Eleanor Ripley picked me up and we went looking for the limestone marsh mentioned in Robert Ripley's original lease. Eleanor knows the area well and was able to point out several examples of Karst Topography, the fancy name for gypsum outcroppings. We then went to visit a wonderful gentlemen in his 90's known locally as "Farmer" who knows every bend in the Nappan River. He told me that gypsum was used historically as it is today to decrease the acidity of "sour" soil. I also came away with some ideas for further deed searches into order to verify that the land in the area of Lower Porter Road was part of Robert Ripley's original lease.
Eleanor and I dropped into the farmer's market and I chatted briefly with Charles Thompson, descendant of the founder of Oxford, to confirm the location of the Ripley homesteads there.
I said goodbye to Eleanor and headed down to the Athol and Southampton area to look for the approximate location of Luke Harrison's farm. This was the property Robert Ripley left to his son Robert Junior. At the Southampton Cemetery, I photographed a handful of Ripley graves. I also visited the Athol Cemetery a short distance up the Little Forks Road but I didn't find any graves there.
On my way back I stopped in Maccan to offer my condolences to Rachel Ripley, widow of Art Ripley who passed away on September 17th.