Big things happened here. Abraham Lincoln got his law license here on March 1, 1837. Two days later, in this building, he spoke out against slavery for the first time. In June of the same year Chicago received its charter. The building in which these historic events took place is Illinois’ oldest existing capitol building and it’s open to the public for tours. Read more
Just 15 miles from Indiana’s second largest city, traffic slows to a horse and buggy pace, stepping into stores is like stepping into yesteryear, and Friday night entertainment is a cappella singing and yodeling. Grabill, Indiana, unlike other Amish towns, isn’t filled with overpriced specialty shops. Instead you’ll find simple shops with old-fashioned appeal. On my short visit, I browsed through a general store, an antique mall and flea market, and a coffee shop, all housed in buildings that have stood for more than a century.
Since the Souder family purchased what is now the H. Souder & Sons General Store in 1907 to start a harness shop, the building has been home to 24 different kinds of business, including a jail, a bank and a gas station.
You’ll be taken back to your childhood—or maybe your parents’ childhood—in the store where nostalgic signs advertise candy that you may not have seen, let alone tasted, in years, like Zagnut candy bars or Chuckles sugar-coated jelly candies. Goods are displayed in the crowded shop on wooden crates, in bushel baskets and in barrels. Young and old are invited to sit and play a friendly game of checkers.
On hot summer days enjoy a refreshing cold bottle of soda.
I made two purchases in the store: candied ginger and a bag of loose herbal tea, each priced at around half of what you’d pay in a specialty shop.
The Country Shops combines 100 vendors in an antique mall, indoor flea market, and art gallery. Browse all the nooks and crannies of the two floors of for unique items.
The Coffee Cabin, housed in a log cabin built in 1791, offers an assortment of coffees and teas, treats like cherry pie cookies and banana bread, and soups and sandwiches.
Other businesses in Grabill include restaurants like Nolt’s Amish Restaurant (reservations required) with family style, buffet or menu dining. On Friday evenings, listen to Amish a cappella singing and an Amish yodeler. Visit the Amish Brass Shop for Amish made decorative items, a country store where you can purchase bulk dry foods, and a farm market that sells produce and Amish cheese and butter.
You can fill at least a half day in Grabill, or if you slow down to a horse and buggy pace, you can stretch it into a full day.
Grabill is located 15 miles northeast of Fort Wayne, about a half hour drive. Note that many of the shops are closed Sundays.
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Disclosure: My visit to Grabill was hosted by Visit Fort Wayne, but any opinions expressed in this post are strictly mine.
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Who would think that just outside of Peoria, two-and-a-half miles off the Interstate in Hanna City, Illinois, a herd of bison roam the prairie? Described as a jewel in the Midwest, Wildlife Prairie Park is home to 150 animals of 50 species native to Illinois. Wildlife, ten miles of hiking trails through natural landscape, fishing ponds and a schedule of planned activities bring around 140,000 guests to the park each year. Read more
John Marcoot had planned to sell his dairy operation when he retired. The operation had been in the family for six generations. He didn’t want his daughters to struggle with lives on a small farm, as competition from mega farms was making it more difficult for small farm survival. If they were to continue the operation, they needed to do something different than to continue to sell their milk to the local dairy coop. Daughters Amy and Beth, who had already started other careers, wanted to continue the family legacy. However, they agreed with Dad that they needed to work it from another angle. They found that angle in making cheese and in agritourism. Marcoot Jersey Creamery was born. Read more
The first thing I noticed about Science Central is color, bright colors in what reminded me of a mad scientist’s playground with giant yellow tubes and red hooks and a crazy looking red bicycle contraption on a rail overhead. At first glance you wouldn’t recognize Science Central as a museum. In fact, Martin Fisher, Executive Director, said he doesn’t like to think of it as a museum either, since museums are so often about looking and reading but not touching. The hands-on exhibits at Science Central are meant to teach by doing, and adults are as welcome to participate as kids.
Among over 120 interactive exhibits, you can zip through a two-story tube slide, participate in science demonstrations in the Demonstration Theater, or measure your foot against that of a mastodon.
On the High Ride Bicycle, balanced by a counter weight below it, you are strapped on to the bicycle before you take a ride around a rim high above. The safety net, we were assured, has only been necessary to catch items that have fallen out of pockets.
One of the newest exhibits is Science on a Sphere, a six-foot diameter sphere that seems to float in mid-air and changes from the moon to Earth to other planets like Jupiter or Mars, all in vivid color. Invented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as a research tool, you can see the Earth’s storm systems projected real-time onto the sphere.
A separate area, Kids Central, includes fun activities for kids ages 2 through 7, like a water table, giant keyboard and indoor playground.
What better building to house Science Central than one that was originally a power plant? The 70,000 square foot 1929-era former City Power & Light building seems the perfect venue, with its high ceilings and rustic brick walls. Even the exterior seems appropriate, with smoke stacks rising from the roof painted in bright colors.
Science Central, located at 1950 N Clinton Street, Fort Wayne, Indiana, is open Wednesday through Sunday (and Tuesday during the summer). Check the web site for hours and admission rates. Note that some of the exhibits follow an exhibit schedule, which you’ll receive upon admission.
Disclosure: My visit to Science Central was hosted by Visit Fort Wayne and Science Central, but any opinions expressed in this post are strictly mine.
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The first stop when we visited the Caterpillar Visitors Center in Peoria, Illinois, was the 797 Theater. The theater sits in the bed of a 797f mining truck. Read more
