Did You Know?

Did You Know….that it was just around this same time of the year in 1847 that Rabbit Hash first got its name?
Boone County was experiencing about the same kind of weather back then that we are having now….a big early snowfall followed by a spring-like warm-up and then lots of rain. It was between Thanksgiving and Christmas time in this small, rural hamlet on the Ohio River. Before anyone knew it, the 1847 flood was washing away barns, hen houses, live stock, and whatever else its rushing waters could grasp. The people were watching in dismay as their lives, resources and well being were threatened and ruined.
“Oh, what shall we do for our holiday feasts and gatherings,” they lamented as they watched their plump, fattened hens and turkeys, and their smokehouses full of hams and shoulders, and their cellars full of potatoes and turnips all wash away?
As the rising waters drove the small game critters inland and upland, a very astute and cynical neighbor man consolingly commented, as he was seen loading his shotgun, “at least there will be plenty of rabbit hash!”
It was said that this fellow was the neighborhood jester and was never without the company of his dear friend ‘john barleycorn’. (Not many things change in Rabbit Hash!)
From that day on, the townsfolk nicknamed this old sage Rabbit Hash. Eventually, his moniker morphed over to include the entire community.
In 1919, the U.S. Postal Service had had enough. The official name of Rabbit Hash was really Carlton, because it was in the Carlton Magisterial District, which had been named after an early family that settled the area. Just about 35 miles down river was the town of Carrollton, a much larger and more populated town. It became quite a nuisance to the Postal Service when mail intended for Carlton ended up in Carrollton and vice versa. So they gave the folks in Rabbit Hash the ultimatum: choose a new name or we will assign one! It was a no-brainer.