The Twigs and Sprigs Tea Room at the Stream Cliff Herb Farm, a historic 1821 homestead, in Comiskey, Indiana, is just part of the charm of this sixth generation family farmstead with its extensive gardens,winery and historic buildings. The gardens are laid out in quilt blocks and there are shops selling homemade traditional crafts and garden related items as well...

The John Hunt Morgan Heritage Trail meanders across covered bridges, past centuries old buildings and circles old courthouses. Some of the stops are now just fields, others old building and bridges still standing after all these years. It takes a good map to wander the trail that, though it is marked, winds back and forth on a series of country...

Pretty and historical, Decatur County known for its 19th century courthouse with a tree growing out of its mansard roof, has many rural delights including a round barn, covered bridge as well as the amazing nearby Streamcliff Farm Herb Farm which also has a winery and is so called because the 1850s farm house sits high on a ridge overlooking...

The wonderful gardens on exhibit at the 1934 International Exposition in Chicago have disappeared with time, existing only in faint memory or in the black and white photos of long forgotten books. But one exhibit, Krider’s Diversified Gardens, designed by Krider Nursery, a mainstay in Middlebury since the late 1800s, remains. Even now, almost 70 years later, visitors can stroll...

In times past, travelers made their way along the Whitewater Canal on horse pulled barges. It was, in the mid 1800s, a way for merchants and farmers to transport their products to market and for others to journey to the small towns and villages that dotted the Indiana landscape. The Whitewater Canal, which, started in 1836 and finished ten years...

Middlebury itself is a gem of a town—immaculate with stores that have been in the same family for generations and picture perfect Queen Anne and Gothic Revival Homes. Take a peek could be considered a functioning museum but what is, in reality, a store. Gohn’s (founded in 1904 and owned by the same family since) is where the Amish buy...

More than three decades ago, LaVern Pletcher, a second-generation Nappanee furniture storeowner, had a chance to achieve his dream. Pletcher, who had traveler to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for inspiration, had always harbored an idea of preserving an Amish farm and making it available to visitors. So, when the 80-acre Manasses Kuhns farm was up for sale by public auction in October...

In Osgood a marker stands in front of the home of James H. Craven, underneath what is now the porch but at the time was a cellar. Cravens was a noted anti-slavery lawyer as well as a former U.S. Congressman who settled in Ripley County. At age 56 after the Civil War broke out, he volunteered to fight with the...

There’s not much in Rentown, but it’s worth the drive because along the tree lined roads are the best opportunities to see day-to-day Amish life — farms with clothes hung out to dry, horse pulled plows and horse driven lorries burdened with produce. Rentown is a general store selling Amish goods — lots of items by bulk. Take a peek...

With the historic courthouse square filled with re-enactors in historic garb, cooking meals over open fires and showcasing the town’s defiant stand against John Hunt Morgan as he made his raid throughout Southeastern Indiana, there’s plenty of fun for everyone at the annual Sassafras Tea Festival. Delicious food and hundreds of homemade pies will be available as well as thrilling reenactments,...

In Shipshewana, one of the main stops in Northern Indiana’s Amish Country, carriages pulled by horses take visitors through the heart of this small farming community starting at the Blue Gate Restaurant. Travel the country roads and then return to the restaurant which offers traditional Amish fair like fried chicken, mashed potatoes and homemade noodles. Don’t forget to try one...

Our favorite spot in the 1300-acre Spring Mill State Park with its caves, riding trails, inn and woods, is their fascinating Pioneer Village, a pioneer settlement featuring 20 historic buildings including an old distillery, tavern and 3-story limestone gristmill, built in 1817, that continues to grind cornmeal today.   Restored in the mid 1930s, Pioneer Village introduces visitors to early settler...

Settled nine years before the Civil War by Dr. George Story, Story, Indiana, nestled at the edge of the Hoosier National Forest, was once the largest community in scenic Brown County. But by the early 1970s, the last store closed its door and the last resident moved away. All that remained were a handful of buildings and two Gold and...

A great meal at Tiffany’s Restaurant in Topeka is just one reason to stop in this tiny Amish village. Topeka is located just south of Shipshewana and is far less commercial about its Amish population. The hardware store in town advertises propane run refrigerators, washers and dryers (remember the Amish eschew electricity) and across the street, the Topeka Pharmacy has...

There was a time when West Baden Springs Hotel was called the Eighth Wonder of the World and it is easy to see why. At the beginning of the 1900s, the elite hotel was a Mecca for gamblers coming to Orange County for fun and glamour. According to the Indiana Historical Society, a stay at West Baden Springs Hotel in...