JPG Magazine: Stories: Photo Essay: The Story of Story

The Story of Story

By Joli Buchanan

29 June 2008

Here's The Story and please know that you'll want to make a visit for what I can give you here is only but a small glimpse.

Story, Indiana, Midwest, USA: a charming little town off the beaten path, you'll most certainly want to bump this town up on your list of places for relaxation, for photographing colors, rust, and greens beyond belief, for getting yourself some homegrown good food and for enjoying some good ol' Hoosier hospitality and humor. Story is the place you'll yearn for time and time again.

Story's filled with everything 19th-century (minus the Harley's & mountain bikes). You'll find an old country inn inside the old general store; a gourmet restaurant with ingredients grown in the backyard; an old tavern serving up brew & spirits, weathered barns, an old-fashioned sawmill and many other original structures renovated and turned into cottages now available as get-away rentals.

There, of course, is quite a unique story behind Story. Dr. George Story founded the town in 1851, acquiring the land by grant from the U.S. Federal Government at a time when the government was giving land away and encouraging settlement. Dr. Story built most of the towns structures and for years, Story was filled with happy times. In the late 1920s, with the onset of the Great Depression, farmers could no longer make a living on the land, leaving everything behind and traveling in search of work. Those staying bootlegged bathtub gin and the town slowly withered.

By the 1940s, half the population had abandoned the area. Taxes unpaid, foreclosures skyrocketing, one by one, the general store closed, the sawmill, the blacksmith shop, etc. The story, you can tell, looks as if it might freeze here. Through the following years many entrepreneurs attempted to make a go at revitalization, but none could pull it off.

The town of Story went up for auction in 1998. With visions of converting the entire town into an inn, the dream of what Story is today, slowly began to come to fruition. Guided by the principle that everything remains authentic, the town was purchased not for development, but for restoration of its authenticity.

On a trip to Story, Indiana today, stop into the old general store. As you walk up to the front porch, you'll be transported to the turn of the century. While most of the structures you'll find are weathered and tired on the outside, as you enter, the beauty you'll see of what is now an inn will be a magical experience of charm, beauty, and the greater eye for perfect detail.

The Inn itself has four unique guest rooms on the second floor. Each with a private bath and air conditioning, yet loyal to its 19th century charm: no televisions, no phones and no clocks. Of course there's also the stories you can read there while nestled in bed (and perhaps even experience) about these rooms and the spirits residing there. Whether by reflection, a moved item found in the morning, or just hearing something that goes bump in the night, friendly apparitions are known to welcome some visitors for their stay along with the Inn's host and staff.

The beauty and enjoyment of this town leads one to believe that the Story is here to stay. Though on the outside it may never recover from the Great Depression, on this inside it's quite another story & the entire combination is a mecca for a photographers eye.

You don't want to miss out on The Story.

http://www.storyinn.com