Saint Meinrad Abby and sisters with beer

11 August 2018

Saint Meinrad Abby located in southern Indiana is a very large campus with a beautiful cathedral founded in the mid 1800’s by a group of Benedictine monks to support a growing number of German speaking settlers. The abbey is named after a monk who died in 961. The abbey normally has under one hundred monks in residence.

Today it is one of only two Archabbeys in the United States.  It also has a seminary school, other students and a guest house for conferences and those who just want to spend time at the abbey.  Our guide was a monk who has lived at the abbey for 66 years.  He provided a tour of all public spaces in the abbey along with an explanation on how the monks live and work in the abbey. He noted that their primary duties are daily prayers and attending mass 37 times a week.  He was very informative and clearly had a sense of humor in responding to various questions.

The grounds

The abbey

Main chapel

Monks meeting room

The decorations in the meeting room depict biblical scenes and the history and practices of the monks in times past and present

Small chapel

After the Abby tour we headed to the nearby Monastery of the Immaculate Conception.  It was not open for tours when we arrived, so we drove around a bit and discovered a beer hall directly behind the monastery buildings.  Since it was open, we headed in to check it out.  I was surprised at how busy it was. The beer was good, and our friend had a good time chatting up some of the people at our table.  I could not determine how many of the lady’s present might have been nuns.

Finding history in Vincennes, IN

10 Aug 2018

Our next stop was to visit our friends Helen and Jim in Indiana.  It is easy to find a place to stay since they have full RV hookups in their driveway.  One of the great things about visiting them is their local knowledge. In past visits we have seen a number of interesting and historical sites that we likely would not have visited on our own.

Vincennes is the oldest settlement in Indiana and the site of some important historical events. As you arrive along the riverfront, you immediately see the monument dedicated to the frontiersmen of the American Revolution. It is named in honor of George Rogers Clark.  He is considered to be the hero of Vincennes, as he took the British Fort with a very small force of men after an arduous journey to reach the town.  He fought in several other significant battles on the western frontier.

His background was also of interest to us, since he is one of the five elder brothers of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition fame.  All five of his brothers fought in the Revolutionary War but William was too young.

Within walking distant of the monument is the frontier home of William Henry Harrison. We enjoyed a narrated tour of the home, Grouseland, which was completed in 1804 and has many period artifacts and is designed for both comfort and defense with a basement area set up as armory and fortress.  This proved unnecessary as the home was never attacked.  Harrison would peak in his political career as the ninth President of the United States.  He is the shortest serving president as he died 31 days after taking office from pneumonia.  It is thought this may have been caused by his decision to make his inaugural address outside in the cold rain.  More interesting history on Harrison can be seen here. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed inside the home.

For history buffs, this is a must see.

Nashville, IN

9 Aug 2018

Nashville, IN is one of those towns that has essential turned itself in to a tourist destination, particularly if you like to shop.  Our main reason for this, our third time here, was to visit the For Bare Feet discount outlet.  Our first time here was made worthwhile by a tour of the Bare Feet factory which produced all American made socks and their discount sales outlet. These were quality socks.

The town remains a charming tourist destination, but unfortunately, we found that the discount outlet had been reduced in size.  The more disappointing change was that not all their socks were made in the USA anymore.  If the stock in the retail outlet was a representative sample, most socks are now made somewhere else. So, we passed on the socks.

We still enjoyed wandering around the town enjoying the designs of the store fronts.

When we thought about where we would stay, we decided to try the KOA, which had high ratings with prices to match. When we drove in, we took a quick look and decided to turn around and go back to the place we stayed the first two times.  The Westward Ho is along a main road and has all the facilities we needed with a friendly owner.  In fact, when we came in, he recognized us from previous visits and put us in one of his best and level sites.