Paula Dunn

By Paula Dunn Got a case of spring fever? I have just the remedy for you! The Blatchley Nature Study Club will be holding their annual Spring Wildflower Walks next Saturday, April 15th, and again on April 29. The April 15th date has been scheduled to catch early blooming wildflowers. The April 29 walk is…

By Paula Dunn White Rived Township Quiz In case you haven’t heard, Hamilton County and Noblesville are both turning 200 this year. To celebrate, every month from March to November one of the county’s nine townships is being highlighted by the Bicentennial Commission. I decided to observe the Bicentennial in this column by doing a…

By Paula Dunn Forget robins. There are two even more reliable signs that spring has arrived — Gatewood’s is open again and selling pansies, early vegetable plants and other items for the garden, and the Herb Society of Central Indiana is taking registrations for their annual Spring Symposium. The theme of this year’s HSCI Symposium…

It’s a little soon for another reader response column, but I have some column business that needs attention. Mainly, I want to apologize to Dan Haskett. He mailed an envelope to me back in December and it somehow got mislaid for a couple of months. I didn’t see his note until a few weeks ago. …

From Time to Thyme By Paula Dunn Spring has brought a change of exhibits to the From Time to Thyme Virtual Museum! Come on in and don’t crowd — there’s room for everyone (especially since this is a museum that only exists in cyberspace.) Our first exhibit is an artifact Jacob Case dug up in…

From Time to Thyme By Paula Dunn When I heard the sad news about former President Jimmy Carter entering hospice care, my thoughts automatically drifted back to Noblesville’s man in the Carter White House, Tim Kraft. I never met him, but I sure knew his father, Dr. Haldon Kraft. Dr. Kraft delivered me and was…

Since March is Women’s History Month, this seemed like the perfect time for a column on Frances Neal Ellis. I’d be willing to bet most people who just read that sentence are muttering “Who the heck is Frances Neal Ellis?” right now. Don’t feel too bad if you’re one of them. I didn’t know who…

In the last reader column, I tried tracing the history of the old laundromat building, one of the structures at the intersection of Noblesville’s Tenth and Pleasant Streets that was recently razed for the Pleasant Street project. That column prompted a response from Martha Tunget Spurrier. Martha has good reason to remember that building —…

As you know, I get most of the historical information for this column by poking around in the old newspapers. I’ve found they tend to provide the most accurate accounts of whatever I’m researching, especially if they’re contemporary to the subject matter. However, even the newspapers don’t always get their facts straight. That’s why it’s…

Despite its small size and rural setting, the African American farming community of Roberts Settlement produced a number of successful professionals — doctors, lawyers, ministers, politicians, businessmen and especially, educators. More educators came out of Roberts Settlement than any other profession, a feat that’s all the more impressive when you consider that most of the…