Only Shop In Point Isabel Is A Draw

undated, Marion Chronicle-Tribune, Marion, Indiana

ONLY SHOP IN POINT ISABEL IS A DRAW


Crossroads town also can boast new fire station


Point Isabel - Billie Conaway, 65, runs the only shop in town.  


And it's not a typical, run-of-the-mill place, either.  The building, nestled on the corner of Ind. 26 and Ind. 13, is home to a giant garage sale.


Guests can find hubcaps, Christmas ornaments, a sink, clothes and much more as they weave around piles of unusual artifacts scattered inside and outside the building.


"People love going through old boxes," Conaway said as she warmed herself Sunday in front of a wooden stove that heats the building.  "They think they are going to find some treasure or some antiques.  Who knows?  Maybe they will."


The unnamed business attracts a good number of customers because of its location, according to Conaway.


But the same can't be said for the town.


What many people do when they approach the busy highway intersection in town is just keep driving.


"There's not much to do here," said LP Cummings, 72.  "It's pretty quiet out here other than the traffic and those semis that are awfully noisy."


Cummings and his wife, Edith, own two acres in town.  The land is used for gardening and a small pond that Cummings stocks with bass, bluegill and crappies.


"I don't know how many people live around here," the 12-year resident said as he counted the number of neighbors on his fingers.  "Maybe 15.  Maybe a few more.  There's only a few houses, no big businesses.  It's just a quiet place."


Other than traffic, nothing much ever happens around Point Isabel.  It's been a quiet little place ever since it was first established in 1859.


The post office closed shortly after it opened and residents now receive their mail through Fairmount.


Point Isabel was named for an Ohio town of the same name.


Across the street from Conaway's rummage sale business is the town's new volunteer fire department firehouse.  It was dedicated earlier this year and houses four fire trucks.  The volunteer fire department first opened its doors July 18, 1948.


"But I like it here," Cummings said.  "I wouldn't live anyplace else if I had a choice.  I like the rural area.  It feels good to be out in the open."


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This undated article, likely from the Marion Chronicle-Tribune, quotes my father-in-law, Luther Patrick Cummings (1926-2004).