A Home in the Woods

"It's hard to picture this part of the country as I first remember it. Here and there was a cabin home with a little spot of clearin close by. The rest of the country was jist one great big woods and miles and miles in most every direction. From your cabin you could see no farther than the wall of trees surrounding the clearin; not another cabin in sight."Thus begins Oliver Johnson's account of pioneer life in the Indianapolis area in the 1820s and 1830s. Elsewhere, he says, "We lived might...