Village

Someone observed that many of the buildings here in Johnson are either schools or churches or were once schools or churches.

The main block of Main Street. 

The painters' studios are housed inside of this old church. 

An old masonic temple is appropriately the home of the Johnson Historical Society, which may or may not document how many old schools and churches are actually in this town. 

A real, working elementary school. Honestly, I see more school buses on the road than anything else.

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The rest of Main Street:

To decorate my very plain studio (it's so plain, I'm close to rummaging through the artists' dumpsters), I went to the town thrift store, hoping to tear up some old fabric or photography books to color my walls. Alas, all I found was a collection of 1971 American History encyclopedias and a variety of VHS tapes, titled "Jesus." (Yes, they actually just said "Jesus" on them. Maybe all the converted churches around here mean that people are giving up Christ. Not sure.) Anywhoo, the rest of Main Street includes a book store, a grocery store, a maple syrup store, a post office, a cafe, a diner, a Chinese restaurant with Wok in the title, two laundromats, two salons (who'd guess that clean clothes and highlights would be big business around here? One of the salons even advertised tanning), and last but not least...

...a bar, which surprisingly, looks like the most modern thing on the block. More surprisingly, I have not seen the insides of it yet so I can't attest to the modernity of its decor, but I'm sure I'll report back soon.

Also, here is where I lay my head at night. A converted wool mill, which also conveniently functions as the dining hall. Yes, I'm just a flight of stairs away from my very own peanut butter and jelly bar, which may be why I haven't needed the alcohol just yet.

And here is my writing studio. The three-year-old building is home to 11 other writers and is the newest on the lot. Every "room of one's own" overlooks the Gihon River, which I was told was name of the waterway flowing out of the Garden of Eden. Hmmmm....