The Spokesrider

One of the things that the rectangular survey system did was turn land into a commodity that could be easily identified, bought, and sold. Perhaps Adam Engle was someone who did a lot of trading in that commodity market.

I’ve already written about the surprise of my first-ever ride to Topeka in LaGrange County, Indiana. This was the road by which I rode on that day in 1997. The above sign about “Life in the Past Lane” wasn’t there back then. This is downtown Topeka, facing west (again). Just down the street and on [...]

Last week, in telling about the previous Sunday’s ride, I explained how after taking a mile of gravel road, I came to a place where I decided to continue on gravel instead of taking the paved road. Here’s the intersection where I made that decision. Except I remembered it wrong. I didn’t take the gravel [...]

Douglas Hurt writes about land speculators in “The Ohio Frontier” (1996). Smaller property owners resented the land speculators, not because they owned more land than everyone else, but because they didn’t pay much in taxes. If they were required to pay taxes at the same rate as others, they would have to sell their parcels [...]

The David Rogers Park is near the south end of HawPatch road, at the head of a branch of the Elkhart River. I nominate it for the world’s most tranquil, refreshing rural park. Maybe it’s different when a lot of people are here, but I’ve hardly ever found other people here. One time it was [...]

This road, from the beginning of last Sunday’s ride, is now added to my list of favorites. It’s not quite in the same league as the Hawpatch Road, but it’s a pleasant 5-mile stretch where the motorized traffic has been very sparse every time I’ve ridden there. Map of the road This map shows the [...]

Most of the buildings along Hawpatch Road are neat and Amish white. But there are a couple of derelict buildings. One is a church. The other is this old school. At least I presume it was a school. There is also a newer-looking Amish school down the road. This derelict looks like it never was [...]