Musings
~ by Mark Blackwell
Lost and forgotten
When you look at 19th century maps of this area, you might notice a number of those towns, villages, and communities no longer exist. Some had names like Cleona, Kelp, Ramelton, and Hedgesville. Many shrank into hamlets and some disappeared altogether.
One explanation for the creation of these little communities is that when people were moving from one part of the country to another they usually traveled as a group. Most times there would be small bands made up of several families and / or neighbors that traveled together for safety, mutual aid, and companionship.
The people in these groups developed strong bonds after traveling together for weeks or months, facing dangerous situations, difficulties, and hardship. When they reached their destinations, the parties generally located close to each other. After erecting cabins, planting gardens, and settling in, they built a church or two, and a school. Inevitably, someone would start a
general store to sell necessities that could not be produced locally. The beginnings of a village grew into a town, or sometimes dwindled down and disappeared.
I have always been curious about the factors that make a community thrive and those that cause it to dry up and wither away. There are places like Helmsburg, where when driving through it you notice a very nice, stately brick building, a former Masonic Lodge. It stands there as a mute reminder that there was once more to the little village than there is now.
Part of my family can trace its roots back to 1811 in Indiana. They traveled from North Carolina through Kentucky until they landed in what became Lawrence County southwest of Brown County. They traveled with at least three other families and eventually stopped in what was then Indian territory, or close to it. The pioneers described a massacre with one settler dead, and one wounded and captured. No information was available concerning native casualties.
34 Our Brown County • Sept./ Oct. 2026