March 4, 2026
Written By Melinda Jo Ray
An Introduction
Greetings Readers and Friends!
First off, thank you to the board members of The Bridge Street History Center for allowing me to contribute to this websites blog on a weekly basis.
Welcome to a blog dedicated to doing the very thing our mission statement describes – sharing the stories of the people, places and events of our local past. As the writer of five books on this subject, I combined my love of history and of this place where I live with my passion for education and storytelling and the research skills acquired as a career teacher and librarian. Now this new project brings the opportunity to continue that journey. Now I look forward to sharing a delightfully wide variety of true stories about the people and events that made a difference here – from the early days of pioneer settlement through the nearly 175 years of change and growth since then. “Nutts about Hood County History” will strive to introduce you to some of the lesser- known people and aspects of our county’s quintessentially American story while not neglecting to share some of the little-known stories about some folks you’ve probably already heard of. There may even be a few tales featuring some really famous people with connections to our story that most people today have never heard about. Throw in a good mystery or two and I think we can all have a great time together!
So check back here each week and spend a little time with me poking around to see what went on around here in those “days gone by”. You just never know who we might meet up with – Wanderin’ round the Hood!
