The Liar’s Bench

The Liar’s Bench

            The Liar’s Bench on the courthouse lawn has had a permanent place since the early days of Brown County.  It has been chronicled for history by noted photographer Frank Hohenberger, now deceased, who told the history of Brown County in his thousand plus pictures of life in Brown County.  An entire collection of his photos, taken many, many decades ago, are on file at the Indiana University library and many can be seen at the Brown County Art Gallery on East Main Street in Nashville, Indiana.

            He was the first photographer to document the lives of hundreds and hundreds of actual people at work, at home, doing crafts and arts or just by being themselves.

            The Liar’s Bench go its name mostly because in the early days of tourism in Brown County it was usual to see a group of men sitting on that particular bench swapping stories with each other of what they had seen and heard that was going on in Brown County.  There would be uproarious laughter, knee slapping and backer (tobacco) spitting going on during these conversations.

            Almost each of these men would be wearing bibbed overalls, any kind of old shirt or jacket depending upon the weather, and be wearing heavy brogan (work type) shoes along with that hat I mentioned earlier.

            It was a common scene but there was usually one or more of them who could tell more entertaining lies than the others. 

            It was just one way these old men kept up on the gossip and news of the county. 

            The old men are all dead and gone to their reward now, but the bench can still be seen sitting on the courthouse lawn.