those communities in order to get a better picture of life back then, with the help of old newspapers, we found some of these forgotten places when they were alive with activity.

The Cincinnati Star reported on June 18, 1875 that “a young man named William Heston, while fishing in the Miami River at Cowlesville, Ohio, drowned.” Recovery was that day underway.

The Eaton Democrat newspaper reported on May 21, 1885 that “the Indiana, Bloomington & Western, Ohio Southern, Dayton & Ironton, Dayton & Toledo railroads will sell special round trip excursion tickets to Brown’s Station, Ohio, on the occasion of the annual meeting of the Old German Baptist Brethren, to be held May 22 to 27. The fare from this point will be $1.50. These tickets will be on sale from May 18 to 26. Brown’s Station is on the line of the I.B.&W. Railway, between Indianapolis and Columbus, 124 miles east of Indianapolis and 60 miles west of Columbus.”

A satire of town names printed in the Evening Star of Washington D.C. of February 2, 1905 mentions Sodom, Ohio. “If a man coming from Sodom, Ohio expected to join the New York police force he most likely would be told that his own town must need his services more.”

And finally, the St. Landry Democrat paper in Louisiana, reported on March 21, 1885 that a mentally ill person (back then they used the term lunatic) was found near Brown’s Station. The report indicated “a wild man was captured near Brown’s Station, Ohio on the 14th. He had scarcely a shred of clothing on his person. He could not be understood and refused to eat cooked food. All attempts to ascertain anything of his history proved useless.”

Sometimes it is mystifying how a state so far away would print news of this region, when local papers failed to report it.

There are many other early settlements with their own stories hidden in the past, buried treasure for those willing to spend time digging. One has to wonder what prompted local people to name a village Pigeye or Ragtown. Was Polo someone’s last name who lived in that location? What was the road layout that lead to Five Points or Blind Corners? Did Mulberry Grove have a grove of mulberry trees? Was Summitville at the top of cliffs or hills, looking down on the newness of prairie and river?

One thing is certain. As settlers came into Miami County, they faced a beautiful, rich land. Beers History of Miami County describes it as having vast, fruitful plum thickets, crystal clear waterfalls and pristine rivers, blue limestone, thick prairies and rich grasses, plenty of deer, wild turkeys, honeybees and pigeons.

As we travel and explore this year, we’ll have our gazetteer open to present roads and past history. We’ll look for hints that some things don’t change; they only ripen to a rich heritage, caught for all time, in Miami County.

We’ll remember a worthwhile trip isn’t always measured in miles. It can be measured in a single moment’s memory.

Contact Connie at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Box 61, Medway, Ohio 45341

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