An elegant piece of history, this old pump seemed to be posing for me , so I stopped to take this picture. It stands gracefully and proudly beside the iron fence just like it has for decades. It doesn’t seem to know that it’s services have been replaced. Only the paint gives the slightest hint of age, the hardware stands as proud as if it were installed last week. This picture was taken in February of this year, but could have been taken ten years ago, or thirty years ago, and would look just like it does right now. This is limestone country and it’s entirely possible that the pieces supporting the fence could have came from the same quarry as the Empire State Building limestone or the limestone that helped build the Pentagon in 1941, then helped to rebuild the Pentagon in 2001 with stone from the same quarry the original stone was extracted from.

The grape arbor in the yard completes the picture, adding it’s beauty quietly in the background. The tiny town this picture was taken in sits buried in beautiful hills with a nearby river and is as far away from the nearest town of any size at all. The slow pace allowed me to stop my vehicle in Main Street (the official name according to the street signs), get out and take this picture and several more. Despite the size, or lack of size I suppose is more accurate, there are numerous opportunities for taking beautiful pictures. It’s like time doesn’t happen here, everything old still somehow seems new. I don’t feel as though this picture is helping to preserve history, because I think this pump and that fence will stand for decades after I’m gone and there is no question about the limestone blocks. They will be here for centuries to come.

The location of this is Lawrence County, Indiana - where apparently they make things out of “the right stuff.” Besides their beautiful limestone, which is shipped all over the world, Lawrence County also has provided three astronauts for the space program; Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Charlie Walker and current astronaut, Ken Bowersox. Not bad for a rural area in southern Indiana.

A Note of Sad Irony:

(The groundbreaking ceremony for the original Pentagon building took place on September 11, 1941, exactly 60 years prior to being partially destroyed in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.)

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