A Tale of Tell City

Following Lady Tammy's excellent blog on the Dublin Irish Festival in Ohio...and taking a break from all things English (still many more blogs on the England trip to come)...I decided to immerse myself back into real America...here in the Rolling Hills and Ohio River Valley of Southern Indiana.



Like so many communities in this part of Indiana, Tell City has German Catholic roots, with the land being fertile, the River open for transportation, and the scenery a reminder of the homeland. Of course the land also reminds me of the Somerset area of England. Tell City is about 40 clicks up river from my town of Newburgh. It was settled by the Swiss-German Colony in 1856 and named after the Swiss Hero, William Tell.



My reason for the visit was a joint business venture with Sir Tigger of Kidd, a native of the area. After our successful business venture we went to celebrate in Tell City's oldest Tavern, which has been a continuous tavern since 1872.




Originally called the Arbeiter Halle, which in German means Workers Hall...it's now called Braunie's Bar. Still sporting its original bar...modern Germanic faces belly up to a perfect place for a PBR!



Looking at the Pool Table (Billiards if in England) and Pin Ball Machine, the spacious bar looked like the perfect place to introduce Table Skittles and Shove Hapenny!



The Hoosier and Colts road signs hanging above the bar also hide gunshot holes, where the bartenders in the 1800's would shoot their guns up in the air to quiet the rowdy crowd! Now that's America! (Sir D can now see why I wasn't nervous at the Crown and Scepter in Frome!)



I'll be making quiet a few trips to Tell City in the future, so I can see Braunie's becoming a Sacred Watering Hole in the not too distant future.



Of course, just down the street is another historic building turned restaurant called Capers, where you can get classic American cooking. We also found Sara Palin hiding out behind the bar petting her latest hunting victim, a big Bull Moose. So, now you know what she's up to ! LOL!

Sir Hook Who Tells No Tell Before Its Time of Warrick