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 The INGenWeb Project

Ripley County, INGenWeb Project

 
Join us in Sunman
- September 2, 2006
Sunman Celebrates its Sesquicentennial & Winefest & Its German Heritage (including its "Goetta ")

9:30 a.m. Arrive at Sunman Town Hall(in bank-like bldg. On North side of town for a look at its new Museum) (Hours 9-11 a.m.)
10:15 a.m. Tour nearby cemeteries of German Heritage. St. Johns Lutheran at Hubbell's Corner (2nd oldest Lutheran Church in Indiana) 1833 - St. John's U.C.C at Penntown. 1841
11:00 a.m. Meet for Lunch at "Tha Store" in Sunman (Goetta all day- pork and pin oats boiled, then fried) or if you prefer "The old Brick" in Penntown(goetta sandwiches and hot slaw)
12:00 a.m. Parade
1:30 p.m. Program: Flag Raising. Pledge, Star Spangled Banner, Dedication of Memorial Burial of Time Capsule "Happy Birthday Cake, etc.
2:30 p.m. Re-enactment of Platting of Sunman
3:00 p.m. Walking Tour of Sunman conducted by David Dreyer (IGHS)
4:00 p.m. Wine tasting & Local Wine contest; Quilt Show; antiques Sales.
5:00 p.m. Return home towards Indianapolis (possible dinner at the "Sherman House" in Batesville) Sundown; Awesome Fireworks & Display (Friday evening events included Queen Contest, Robbery Trial And Beard Contest, may also include Osgood-Sunman Bike Race and 83rd Regiment Re-enactment)
What to Do & See Around Sunman

1. New Historical Museum in Town Hall located north of town modern bank building has early Sunman family artifactis. German immigration & settlement maps & artifacts; maps of Civil War Routes & Battles of the 83rd Ind. Inf. Regiment. Open weekdays & 12: 1-4
2. "The Store" Restaurant at the R.R. Crossing serves goetta(German grits) and has Sunday morning buffet. Its tavern is "Louie's Place" in 100 yr.old bldg. Site of first store.
3. "Wippel's Tavern" (right turn south of R.R. track) has classic bar and burgers.
4. "Sunman Antique Store" one block west of wippel's has area items.
5. St. John's Lutheran Church 1833, two miles east of town has graves from all over Germany.
6. Pennsylvaniaburg(Penntown) on Hwy. 101, 2 miles north of Sunman has Old Brick Tavern noted for its fried chicken and goetta sandwiches. Overlooks pioneer cemetery with Civil War & Morgan's Raid graves and a nearby German church cemetery.
7. Oldenburg, Indiana (Village of Church & Convent Spires) two miles north of Batesville.
8. Basketball Museum at Milan State Champs of 1954) nine miles south of Sunman.
9. Ripley Co. Historical Archives in Versailles, 12 miles from Milan, open weekdays 1 - 4 p.m.
10. Olean, Friendship & Farmer's Retreat, south of Versailles Overnight Possibilities: Hampton Inn, Comfort Inn and Sherman
House in Batesville.

Goetta Anyone?


This popular German Breakfast food, German grits, Knipp, Stopsel, Hacke Gructse and is a speciality in the Cincinnati area including Sunman, Oldenburg and Batesville. You can get it at the "Tha Store Café in Sunman, at the Sherman House and Hobo Hut in Batesville, and other restaurants, or you can purchase it for home use at local grocery stores.

Luella Lampert of Oldenburg calls the dish "grits" and has making it for over 30 years. She grew up eating it and learned how to prepare it from her mother, the late Josephine Landick, and is still using her simple recipe. Lamppert takes a 3-pound pork roast and covers it with water, boiling it until it is done. Saving the broth, she then grinds the meat in a food processor and returns it to the pot. She next adds salt and pepper and 3 pounds of raw peanuts and cooks it all on a very low heat for about an hour, stirring frequently. Then it can be stored or frozen. Fried until it's nice and crisp it is good with potatoes, eggs, or whatever else is being served for breakfast.

The largest producer of goetta is Glier's Goetta, Covington Kentucky. Which sells it to many area restaurants. The company sponsors the Goetta Fest. The free festival features live enterrainment, games, prizes and a wide variety of unique goetta dishes and products.

This year it will be August 4 - 6 in between the Ohio river and Newport on the Levee, Newport, Kentucky.

Excerpted from The Herald-Tribune, Batesville, March 14.