Although it is long past, a review of the 4th of July parade that took place in a small nearby hamlet is not to be forgotten. [was meant for 12 July posting.] This parade had been recommended with the warning, ‘Don’t be 5 minutes late, you’ll miss it’. We drove to the hamlet down a tree covered single lane road. Along this road is a pond and a remarkable well-preserved covered bridge. The parade was scheduled for 12 so at 11:45 we parked at the corner of the T-crossing between the river and the church. This is one of those places that must be seen to be believed. The church sits on the crest of the hill next to the road that leads to the crossroads in the center. At the cross roads is an old hotel, complete with ballroom on the 3rd floor that is now functioning in some fashion as a house. The nearly black painted siding on an old house across the street to the left of this former traveller’s respite has a garland of much used aluminum pots hanging on a rope above the porch railing. The front yard is a gaggle of whatever has chosen to plant itself there with a hand-lettered sign declaring it the ‘local flower museum’. Across the street, directly in front the now house/hotel is another empty grand hotel with a tree cluttered yard. This former hotel is backed up to the most beautiful bend in a wide, lazily flowing river. Apparently there was once a small active community here organized by a wealthy man who built the tiny train station for the train coming from the City on tracks running along the river’s edge. This minuscule station was at the end of the road coming down from the church, stopping at the water’s edge. He had built a mansion of sorts for himself and his family and a smaller residence next door for his mistress. Across the street from his house [at the T in the center] is a restored Victorian perched on a hill. It is here we park to wait for the parade to begin. For unexplained reasons, the procession begins with a service in the church. At service’s end, all 11 participants make their way down the road, direction the river. There is an antique truck with attached flags waving in the slight breeze, a family with a dog on a leash, an older woman, a younger woman, a man driving a contraption and a couple of folks weaving in and out around it. There is much cheering and loud radio music playing from the sidelines [Did the service involve weed?} Indeed, it happens so quickly that if you blinked, you missed it. At the rivers age, it all stops and a few minutes later the participants meander back up the road to meet their friends.
addendum
This is a more recent photo of hotel at river’s edge. Unknown why all the trees have been chopped down.
