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When exploring the abandoned, it is important to plot out multiple destinations and use the back roads. In Eastern Indiana, author Amanda Bennett-Cole was fortunate to discover antiquated houses, schools, and even a church. Exploring Eastern Indiana required numerous eight-hour road trips through several small towns that are no longer depicted on maps. A small town's survival depended on these roads before highways were built. Once upon a time, towns popped up all throughout the country along the railroad lines that connected the country's coasts. Rich agriculture and peaceful meadows in Indiana have given place to villages with cobblestone main streets and lush residential neighborhoods. The ruins of the buildings and landscapes that earlier generations left behind, from the Federal-style buildings of an early pike town to the drive-ins and 1940s-era eateries, enable you to trace the nation's westward expansion.

In 1911, two neighbors in their 40s helped start one of the first garden clubs in America, in Bedford, NY. Two years later they were notable early members of the Garden Club of America. After joining the groups, these originals - in affiliations and personality - wakened their underutilized potential and discovered how women, one good friend at a time, can unite to change their town and country.

Eloise Luquer's exquisite wildflower watercolors and her fostering of nature trails and preservation earned her the title "The Audubon of Wildflowers." Delia Marble empowered the Bedford Agricultural Training Camp for Women - the first such prep site for WWI farmerettes in the nation. Together and with other allies, the small-town spinsters made an impactful difference in culture and environmental history.

Author Judy Culbreth reveals the remarkable lives of two Bedford garden club originals.