Mistake Puts Alma Couple on Stony Road to Success

Upon entering the showroom of Stone 1 there's so much to take in that my eyes get crossed. Small stones, big stones, oddly shaped stones, stones on shelves, on the floor and spaced along the walls, stones with Wildcats and Jayhawks, stones engraved with names, designs, company logos, flags, insects, mammals, cowboys: the variety is not only unexpected but tantalizing.

Stone 1, owned by Mike and Teresa Brown, is a home-based stone-carving business specializing in custom commercial and residential signs, memorial stones, stone fence posts, collegiate collectibles and artistic sculptures. Located just north of Alma, the "City of Native Stone," it seems an appropriate place for a company whose product is crafted from the native limestone beds underlying the Flint Hills.

German Prisoners of War and Lake Wabaunsee

Seeing a German Police dog and a guard with a gun in our fields and at our country dining room table was a sight my eyes shall never forget. I was a small child during World War II, but those images are etched deeply in my mind. The prisoners were housed in barracks at Lake Wabaunsee and trucked to our farm for hire.

Old Fort? Stone Mystery Needs Answers

This Old Fort/Home/Barn is located on the intersection of Tri-Country Rd and Boulder Road about 10 miles north of Alta Vista and 5 miles west of Alma. While the identity of this is a mystery, it clearly pre-dates Fort Riley, and was probably one of the initial constructions on the frontier before Kansas became a territory. Clearly abandoned for a very long time, it offers only a vague reminder of years past and battles (maybe?) won and lost.