Commuting

Abram Piatt in front of Mac-A-Cheek

I'm thinking about commuting.  Before the castles were built, Judge Benjamin Piatt raised his family (including sons Abram and Donn who would go on to build Mac-A-Cheek and Mac-O-Chee, respectively) in a small wood-frame home near where Mac-A-Cheek now stands.  Some of you may remember when a remodeled version of this home housed a gift shop, but that's beside the point.  Benjamin was a Judge on the Circuit Court and he frequently had to travel to court houses around his district and often had business in Cincinnati, where he lived before moving to West Liberty.  It is just over 100 miles from Cincinnati to West Liberty, and Benjamin made this trip frequently.  This sounds like a pain until we remember that it was the middle of the 19th Century, and Benjamin was making this trip on a horse.  It took three days.

By comparison, Benjamin's son Abram lived and worked on the land in Logan County he had inherited from his father.  Aside from his military service he had little reason to venture farther than he could see.  Later in his life he frequently visited his brother Donn at his home, one mile down the road.  

Commuting is on my mind because I will spend the next three months commuting 50 miles each way (it would be 30 miles if there weren't a pesky bay in the way) from a small town in New Jersey to Manhattan.  I am very pleased that (a) I don't have to make this trip on horse-back, and (b) the NJ Transit trains have quiet commuter cars.  I will have lots of time for reading (and writing blog posts), and it won't take me an entire day each way.  I am a little jealous of Abram and his tiny commute, but I'm also so grateful that modern transportation allows me to take advantage of professional opportunities without the hassle of horseshoes.

NJ Transit Train