I'm sitting at Bovina's popular weekend cafe, Heaven on Main Street, located right about in the center of the Bovina Center Hamlet. I am waiting to meet with Mike Kudish, who has been researching the attempt to bring a railroad into Bovina in 1898. I'll report more on that after we meet.
Heaven on Main Street, owned and operated by Josh Allen and Taylor Foster, is in an old storefront that over the years has seen a store, post office and pharmacy, though during my childhood, it was closed. The building was rehabbed and open as a cafe in the mid 1990s.
Josh and Taylor were the underwriters of the Bovina History calendar I helped produce for 2008. We're working toward another one in 2010, so stay tuned.
Well, Mike had arrived and has been tempted by the goodies here. So we'll have a treat while discussing railroads. That's all for now.
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Hi RAy
ReplyDeleteMy first time looking at the blog- great start!
Question-- do you know if there was any hops or barley production in town during the early (pre-blight) years. And can you give a brief overview of how we came to be "dry"?
Thanks!
Andy Pelletier
Yes, there was some barley grown in the 1840s-60s, but it was never very large quantities, maybe a couple hundred bushels a year. I have no evidence for hops being grown - it certain doesn't show up on the agriculture census.
ReplyDeleteBovina went dry probably because there were enough Scots Presbyterians who could sway the vote. Bovina had taverns for some time, but when the state offered the option in the 1840s to go dry, the vote was in favor. It was invalidated within a year by the state. When the option came up again, I think in the late 19th century, the town again voted to go dry.
Any progress or updates to the Aman Resorts' purchase and the potential development of the "Resort" project that was being discussed and connected to the Bovina "dry" status?
ReplyDeleteI know very little, but last November, Bovina voted to allow the sale of alcoholic beverages in a hotel setting - specifically to accommodate Aman.
ReplyDelete