Nostalgic Road Journeys – Journey Indiana

story by GLENDA WINDERS

Who doesn’t love a highway journey? The music on the radio, the snacks in a cooler, the stops at roadside sights — all recall a time when folks vacationed at a extra leisurely tempo after they obtained away from the pressures at residence and visited locations they’d by no means earlier than seen.

For your subsequent getaway, why not lean into that nostalgic frame of mind and plan a visit that takes you into the previous. We’re not speaking time journey right here, however fairly a getaway the place you possibly can go to locations steeped in historical past. From museums and vintage outlets, to diners and sweet outlets, Indiana has loads of stops in your personal nostalgic highway journey.

A superb place to begin is the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart checks each bins as you start your explorations. The evolution of tenting trailers from 1920 to the current is on show within the RV Founders Hall. While you’re within the temper to take a look at older objects, head over to Michigan City to discover Good News Vintage, the place you’ll discover curated residence décor for no matter period you want. Pieces accessible at The Antique Market embody looking, sport, struggle, and railroad memorabilia; furnishings and mirrors; jewellery, pottery, and glassware.

Then it’s on to Highland in Lake County and America’s Antique Mall, 60,000 sq. toes that embody 350 cubicles and 350 glass circumstances full of treasures simply ready so that you can discover them.

Still haven’t had your fill of vintage shops? Rochester in Fulton County invitations you to take a look at Green Oaks Antiques for gadgets that vary from furnishings, dishes, and toys to instruments, pottery, and backyard ornaments. Also right here is the Times Theater, “where memories come alive,” which dates to 1924. Now restored, it celebrates films, dwell music, and artwork.

You’ll encounter antiques in Lafayette, too, however there are additionally a number of different methods to have enjoyable right here. Fort Ouiatenon was established by the French in 1717 as a fur-trading publish. A reproduction blockhouse, inbuilt 1930, is now open and programmed by the Tippecanoe County Historical Association. Come within the autumn for the annual Feast of the Hunters’ Moon pageant.

The Haan Museum of Art is in a mansion that served because the Connecticut Building on the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. It was later moved to Lafayette and is thought for its excellent assortment of historic Indiana work. The historic Long Center for the Performing Arts, inbuilt 1921, has been restored and now presents music, theatrical productions and retro movies.

Catch a dwell present on the restored artwork deco Lafayette Theater, inbuilt 1938, or tour Samara, a pristine instance of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian structure, now a National Historic Landmark.

The Seiberling Mansion in Kokomo is to not be missed. Completed in 1891 for Monroe Seiberling, who got here right here throughout the gasoline increase and constructed a number of factories, it’s now a sublime museum that’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Muncie’s Cammack Station, inbuilt 1931, is an ideal cease on a highway journey because it was constructed to be a gasoline station. Now it’s a restaurant that’s full of memorabilia from its heyday. Order from a retro menu — coney canine or fried bologna sandwich, anybody? — and observe up with one in every of their ice cream creations.

Another spot for a memorable meal is the bright-yellow Lemon Drop in Anderson. In enterprise for the reason that Nineteen Fifties, the diner-style eatery serves up onion burgers, tenderloins, french fries, selfmade pies, and milkshakes. On your approach out the door be sure you choose up some free lemon drops. Another chance is Gene’s Root Beer and Hot Dogs, the place they invite you to take pleasure in these delights together with others on the menu.

Henry County gives a profitable mixture of historical past and hoops. Begin your journey on the iconic Hoosier Gym in Knightstown, the place the film “Hoosiers” was filmed, and transfer on to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and the New Castle Fieldhouse. For a change of tempo, catch a dwell efficiency on the restored Guyer Opera House.

Grover Center in Shelbyville tells the world’s historical past by the use of an exhibit titled “The Streets of Old Shelby,” the place an interurban practice automotive delivers you to a life-size village that re-creates the saloon, college, shops, and places of work that have been as soon as right here. Another exhibit celebrates trains that in Shelby County date to 1834, and the Charlotte Jones Gallery illuminates how this a part of the state modified geologically in addition to its agricultural and industrial previous.

Step into Nineteenth-century grandeur in Madison, residence to the nation’s largest downtown National Historic Landmark District, spanning 133 blocks of superbly preserved structure. Tour the Lanier Mansion, an 1844 Greek Revival jewel overlooking the river, and the Shrewsbury-Windle House, each famed for his or her dramatic three-story spiral staircases. Then discover the magical downtown district for presents and finds you received’t see wherever else.

Anna Rosales-Crone, communications supervisor at SoIN Tourism which represents Clark and Floyd counties, remembers that Schimpff’s Confectionary was the primary place her husband took her when she moved to Jeffersonville, and now it’s the first place she takes individuals who come to go to. In the 135 years of its existence, it has remained in the identical household, and so they nonetheless give excursions and reveal how they make their candies. And you possibly can’t get extra nostalgic than the Georgetown Drive-in, simply west of Jeffersonville, which now gives family-friendly actions in addition to double-feature movies.

Huber’s Orchard and Winery is one other favourite, a family-owned farm the place you possibly can choose your individual fruit and pattern the wine. Jeffersonville can be residence to Abbey Road on the River, a pageant that celebrates the music of the Beatles, and Recbar, an arcade the place you’ll additionally discover good meals and grownup drinks.

Explore the underground wonders of Harrison County, with a lineup of extraordinary locations: Marengo Cave, a U.S. National Natural Landmark; Squire Boone Caverns with its 73step spiral staircase and burial web site of Squire Boone; and Indiana Caverns for an underground boat trip by Indiana’s longest cave system. Interactive reveals on the Harrison County Discovery Center in Corydon carry the world’s historical past and geology to life.

In French Lick step again in time to luxurious on the 1845 French Lick Springs Hotel, a resort recognized for its stress-free mineral springs. Its sister property, West Baden Springs Hotel, contains a gorgeous 200-foot domed atrium and a pampering spa.

In Dubois County, begin in Huntingburg at League Stadium, a classic 1894 ballpark restored in 1991 for the movie “A League of Their Own.” Then go to the Monastery Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, often known as the “Castle on the Hill,” a surprising Romanesque construction that contains a dome, gardens, and excursions that provide perception into greater than 125 years of non secular heritage.

Vincennes, Indiana’s first territorial capital, is wealthy in historical past. Visit the Indiana Military Museum to see artifacts tracing U.S. conflicts from the Civil War to the current. Stand beneath the hovering columns of the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, the place the 1779 seize of Fort Sackville formed frontier America. Then pause on the Knox County Veteran Memorial Park.

Cinema 67 Drive-In in Spencer has been displaying double options beneath the celebrities since 1957. Downtown is the Tivoli Theatre, a restored 1928 gem with its unique Mission Revival facilities. By day, discover McCormick’s Creek State Park or take within the cascading great thing about Cataract Falls.

Discover thrills in Morgan County on the Paragon Speedway earlier than you catch a double-feature on the ‘50s-era Centerbrook Drive-in. Sweeten your go to — and wrap up your journey — with a cease at Martinsville Candy Kitchen, established in 1919, for handmade sweet canes and sundaes.