Oregano County & The State of Jefferson (USA)

[omnivoreceo 54]

The name of the place we're dealing with is called Oregano County. There isn't any particular reason for the name, other than...that's just what it's called. It's not in a particular state, though I like to imagine it as geographically somewhere in the south, just because of how close to sea level it is and how it looks, but culturally something similar to a northeastern area.

Here's a somewhat cloudy, yet aerial view of the place:

Here is a clearer vision of the area so far:

City folk seeking a quieter, comfortable lifestyle are moving in like wildfire. Oakley is the largest city in the county and is the county seat at just over 23,000 people. It's growing fast though.

Brookmont is the main university town in the county and has about 12,000 people or so...but that's deceiving as the majority of the town are college students and there are probably only about 2 or 3,000 people there who aren't college affiliated. The schools there are Brookmont University and a women's college that's also there, but is loosely affiliated with BU called Oakmont College.  It's also home to the largest state university in the area.

But we'll talk more about that later.

Mannesylvania (Man-NES-lyvania) is the 2nd largest town right now with almost 10,000 people and is sorta the largest area in the 'back country' as the southwest part of the county away from the water is called.

I think the first place we'll take you all to, is Brookmont.

[omnivoreceo 54]

I can't tell you how Brookmont got deemed the place where all the colleges would go. But that's precisely what it is.

It's home to the prestigious Brookmont University which is one of the best private liberal arts universities in the country. Bar. none. The school only has a total enrollment (graduate + undergraduate) of 13,290 or so. And some of that are students who take online classes, so I'd say at any one time..there are probably only about 11,000 students or so on campus.

Anyway..let's take a look at the campus, shall we?

Here is an aerial view of Brookmont University.

You can also see in this picture, Oakmont College for Women. They only have about 2,900 undergraduates enrolled there and the women are allowed to take classes at Brookmont, which is overwhelmingly male (and a sort of contention for many..) . Oakmont is a pretty good school, it's tough to get into and it's also declining in terms of its enrollment.

But their arrangement with Brookmont allows them a lot of flexibility as the two schools share a common library and other facilities and some liberal arts programs. They haven't merged, but there is talk of it.

This is the Tech Center. It's a technology incubator, development center and pretty much the most kick butt technical place around. Here they host a supercomputer and all sorts of other crap. I dunno know what they do. I just know they do a lot, they do it well and that lots of smart folks hang out there.

Next, we'll go downtown and check stuff out there.

Good times.

edit:  resized pictures by gshmails

[omnivoreceo 54]

The original premise behind this CJ was to create a place where all of my teams from the various text sims I play (OOTP, FM, EHM) could have homes to play in. As a result, this CJ will feature lots of screenshots, especially since it's grown quite a bit since I first started, from just the original Oregano County area, to something far broader encompassing the entire 'state' of Jefferson. I decided to expand the vision well after I'd started on the region and so, I had to create a new region to accomodate. We'll get there later, but I just wanted to let you know offhand.

So I'm recapping mostly and will get to the point where we get to where I am now.

I realize that I'm not as post experienced as the vets here, but I've been on these boards a while...I had a different login at one point and forgot it and the email that went with it, before I went with this one. Bottom line is, I love this game and have been playing forever, as I'm sure many have who never post here tons.

It's a lot of fun, so that's all that matters.

[granto93 4]

hmmmm, cant see any pictures. you may want to consider converting to Jpg format. i know its a little tricky for beginners, all this conversion bull but its well worth it. i use the program AnyToJPEG. i dont have a link but you can search it up on google and get it. good luck with this, i will be back when you fix the pictures

[omnivoreceo 54]

Downtown Brookmont is home to University Square, where pretty much the heartbeat of the town is. Bars, banks, restaurants and whatever else are all here. It's a rockin' adventure. Or you know, not that great..but not that bad for a town that lives and dies by the student population.

Brookmont has two Starbucks, a Burger King, an IHOP and you can see Blockbuster in that picture too.

If you look on the up on the far right, you can see the University Soccer Stadium and their Museum of Art and Culture. In the down far right hand corner of University and Stadium is the coolest dive bar in the county (I think...) It's called Abber's Brewery Restaurant. They brew their own suds there and they make an awesome burger. They also serve vegetarian fare in case you date one of those greeny chicks from Oakwood.

University Square is largely frequented by the Brookmont/Oakwood set. You won't many students from the state university hanging out down here. Main reason? Tension is usually pretty high and the two groups just plum don't like each other. At all.

[omnivoreceo 54]

Originally posted by: granto93 hmmmm, cant see any pictures. you may want to consider converting to Jpg format. i know its a little tricky for beginners, all this conversion bull but its well worth it. i use the program AnyToJPEG. i dont have a link but you can search it up on google and get it. good luck with this, i will be back when you fix the pictures quote>

All of my pictures are PNGs. I didn't realize that this forum was JPEG specific. The pics show up for me. Meh. I'll go ahead and change them all I guess.

Thanks for letting me know.

[granto93 4]

okay, another tip...post your update in ONE post not FOUR in a span of 5 minutes lol. its much more convenient that way.

[omnivoreceo 54]

Umm..ok.

[granto93 4]

lol, sorry if i sound a little naggy...i tend to come across like that. im just trying to help you because it sounds interesting and id like to see some pics. oh and some people can probably see the pics but some cant. i kinda find it hard to explain lol. anyway, once again, good luck!

[omnivoreceo 54]

I get it, it's not you. Forums have rules and each place is decidedly different. Thanks for the tips.

[Schulmanator 5,815]

Welcome to the world of CJs. I am eager to see how you develop this.

[omnivoreceo 54]

Olde State University is the largest state university in the region. It's home to about 18,300 undergraduate and graduate students.

It's not the flagship state university or anything like that, but it's a good, middle of the road school.

Some of their most famous alums in recent years have been comedians. I know, that's funny. In the past, the school has always been known for its excellent creative writing program and the fact that it has more teachers teaching in the state than any other school.

Here's an aerial view of the entire city at night.

The OSU students like to point out while the nexus of city nightlife converges around University Square and they choose to avoid it, they like to let everyone know that "we have the Wal-Mart", as the Brookmont Wal-Mart is right down the road from the university.

Of course, the retort from BU students usually goes, "they only put it there so you all could get to work easier after you graduate."

Next, we're going to take a tour of some of the other towns and areas of Oregano County. Maybe get ready for high school baseball season? I'm not sure. But nonetheless, we'll go around the area and give you the scoop on the other communities that make up the county.

In case you forgot what it looks like, here's the aerial view of the entire county:

Now I'm going to go through and do town-by-town accounts of the areas we have now, and perhaps those to come...

[omnivoreceo 54]

Now we're in Oakley. The largest city and county seat of Oregano County. It's really the center and 'where it all happens.'

Here's the center of town, Veterans Square. It's a pretty cool place, it's a park mostly, but it also has a veterans cemetery. Veterans Square is also right near the high school, which is visible in one of these shots.

I have to take more pictures. I thought I did and well, I must not have. I'll get on that.

Speaking of places where I need to get more photos, here's the main part of Manneslyvania called Curry. You can see Mannes HS and the field in this picture.

While we're waiting for more pictures, let's get you introduced to the local high school baseball league.

The Oregano County HS Baseball League (OCHSBL) began in 1961, after the county decided to stage its own baseball league for high school students.

The six charter schools were:

Brookmont HS (Barracudas)

Lake Refuge HS (Catamarans)

Mannes HS (Famers)

North Curry HS (Canucks)

Oakley HS (Oaks)

Sandy Lakes HS (Dolphins)

At that time, West Oakley and Oakley students went to the same high school, because there were too few students in West Oakley to warrant their own HS or so the local officials decided when they entered into an agreement with Oakley in the 1940s.

The teams have 25-man rosters, with 35-man rosters in total, meaning they can include up to 10 JV players on their roster during the season.

There are no roster limits at the JV level.

The varsity season is 32 games. The JV schedule lasts 26. There are no playoffs at the JV level.

Here are the Oregano County Champions from 1961-1970:

1961 - Brookmont

1962 - Mannes

1963 - Oakley

1964 - Oakley

1965 - Mannes

1966 - Brookmont

1967 - Mannes

1968 - Mannes

1969 - Oakley

1970 - North Curry

At the end of the 1970 season, the OCHSBL voted to allow the six private schools into the league. The private schools were a separate subleague playing the same number of games.

There wasn't a real desire for a new round of playoffs, but, in the desire to maintain the consistency built over the years, they agreed to one.

So now, there would be a League Championship (best-of-five) for the new Public School League (PSL) and League of Private Schools (LPS) and the winners of their respective leagues would face off for the first team all year in the Oregano County Championship.

Some were heartbroken at opening up the OCC to non-public schools, but with increasing enrollments in those schools, it only made sense and it increased the cache of Oregano County baseball as a whole.

The six new schools were:

Brookmont Academy

Academy of St. Teresa

Oakley Baptist

Mannes Christian

Seaside Catholic (Sandy Lakes)

Oakley Catholic

Here are the Oregano County Champions from 1971 to 1980.

1971 Oakley HS d. Oakley Catholic

1972 Mannes Christian d. North Curry

1973 Brookmont Academy d. Lake Refuge

1974 Academy of St. Teresa d. North Curry

1975 Brookmont d. Oakley Catholic

1976 Academy of St. Teresa d. Lake Refuge

1977 Oakley HS d. Oakley Catholic

1978 Academy of St. Teresa d. Brookmont

1979 Mannes Christian d. Sandy Lakes

1980 Oakley HS d. Brookmont Academy

[Schulmanator 5,815]

Nice area plus nice info.