Circleville

Circleville is surrounded by some prosperous-looking farms. Main Street is paved. The homes here were small and modest, with generally well-maintained yards. We saw a United Methodist Church, a post office, and an old gas station that has been converted into a fire department / city hall. There were also some nice newer homes here, as well as a park, a ball field, and a saddle club. Yeehaw!

Ontario

From what we could tell, Ontario was basically just a driveway. It's in an area of farmhouses, some in overgrown yards and some nicer. A black dog came out of one driveway and chased us a while. 

We took a selfie near an abandoned homestead to commemorate our visit to Ontario.

Netawaka

Netawaka has a nice, big park. A sign near the edge of town declares it to be "A Purple Heart City." It has gravel roads and some lovely homes. There's also a well-kept ball field near the Netawaka Fitness Center, and the fitness center itself is advertised by Burma-Shave-style signs with poetry along the main road. We also saw a fire station, city hall and post office.

In the surrounding countryside, we saw fields of hay and corn.

As we've traveled through the state this year, we've seen a lot of "Trump 2020" and "Trump 2024" flags flying. Folks in rural areas hold their political convictions dearly. However, Netawaka was the first town where we ever saw a political debate going on between two neighbors, by way of their yard decor. One home was flying a faded and slightly wind-ripped Trump 2020 flag. Across the gravel road, there was a large hand-lettered sign featuring a vulgar poem that begins, "On November Third, flush the orange turd..." It says something about our current cultural moment that these decorations were still up nearly a year after the presidential election.

Delia

My Aunt Pat passed away suddenly in early October, so we headed out to the funeral in Belleville on the 15th. We visited several small towns on our way.

Delia was our first stop. It's a cute, historic little town with several businesses, including a small engine repair shop and a seamstress. We also saw a post office, the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and a small charter school that seemed like it may no longer be used. There were many empty or closed businesses. Generally, it felt like a quiet town that used to be more active.

Apparently, Delia is also the home of Pope Michael, who claims to be St. Peter's true successor on earth, and whose story you can watch here.