A Norman Rockwell Christmas at Metamora

By Terry Franklin Phillips Sr.
frankphi@hotmail.com

We spent Saturday evening at a charming little town in southern Indiana named Metamora.

I am tempted to sing, "How are things in Metamora?" but I fear they are not well.

Metamora is a little village -- "quaint" by my wife's description -- that features a Christmas Walk each year. The town is just a few miles from Batesville, famous for its casket company. It is not far from either Indianapolis or Cincinnati, but probably too far too commute to either city.

Metamora and nearby Oldenberg feature beautiful views for motorists. Oldenberg's beauty is seen in its old German architecture. A monastery is there. From the two-lane highway, you look down on rolling hills, home to cattle and ponds.

Metamora features dozens of little shops, many housed in tiny buildings with little rooms reminiscent of my grandfather's house in Winamac, Ind. There is a good restaurant in town. Not good by big city standards, but the food is tasty and is served hot -- much appreciated by visitors who have spent the evening walking through the cold.

There is also a train store featuring Lionel toy trains on display and many used books on a wide variety of topics. The books are priced a bit high, but I love to watch those Lionel trains go round and round the table.

The streets are dotted by luminaries -- candles in pots and plastic jugs set in the snow.

In the center of town is the historic canal. Horses used to pull the canal boat to Cincinnati as well as points north and west. On Saturday, the canal was frozen over except for a small area populated by several ducks.

The town was also served by a steam engine. The train has been restored and makes sightseeing excursions during warm months of the year.

Metamora, like another town that caters to tourists, Nashville, Ind., should be booming at Christmas and during the summer months. But on this, our third trip to Metamora, we saw several businesses were up for sale and even though Christmas Eve was two weeks away, the prices for holiday decorations were slashed in many stores. Also, several vendors were gone, their buildings apparently standing empty.

We had hoped Metamora would make a go of it as a tourist town and it may continue to prosper, though the signs are not good. It is a very nice getaway, about two hours from our town of Brazil, Ind.

I would like to see more small towns prove that industry is not the only road to prosperity.