Talk:Podunk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An excellent book on Podunk, written by Harold Jansen, was published in 1954 by Vantage Press.
Podunk came into existence about 1800. According to Lydia Sears in an article written by Peggy Gallagher, "it was a rough, tough crossroads." Located on Bolter Creek, it was a small manufacturing community and at its peak had a population of about 100 people. Podunk got its name from the way the rushing waters of Bolter Creek descended on a sawmill wheel. Manufactured in the small community were: tubs, churns, barrels, window sashes, blinds, doors, custom built carriages, bricks, and according to some accounts, canal boats.
Two incidents made local history in Podunk. A vigilante group in the 1880s, wearing white caps and masks, tied the Town Highway superintendent to a tree and gave him a thrashing for beating his wife. On St. Patrick's Day in 1888 there occurred murder and arson in Podunk. Harry Wooden, who passed away in 1970, wrote this about the murder and Podunk on June 11, 1969:
"Mead Hill was named from a couple named Mead that lived where the John Johnstons now live. His wife had only one arm but her husband drove a nail into a stick of wood so she could fasten a potato on it and peel it.
"Dicky Mason and his wife lived at the foot of Mead Hill (approx. where the Ozzie Heila ski shop is today). They saved two hundred dollars which they kept in a tin can. They could not count money so they had a man by the name of Barber count it for them. A meeting was held at Podunk one night. Barber thought the Meads would be there so he could get their money. As it happened they were home, but he was going to have the money anyway. He killed Mrs. Mason with a stick of wood and thought he killed Dicky, rolled him up in a rug and set him afire, also the house. Dicky crawled out. My father (Fred Wooden) and my uncle (Milt Cuffman) were the first ones there. Dicky told them what happened. My father and uncle overtook Barber before he got to Trumansburg. He got 20 years in jail, was out as a free man; he was a model prisoner. He made beautiful boxes of wood but could never have made a living at it.
The race is still there that carries the water to the mill that was below the house where Walter Ploss used to live (VanOrden?) There are parts of the old mill stone built into the fireplace of this house. My uncle (Milt Cuffman) in Podunk was a great steam engineer. He ran the steam engine that ran the dynamo that made the first electricity for Trumansburg. The building is still there. He ran the steam engine for the silk mill in Trumansburg. For several years he never owned a horse and couldn't ride a bicycle so he walked to the silk mill and blew the whistle at seven every morning. It could be heard 10 miles with the wind. I have seen the steam engine in this mill. The balance wheel was about four feet high, the face about two and one half wide, it turned so slow you could almost follow it with your hand and no noise whatsoever, the exhaust was piped outside.
Some great men were raised in Podunk. My half uncle, Charlie Smith, never had much of an education, but became a big boss in Morse Chain works."
Norma Swartwood provided us with this description of a log house, taken from a History of Three Counties, p. 170:
"They lived in a log house which . . . fronted toward the (riverlake) and the road ran between it and the (riverlake). It had two square rooms; it was 'the best house in town'; it was built of logs filled in with bits of wood and 'mudded'. A square hole in the outer wall for light, but, lacking sash or glass, would occasionally let in cold also. Split pine logs, hewed pretty smoothly, made the floor; there was a wide hearthstone, and sufficiently high chimneyback of stone, with an opening in the roof of ample dimensions, and above it a chimney made of sticks, the crevices filled with clay and 'mudded'; a wooden fastening on the door, with the 'latchstring out', honest welcome presiding at the threshhold, peace and hope at the hearthstone, and genuine hospitality at the board."
-Carrie Martin
Other Ulysses communities:
Halseyville
Jacksonville
Krums Corners
Trumansburg
Waterburg
Willow Creek
[edit] Podunk, Iowa
- It is often referred to as Podunk, Iowa, even though there is no real town by that name.[citation needed]
I've removed the text above from the introductory paragraph. I've done a couple random searches and came up with an equal or larger number of hits for different states (e.g., Podunk, Nebraska). I have no doubt that some people say "Podunk, Iowa" but it doesn't seem to be more common than other states and doesn't, IMHO, belong in the article. If someone can source/reference this, I won't object it to be it re-added. —mako (talk•contribs) 05:59, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Popular Culture
I think the examples under popular culture can probably go. An unreleased beta of an NES game may be interesting to some but calling it "popular" seems a little off. I'm not convinced it, or the other two examples, are notable uses of term or phrase "podunk." —mako (talk•contribs) 06:03, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
