Giddy Up

Yesterday at the fair, I was fascinated by this display, and some similar ones, done by several of the 4-H kids on hitch posts.  Have you ever noticed hitch posts around your town, or like me, had you never even thought about them?  These kids divided up the town and mapped out where all the horse hitches are still around.  Turns out - lots of places!  This poster is just one section.  And one of these pics in the poster is at Wheatfield's, where I go all the time!

As it happens, this morning I met some friends for breakfast at Wheatfield's, so here is one of the two that are on either side of one of the doors there.  I've walked past it countless times before and never seen it.

We were talking about it, and most of my friends were like me and had never thought about them or noticed them.  One of the ladies knew about them, though and suggested driving to the oldest neighborhood in town, where she said they were all over.  Boy was she right!  Below are just a few of the ones I found on one block.

Doesn't the cobblestone street add to the period ambiance?  I can almost imagine it when the road was dirt, and people pulled up in their buggies for a visit, and hitched the horse here while they went inside to visit.  Or maybe to have a quilting bee?

Look at this fancy one!  This is the only one I saw (in my very brief scavenger hunt) that wasn't concrete:

And it even has two rings, so instead of a pair of posts, like many houses had, these people got more bang for their buck.  Here's a close-up:

So now that I have reticular activation (fancy term I remember from college for "now that I'm aware of them and they're on the brain") for hitch posts, I'm expecting to see them everywhere when I'm downtown and in the older parts of town.  Does your town still have any hitch posts?

Thanks for stopping by,
Nan