I don’t dislike this courthouse, but I wonder about something. It seems to straddle a line between earlier courthouses in which design and detail features abound and later courthouses that are little more than office buildings. I never thought about exactly when they began to make the transformation, so it’s interesting to see what looks like the beginnings of it.
It doesn’t have a courtyard or lawn to speak of. Heck, there was barely enough room to park on the street in front. But it was nice to see a monument to the Union instead of the Confederacy. As I think about that, too, it has been a while since I’ve seen anything lauding the Confederacy. Of course, I haven’t been spending any time in the South, either. I also wish I had taken the time to get a better look at that statue. The decoration on it is a Medal of Honor from the days before they became elite awards for extreme heroism. There was a time when they were given out like candy, so much so that in 1917, the awarding rules were changed, and over nine hundred recipients had their medals rescinded. The monument doesn’t seem that old, so I’m curious why the medal is there.
Diversions aside, murals seem to be the thing here. A simple way to bring a little color and activity to a town. I’m sure there’s a bunch of civic pride bound up in these, but I can only see urban renewal and marketing opportunities. Whether that means I’m cynical or have seen too many towns, I can’t say. I mean, I am a bit of a cynic, but I’ve also seen this in a lot of other places at this point. I’m sure I’ve bemoaned before that all these towns begin to blend together after long enough. How much more so when I’m looking at Town 1,000? Or 1,500? Or 2,000?
I ended up stopping on the way to Colfax in the town of Pullman. In a minor variation, I grabbed a Whereigo at the base of a tree in a little nearby green space. I also stopped to grab a challenge that, if it was a snake, would have bitten me before I found it. But find it I did. It never hurts to have an extra challenge, and it didn’t take too much time or effort. Which is good, because there was even more driving to do. I had more work to continue when I arrived in…
Geocaching While Black 