The Edwardsville Tunnel

The Edwardsville Tunnel (mp3) (pdf)

This friendly jig came to me a few weeks ago and I thought of this title while looking at online maps of the area just to the west of New Albany, Indiana.

When I was a kid and into my early driving years, before the finish of I64, if you wanted to go to Corydon, IN you would drive out Main Street in New Albany and then up the Knobs on the Corydon Pike. When you got to the top of the hill you would be at Edwardsville. From there you could turn left and take Highway 62 on to Lanesville and then to Corydon. Or you could turn right on 62 and drive a short distance to Georgetown and have some good ice cream.

As the road heads up the Knobs out of New Albany, if you know just where to look, you can spot the opening of the Edwardsville Tunnel, much as it is pictured above. It's apparently also known as the Duncan Tunnel although I have never heard anyone call it that. I never stopped the car and approached the tunnel entrance, I imagine my parents cautioned me against such foolishness, but it was always a mysterious place to me. Once or twice I happened to see a train coming out of the tunnel and that was pretty exciting.

In any event, this week's tune now has that title and I like the nostalgia it conjures up.

Speaking of trains, I'm looking forward to boarding Amtrak's Empire Builder on Thursday morning (hopefully in the morning and not mid-afternoon) and riding into Chicago. From there I will catch the Capitol Limited into Union Station D.C., arriving Friday afternoon. I'll meet up with my Contratopia bandmates and Ted and Lynn and we will have a wonderful weekend playing dances at Glen Echo park and a dance/house concert on Sat. night in Adelphi, Maryland. You can find more details about our gigs on our website. Just click here.

If anyone reading this comes to any of these events please say hello.