Trifter

 It can be one word–Gnawbone, or two words–Gnaw Bone, Indiana.  Folks there won’t have a bone to pick with you which ever way suits you best.  Truth be told, French explorers originally named it Narbonne after a city in southern France.  English settlers came along, and having trouble with French pronunciation, misunderstood the name to Gnaw Bone and it stuck.

In 2000, the population was 71, that is if you included everyone in a circle about a mile wide.  There are  no actual city  limits, per se.  Residents like to call their little hamlet the Flea Market Capital of the World.  I’m told there is one flea market for every five residents.  Well, if you crunch the numbers I suspect that’s a little enthusiastic.

In the fall after the sweet sorghum is harvested you can watch a horse or mule-operated molasses mill in operation.  It’s how syrup was made in the old days–very labor intensive. 

Sorghum syrup was used as a sweetener until it became more expensive to grow, harvest and render than to buy sugar.  It came in real handy during the war when sugar was rationed.  Most farmers in the midwest grew enough for their own use–some raised extra to sell.  I guess I got my fill of it.  I can take a little once in a while but not a  steady diet.

Gnaw Bone is easy to find on State Road 46 between Columbus (Indiana, not Ohio) and Nashville (Indiana, not Tennessee).  It’s just a hop, skip and jump from Bean Blossom, Indiana.  That can be one word or two, as well.  That town was named for Bean Blossom Creek and the creek was named after a man whose last name was Beanblossom.  It’s the site of the Bill Monroe Memorial Music Park and Campground.  Every June they hold a huge bluegrass festival there–have since 1967.  It’s the longest continually-running bluegrasss festival in the world.  I’d better go resin up my bow.