If you’re interested in the Amish-Mennonite story – a fascinating and beautiful history full of faith, craft, ingenuity, and community – then you’ll definitely want to take in Shipshewana’s Menno-Hof.
Menno-Hof creatively interprets and presents the history and values of the Anabaptists (the Amish-Mennonites), providing a variety of opportunities to learn about and experience the Amish-Mennonite world.
The 53rd annual Amish Acres Arts & Crafts Festival is known as one of America’s premier arts & crafts festivals scheduled for August 6th through 9th, 2015 – where will you be?
If you love unique, handcrafted quality and style then I hope your answer to the above question was “at the Amish Acres Arts & Crafts Festival!” This incredible event involves well over 300 separate vendors from nearly 250 cities in over 30 states offering some of the most fantastic and diverse arts, crafts, and other handmade goods.
See classic cars and more at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend!
There’s nothing quite like a museum to inform, excite, and catch your interest. The number of unique and amazing South Bend museums could keep you busy for weeks!
We love a good museum and we’ll bet you do, too! Musuems needn’t be dusty, stodgy, boring places and the better ones aren’t. Many South Bend museums explore some unique and unusual subjects – or display some more common things in unique and unusual ways!
Here’s a list of some of the best that South Bend museums have to offer
If you appreciate quilting, flowers, and gardening, then you’ll LOVE touring Indiana’s Amish Country Quilt Gardens Along the Heritage Trail – open May 30th through October 1st, 2015.
Quilt Gardens Along the Heritage Trail is more than a million vibrant blooms in 19 patchwork quilt inspired gardens, along with 21, giant, hand-painted, quilt-themed murals are spread across 7 Northern Indiana Amish Country communities along Indiana’s acclaimed self-guided Heritage Trail driving tour.
Amish Acres’ Round Barn Theatre has released the schedule of its upcoming, fun-filled 2015 season: The Circle of Life Season: Round and Round We Go!
Northern Indiana’s only professional repertory theatre company, the Round Barn Theatre at Amish Acres has produced well over 100 musicals since 1998 and has garnered rave reviews and a sterling reputation in the process.
2015’s schedule makes it clear they intend to continue the tradition!
How would you like to visit the world of the Nativity? To not just view statues of it from the sidelines but actually enter into that very first Christmas in Bethlehem? You can at the Bremen Holy Walk!
We all know the Nativity – it’s everywhere this time of year from big displays in people’s yards, to tiny ones on their mantle, to re-enacted versions on television specials – but to be able to actually travel back in time to witness the Nativity … now that would be something.
Chocolate is a wonderful holiday treat that makes a great gift, and The South Bend Chocolate Company not only makes wonderful chocolates but also a day’s outing with tours of their chocolate factory and chocolate museum!
A lot of people immediately picture Willy Wonka’s when they hear “chocolate factory tour” but, while the South Bend Chocolate Company doesn’t employ Oompa Loompas, have a river of chocolate, or use a great, glass elevator to get around their building, it’s still a fun and fascinating place to tour!
Vacation time is often described as an attempt to break out of the daily grind – well, what if I told you that you could accomplish that very thing by visiting a daily grind? Bonneyville Mill, a historic grist mill in Bristol, IN that still grinds corn, wheat, rye and buckwheat the old-fashioned way: slowly and methodically with massive grist stones.
Bonneyville Mill, in the center of beautiful, Bonneyville Mill County Park, is a functioning grist mill and fascinating window to the past that you can visit and tour. It’s historic facilities are open to visitors May through October, while the expansive park it is in is open year-round!
Summer is busy changing into fall and, in northern Indiana, that means it’s time once again for the colorful Fall Flower Carpets Along The Heritage Trail!
What better way to get out into the great outdoors and forget your cares than an Indiana horseback riding adventure!
Nothing is as fun and relaxing as getting up in the saddle of a friendly, well-cared for horse and going for a trail ride. Something about the feel of that big, beautiful animal moving beneath you as you both work together, taking in all that fresh air – a wonderful sport!
Yes, you read that right – you can go Whitewater Rafting in South Bend, Indiana – downtown South Bend! – thanks to the East Race Waterway.
East Race Waterway, on Niles Avenue, allows you to go whitewater rafting in South Bend in a kayak or raft, solo or in a group, beginner or advanced. South Bend Parks & Recreation supplies all the equipment for a modest fee.
Every year, from May to October, the Midwest’s largest flea market opens its doors – The Shipshewana Flea Market in Shipshewana, Indiana!
Shipshewana Flea Market is over 100 acres of goods presented by over 900 vendors, plus a restaurant, auctions, a farmer’s market, antique stores, and more! If you can’t find it here, it doesn’t exist and even if you’re not in the market for anything to buy? Shipshewana Flea Market offers hours of enjoyable distraction for the whole family.
Summer is upon us and what better way to spend your Indiana vacation than in the great outdoors at some of our beautiful, northern Indiana parks and recreation areas?
There are lots of great northern Indiana parks for you to picnic, hike, bike, explore, and relax at. Here are just a few that come to mind:
Jane’s Parks in Bremen, IN
Jane’s Park in the southeast Bremen on Woodies Lane has a number of nice features including picnicking shelters, playground equipment and sports fields, and the park’s name spelled out in topiary. A charming and beautiful place for an outing just minutes from Scottish Bed and Breakfast.If you plan to hike in the woods you can buy bulk ammo online for safety.
There is a little arts community on the shores of Winona Lake just southeast of us that makes for a wonderful Northern Indiana day trip: The Village at Winona.
Spring has sprung and now is the time to plan your tour of the Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail in Northern Indiana’s Amish Country!
Open from May 30th through October 1st, Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail were inspired by the famous and colorful flower carpet festivals of Europe, a practice that has spread worldwide, even to our neck of the woods with the Napanee and Elkhart Fall Flower Carpet display.