Hoosier experiment in 1827, before Brown was a county. And they did not quickly die out, they just dispersed to other, more successful communities back east.
That means there was no Shakers and no bell in Belmont. But there was a Post Office in Belmont from 1884 to 1916. I know this because Wikipedia says so and because I have come into possession of a few postcards that are postmarked, Belmont Ind. 1909.
In fact, I have over a hundred of turn-of-the- 20th-century postcards that were mailed from places that no longer exist and some that do, like Belmont. At least the idea of Belmont exists. There are signs indicating this. I am having some fun trying to find these places and imagining life in those times and places.
I can only imagine how lonely it must have been for people who lived outside of reasonably sized villages. No internet, no cell phones— in fact there were darned few to no phones at all. What they did have was a little country store and a Post Office. These were probably one and the same.
In most small communities the Post Office was situated in the local general store. They were places to run into a neighbor, buy a sack of flour, and pick up mail— some postcard tokens of affection from the wider world.
My guess is, that when Belmont’ s Post Office was abandoned so was the little country store. A Post Office would guarantee some traffic for the store. So, that means that after 1916 there was no longer a community center left, just a name on a sign.
This was cause and effect and happening all over the country. It was around the time that Rural Free Delivery( RFD) was being instituted, so country folks were getting their mail delivered to their doors or at least to their mailboxes. But it must have been a real loss for most people living out in the hills.
Since Belmont is about half way between Nashville and Bloomington that meant that if you got a serious craving for society, you had to travel eight to ten miles to get to a population center.
I know that ten miles doesn’ t sound too terrible today but imagine having to travel by buggy or horseback in 1909. I don’ t care how well kept the State Road was it couldn’ t have been easy going over Kelley Hill to Nashville or climbing the hill out
of the Salt Creek valley to get to Bloomington.
The next time you’ re headed out on Highway 46 and you come around a curve and see a sign that says Belmont, at least slow down and give a thought to a young girl in another forgotten rural community, who, on a mid-August day, in 1909 received a postcard with a color picture of an attractive young couple, with a caption that said,“ I love you.”
I bet she was thrilled silly. •
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