92 County Tour: Wabash

Ryan had this past Saturday off work, and we thought we would use the day to cross another county off our tour list! He had a long week, so my hope was to find a nearby county without much in it that we could do quickly and still have plenty of time for rest. I actually had a whole different county planned, and then Friday afternoon, my friend Amber asked if I'd be interested in going with her on Saturday to see some art pieces she had in a show in Wabash. Well, in a fun twist, we hadn't actually done Wabash County yet, so we just started over on our tour plans, switched counties, took Amber with us, and made a whole day of fun!

This county was named after the Wabash River, and when we lived in Marion, it was the county directly north of us. We drove through it every time we went to the lake! :) Even so, we hadn't stopped to do a lot of exploring. (We tend not to let anything stand in our way when headed to the lake.)

We started out at this little place called Paradise Springs Historical Park, which we actually almost didn't find! It's at the end of a one way street that goes the other way, and we almost never saw it! Thank goodness Ryan perseveres! This park has the river walk and some green space in it, but it also has ten old log cabins that were really interesting to see and read about. The short version is that back in the 1800's, Congress initiated a treaty with local Native American tribes, and this site hosted soldiers and Native Americans. They ended up signing a treaty to relinquish the rights to their land. Most of the cabins were VERY small and some didn't even have windows. An open pony door would have provided the only natural light! We took lots of pictures and enjoyed reading the signs posted on the cabins.

 The original tiny house! (These little structures housed governors and generals. I don't think that would fly today!)

 Ryan works the railroad:

After that, we drove past the courthouse. I've always thought Wabash County has a beautiful courthouse.

From there, we went to the Honeywell Center, which is this HUGE performing arts center in downtown Wabash. In my single days, I went to a bunch of concerts there, but this time we went to see Amber's art in the art show! She might be embarrassed if I show you the pictures of her WITH her art, so I'll just show a sampling of her talent.

We looked at all the entries, and that was a fun stop! :) On the way out the door, Ryan decided to reenact the "I fell in the fountain" song we talked about on the podcast a few weeks ago. He cracks me up!

Someone (guess who???) was pretty hungry by then, so we went to Modoc's Market for coffee and lunch. I have several Wabash-area friends who have raved about this coffee shop, so I had high expectations when we went! You can read the full story of Modoc the elephant here, but the quick version is that back in the 1940's, the Great American Circus came to Wabash for a fundraiser performance. Three elephants were tethered outside the venue when some barking dogs startled them. Modoc the elephant broke loose, got away, and ran through downtown Wabash, crashing into a drugstore to try to get some peanuts roasting inside. The drugstore was located where the coffee shop is now! (It's a pretty interesting story if you want to read the rest of it.)

The coffee shop is super cute and all décor is inspired by Modoc the elephant. We ate lunch there - Ryan had chili and a hot dog, I had chili, and Amber had a wrap), and we had fun with some photo opps too!

OH! And I would like to live in the apartments above the coffee shop, please. I mean, can you even IMAGINE how great that would be?

We shopped around downtown in all the cute little local places, and that was fun too! ESPECIALLY WHEN WE FOUND A BOOKSTORE. Oh. My. Soul. Amber and Ryan are not big book lovers, so they just basically tolerated this stop, but I could seriously go back and spend a week poking around looking for treasures. I was so in love.

(Amber took this picture of the reinforced shelves. It cracked her up.)

We didn't go inside Saturday, but I did get a picture of the Charley Creek Inn, which is a very cool old hotel still in operation today. (A few years ago, Ryan and I ate dinner in the hotel restaurant, and it was good!)

When we left Wabash, we headed up to the little itty bitty burg of Roann to see its covered bridge and mill! (There is also a covered bridge in North Manchester, which I did not realize was in Wabash County, but I felt bad having us drive all the way there to see one bridge. We also go through that town on our way to the lake, so I just postponed visiting that bridge until our next lake weekend!)

Anyway! Roann has a beautiful covered bridge that is actually functional! You can drive right through it! It's a long one, too! We paused for a few photos.

Then we drove to the Stockdale Mill. It's open for tours and history-learning from May to October, but obviously we showed up too early for that. (One of my friends has taken that tour, though, and she said it is fantastic and well worth the time.) We did show up on the perfect day for pictures, though!!

So that was our tour of Wabash County! It was a little chilly, but it was a stunning day, and we had so much fun. We were glad Amber went with us, too! Fun to have a friend along!

23 counties down, 69 to go! :)