| No sooner
are the dishes washed from Thanksgiving dinner than thoughts are
turned to Christmas. Presents and trees are bought and decorations
come out in full force.
Many homes are highlighted with white and colored lights, and
front yards can be seen with everything from Nativity scenes to
an inflatable snowman.
Owen County is no different. Take a drive around town on any night
after Thanksgiving, and you are guaranteed to see a number of
light displays that are pleasing to the eye.
One family in Owen County takes the decorating very seriously.
They announce it in the newspaper and invite people to come see
the display.
The family is the Websters and they live on Cull Road. For the
past 10 years, Phyllis and Tom Webster have been building a holiday
display that has gotten bigger every year.
Phyllis said they just started decorating one year and that it
has become something people look for before they even have everything
up.
“We have lights up all year,” she said. “People
ask us, ‘Are the lights up yet?’”
The set-up takes place around Thanksgiving — this year the
sign went up advertising it on the Tuesday before. Depending on
the weather, everything comes down around the first or second
week of January.
Over the years it has become a popular sight in Owen County.
“People are there every night,” Phyllis said. “Some
stop and come in.”
A Nativity scene sits at the top of the hill, under a shed built
out of boards from a saw mill. There are trees, deer, snowmen
and candy canes lit up around the yard.
“We normally add a little each year,” Phyllis said.
A scaled-down model of a jolt wagon sits in the front yard, built
by Tom’s uncle in 1954. It was made with driftwood from
the river and was featured in the Christmas parade last year,
where their float won second place.
The decorating is Phyllis’ favorite part of the holidays,
though she said it takes a lot of work.
“The rest of it — I’d like to sleep until Jan.
1,” she said.
Helping with the decorations are the Websters’ son, Greg,
and his wife, Candi.
While it is something his father has done for several years, Greg
said he has helped out.
“We’ve always had lights,” he said.
Greg said he starts decorating about the first of November and
his display, like his parents’, seems to get bigger every
year. His wife did the majority of the yard decorations and he
worked on the house.
“My wife is really into Christmas stuff,” he said.
The lights are on at the Webster home at 2180 Cull Road from dark
until about 10:30 every night and anyone is welcome to come see
them.
A covered bridge
Travel just a few more miles down Cull Road and you will see something
else that has gotten a lot of attention in the county recently.
Near the entrance of the property of Barry Tinch sits a covered
bridge that was built by Tinch and his 17-year-old son Cody. The
process took about five years, and Tinch finished work on it this
summer and held a ribbon cutting on Memorial Day.
Covered bridges have always interested Tinch.
“It’s something that when I drive under, I’m
impressed,” he said. “I’ve always had a thing
for (covered bridges).”
Building his own bridge is something that was on his mind for
about five years, and he said a lot of planning and thinking went
into the project. He and his son worked hard on the bridge all
summer and Tinch said the work took him away from other things.
“I put everything off to do it,” he said.
There were times when he said he only got to get in about a half
an hour or hour before dark. He was lucky enough to work every
day without being rained on. As he and his son were piling the
last few rocks on the rock wall, it started pouring rain.
The hard work paid off. The bridge finally got finished and Tinch
and his son took the first drive across it. He said it has held
up through the elements, including the heavy rains that came through
in October.
Since it’s completion, Tinch said it has been popular with
local photographers. He said he sees people looking at the bridge
two or three times a week. He said he doesn’t mind as long
as people respect that it’s on private property.
He still has the itch to build bridges, too. He said he wants
to build a stone bridge on the other side of his land sometime
within the next year.
“The hardest day (working on the first bridge) was when
I packed up my tools and walked away from it for the last time,”
he said.
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