My home town is famous for..........

Fill in the blank to win one of 2 signed copies of Sword From Red Ice. Entries will be judged on June 5th. Anyone, anywhere can enter.

Good luck,

jv

_________________
~The Souldrinker~

<insert witty quote here>

Ugh. I'd kill an army for a signed copy of Sword From Red Ice, but unfortunately, my home town is famous for...just...about...nothing. The small town of Eaton Rapids, Michigan is about 20 miles south of Lansing, Michigan (the state capitol, if you're wondering why that rings a bell).

"The Only Eaton Rapids on Earth" boasts the town motto. Now come on, how many towns do you know that have a motto, and one that also doesn't have a negative connotation? When I grew up, the population hovered around 4,500 people. Nowadays, it looks like it's topped 5,000. Yeah, it's no Berlin, Souldrinker, that's a tough act to follow. The town has also been known as the Saratoga of the West, in advertisements to bring settlers into the area in the mid-1800s for $1.25 an acre.

I grew up knowing it had a history as a milling town, not necessarily because I actually knew the history of Eaton Rapids, but simply because half the buildings and streets contain some variation of the word "mill". E.R. (as the locals call it) may not be famous for anything outside of a 20-mile radius, but one of my favorite memories was of Miller's Old Mill Restaurant, a small diner on the Grand River and part of the Miller Dairy company that had made and sold ice cream locally since 1896. My aunt and I had birthdays just a couple days apart, and every year since I could remember, we would go down for ice cream around that time, and it was one of my favorite annual traditions as a child.

The river which flows through the town, the aforementioned Grand River, is the largest river in Michigan and was named O-wash-ta-nong, meaning "Far-away-water" because of its length (Wikipedia).

As for famous people...well it doesn't get much more famous than me, I'm afraid. I don't live there anymore, but I have quite a bit of family still in the area. There is only one high school in town, synonymous in the region as the Greyhounds and sporting maroon-and-white colors throughout. Today, my da is a board member of the Alumni Association and my step-brother is the high school Athletic Director.

Excellent entries. Thanks for getting the ball rolling, guys!

Entries can be short or long. A single sentence is fine. They won't be judged on length. They'll be judged on...er...er...not sure what they'll be judged on.

But they will be judged!
jv

Well to be honest I don't think it's famous for anything. However, there is living history all around Georgetown, Tennessee. We're sandwiched between Chattanooga, Cleveland and Dayton. Dayton you might remember from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Monkey_Trial Cleveland is really the town where I went to school and now live. Not far from Cleveland is where the Georgia Olympic Whitewater was held back in 1996. There are mountains all around with mountain biking trails through and around most of them. Someday I'm going to take the time to ride my favorite trails and take pictures of some truly beautiful scenery. I could never write it all down that has significance , but I truly wouldn't trade where I live for anywhere. Well a little more snow would be nice...

David Rogers

I was born and raised in San Antonio, TX. I noticed you have been there and enjoyed your stay during a convention JV.

Well San Antonio is famous for 2 things: The Alamo and the Riverwalk. For those of you who dont know, the Alamo was a Spanish mission converted into a fort. It was the site of a major battle between the Texans fighting for independence against Mexico. In the battle, the extremely outnumbered defenders, some famous like Bowie and Davy Crockett, held out for several days against the Mexican army. They eventually were all killed and the Alamo lost, but at a heavy price to the Mexican Army. "Remember the Alamo" then became the rallying cry for the Texas side and the site is now a famous tourist attraction.

The Riverwalk is also a popular tourist attraction. Many visit it each year for some authentic Tex-Mex food and culture and travel by barge down the river that cuts through downtown San Antonio.

There are of course some other notable things about the town. The city water is sourced by one of the largest underground aquifers whose water is so naturally filtered it doesn't need water treating (though it is). Sea World is also a popular attraction. San Antonio and its surrounding area is also home to several old Spanish missions like the Alamo.

San Antonio is a city rich in history and tourism and not a bad place to live or visit.

because it's where King Arthur resided!

Kamas, UT.

Legend has it there is an old lost gold mine somewhere in the eastern hills of Kamas Valley. Native Americans were the original inhabitants of the valley, but around 1860, a man by the name of Thomas Rhodes, accompanied by 25 men, came to settle the area. As the story goes, Rhodes found out about a supposed gold mine, and only after making a promise that he would never tell or show anyone where the gold was, did the Native Americans take him to it. Apparently Rhodes would leave alone at night to go to the mine. Days later he would return, his saddle bags full of gold. Many old settlers who passed on the tale claimed to have seen the gold with their own eyes. Later, when Rhodes was on his deathbed, he attempted drawing a map for his wife, showing where the gold mine was. She spent two summers looking for it, but couldn’t find it. Many other people have searched for the mysterious mine, but to this day it has never been found.

Sharla

Well, here in Petoskey Michigan, in the Northern Part, we are famous for Petoskey stones,(You'll have to look them up), but tourists from all over the world come here and buy them in stores. What they don't know is that you can walk all around our beaches and pick them up by the bucket loads.

One other little note of interest is that Hemingway used to live here and vacation here as a child. Every years we have a week long Hemingway festival. (I think I should get extra credit for having a literary claim to fame included in my hometown post, )

Cheers,

Matt

Milwaukee Wiscosin. Beer. Lots of Beer. Not always good beer. But we are home to Miller Brewing, Lake front Brewery, Sprechner's Brewery, A Leinencugle's (Known as Leineies) brewery, Blatz, Schlitz, Milwaukee's Best, and probably about 12 other places. We also have the largest Friday Fish Fry in America served at Serb Hall down in the south side. Milwaukee is also the host to the worlds largest music festival called Summerfest which has several bands playing every day all day for two weeks. I also know that Glen Close once spent some time acting at The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre if that helps any.
On a much sadder note Milwaukee does also have one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country, the lowest literacy rates as well as being known as one of the most segregated Cities in America. Oh, and every time it rains 20,000 gallons of raw sewage is purposely spilled into the now not so lovely Lake Michigan because the municipal water system in this town is a step below the middle ages.

JV and Paul, you two should follow up after the contest is over just so in case someone happens to live in your homes isn't pushed out of saying something Fill in your cities (out of contest, naturally) just to share interesting tidbits.

So far I enjoy just reading this, its cool to hear all those things

_________________
~The Souldrinker~

<insert witty quote here>

You're right, Souldrinker. This is a cool thread. What started out as a competition has turned into a geographical history lesson. It's a miscellany of fascinating facts from around the world.

I think J.V's already covered our hometown pretty well via the journal. That said, if there are any residents of Rainhill out there please don't feel excluded. We want to hear from you too!

-Paul

I was born in a suburb of London called Hayes. George Orwell worked there as a teacher when he was skint and said this about the place:

"Hayes ... is one of the most godforsaken places I have ever struck"

I've always trusted his judgement and can confirm him 100% correct yet again

My hometown is famous for: Being the "Smallest city in Canada".

At one time Greenwood was a thriving copper mineing city and was a finalist to be the capital for our province, but with the decline of copper prices in the early 1900's, we all but became a ghost town. During WW2 we were turned into a Japanese enturnment camp and after the war many japanese stayed here to raise their families, keeping Greenwood alive.

In the late 1990's the film "Snow falling on Cedars" staring Ethan Hawk was filmed here (my lil' bro was in the movie too) and put us back on the map.

Currently Greenwood only has 600+/- residents but our status of "City" has never been taken away.
http://www.greenwoodcity.com/index.html

Wasilla, Alaska

Home of the famous Iditarod dog sled race, Wasilla is where the official restart was held for many years. I remember every year watching the dog sled teams race by on the trail close to my house, over the frozen lake and on through the wilderness towards Nome.