Life was tenuous for both young and old, and the photographer often worked against time to provide a family with images of the living before his efforts became memorial. Ping photographed people at work and play. Images abound of stiffly posed groups in front of sawmills, churches, schools, and lodge halls; families in front of cabins or newly framed houses; couples with buggies; and children at play.

Nine years before Abraham Lincoln was elected president, Story came into being. In 1851, Pres. Millard Fillmore granted a land patent to Dr. George Story for the creation of this little town. Tucked into a scenic spot near the Hoosier National Forest, 13 miles southeast of Nashville, Indiana, Story lies deep in the heart of historic Brown County. And Story is just one reason to visit Brown County, also known as "the Art Colony of the Midwest." Amid forests, rolling hills, and winding country roads, charming Nashville is home to more than 120 shops, art galleries, and artists' studios and neighbors two villages quaintly named Gnawbone and Bean Blossom. The beauty of Brown County has always attracted artists and history buffs. Wander back roads across covered bridges that have spanned sparkling streams for more than a century to retrace the paths taken by artists seeking to capture the county's beauty.

This talented author has again accomplished the impossible by bringing her colorful characters to life in a very entertaining way as only she can do. Read aboutthe young boy who discovered a beer box airplane made a wreckage of his plans to fight the war..the older couple who loved squirrel meat; she couldnt see, he couldnt hear so they hunted together quite successfully..the old soldier who thought bathing made him smell like a sissy.. the storekeeper who made and sold pickled dog..the older woman who whipped her naughty chickens.. the young mother who was prepared to shoot an invader.. the couple who dated 48 years before finally marrying and why they waited so long. Read all of these stories and many more in this exciting, easy to read historical document. You will laugh and cry all the way through this book.

The story of this Midwestern state and its people, past and present: “An entertaining and fast read.” ―Indianapolis Star Who are the people called Hoosiers? What are their stories? Two centuries ago, on the Indiana frontier, they were settlers who created a way of life they passed to later generations. They came to value individual freedom and distrusted government, even as they demanded that government remove Indians, sell them land, and bring democracy. Down to the present, Hoosiers have remained wary of government power and have taken care to guard their tax dollars and their personal independence. Yet the people of Indiana have always accommodated change, exchanging log cabins and spinning wheels for railroads, cities, and factories in the nineteenth century, automobiles, suburbs, and foreign investment in the twentieth. The present has brought new issues and challenges, as Indiana’s citizens respond to a rapidly changing world. James H. Madison’s sparkling new history tells the stories of these Hoosiers, offering an invigorating view of one of America’s distinctive states and the long and fascinating journey of its people.