Elkhart County and Shipshewana Christmas!

Northern Indiana’s Elkhart County and Shipshewana is a beautiful and peaceful place. After visiting northern Indiana, a couple times this past year, I thought my husband Keith would enjoy a bit of the area for Christmas!

A Stay At Essenhaus Inn

The Essenhaus campus is just that, a selection of hotel, Amish style restaurant, shopping, and outdoor recreation all rolled into one. Visiting during a blogging trip, I thought how much I would love to stay. This beautiful place is located in Middlebury. I booked the hotel for Keith and I and he loved it. Decorated for the holidays, the beautiful hotel is designed in a cozy decor with beautiful quilts here and there. Keith loved the bright red Ford truck that the staff at the front desk said they had quite a time bringing in the day of our arrival.

We stayed in my favorite area, the atrium section. There rooms surround a decorated sitting area. In the evening, we would sit and sip hot chocolate and rock next to the decorated Christmas tree!

Best of all at the Essenhaus is the Amish style food. On our way to the Inn, we stopped and met a friend and viewed his tractor collection. When he heard what direction we were going he said, “Make sure you eat at the Esssenhaus.”

They make their own noodles. They are in Walmart’s all over and are delectable to say nothing about the amazing pies!

Fun Breakfast!

We were able to meet up with friend Sonya Harmon Nash who was formerly with Experience Elkhart County Indiana. We got to sit in one of the available Amish style buggies in the restaurant. She just became the Executive Director of Explore LaGrange County, which encompasses Shipshewana and beyond! Sonya helped us plan a few extra stops with a hosted show at the Blue Gate in Shipshewana and dinner afterwards! She gave us ideas for fun stops and shared information about the area. Thank you, Explore LaGrange County!

Shopping

We arrived in Elkhart County Wednesday evening and after breakfast with Sonya on Thursday morning we headed out. Our first stop was the cool Varns & Hoover Hardware. This neat hardware store with the beautiful hardwood floors has been in business for over 133 years! They had a wonderful collection of old clocks and weathervanes and more besides aisles and aisles to shop. When asked about the best place to look for antiques in the area, the woman at the hardware store mentioned an antique store called Cherry Pickers.

We headed on to Shipshewana after Middlebury’s hardware stop to catch the Cherry Pickers. This store is so cool. Young pickers, Mark and Stephanie Liechty are reclaiming this and that from furniture to items from reclaimed barns and homes and making new and unique creations. When asking Mark Liechty how this business came about, he said that it came from being unemployed and going door to door collecting junk to recycle. This worked into a business, and at the end of the day, the young couple found they were good at this and that what they were doing was a job, not just a way to make money to get by. They credit everything that has come their way to God. “God is at the center,” Mark said.

As for the community, he said, “My wife and I moved from outside the community and they adopted us, it has become home for us.”

Successfully mixing Mark’s junking with his father’s cabinet making this is a fun place to stop.

A Few More Stops!

Throughout the day after attending the Blue Gate “Our Christmas Dinner” show we stopped at a few other shops that included the wonderful Riverwood Pottery where we bought some cool mugs. While Keith did most of his shopping in the antique shops, I was able to find something from Santa at You-nique Bou-tique for him to put under the tree!

Hotel turned mercantile!

After the Cherry Pickers, we headed to the Davis Mercantile. My purpose was to ride the 1909 Denzel carousel. All horses and animals are carved on the outside to be like those in the surrounding area. The carousel is on the top floor of the mercantile.

This former hotel, which is now a mercantile has four floors and 21 stores. The carousel operator told me all about how Hezikiah Davis one of the original pioneers built the hotel. They moved the hotel to Main Street, then it burned down, it was rebuilt, and now is a mercantile! There is a huge tree trunk in the center of the building that is 370 years old. The Mercantile area is a great for shopping, or you can just ride on the carousel like I did!

We enjoyed walking around town and seeing the decorations and shops.

Entertainment Options

Entertainment Options in this area are endless! I stopped in for a few minutes to speak with Karen Flanharch, Director of the 100,000 square foot MEC, Michiana Event Center. She gave me a quick tour sharing a bit about Michiana’s biggest event center which boasts an indoor arena. This summer the arena will be home to Horse Progress Days. “We do motorcycle jumps, private dinners, huge ranch shows, rodeos and PBR Tier I events,” Karen said, along with Passion Plays and more.

This summer the history that shaped Shipshewana, Untold will be presented. “Potawatomi Indians first inhabited northern Indiana. The Federal Government forcibly drove the Natives from their land. The Davis and Summey Families started building. Disagreements arose and feuds escalated. Forbidden love ultimately unites the two families,” the brochure shares.

Karen said she learned that it was Mrs. Davis that resolved the family differences by naming the town after Chief Shipshewana.

During the tour I saw preparation underway for the show, Shipshewana Majestic’s Noel. In the back there are 340 standing horse stalls there is also the expo center and conference space. This is a huge area that offers much to see and do!

Shipshewana Memorial

After hearing about the story of the town’s beginnings, we headed to the Shipshewana Memorial. I wanted to learn more about Potawatomi Chief.

Below is the wording that is on the memorial and tells the story of the Chief Shipshewana.

In Memory of
Chief Shipshewana
and his band of
Pottawattamie Indians,
removed from this reservation
Sept. 4, 1838 and escorted to Kansas
by a company of soldiers.

One year later, the heartbroken Chief
was allowed to return to
his old camp grounds
on the banks of
beautiful Shipshewana Lake,
where he died in 1841.

Shup-She-Wah-No
in Indian language means to have a
“Vision of a Lion”

A sad story for sure.

The Blue Gate Restaurant & Music Hall

We were treated at the Blue Gate to the wonderful play, “Our Christmas Dinner”. This fun play was comedic, musical and faith filled. Put on by a professional crew, we were thrilled to attend this play filled with Christmas music and tuned to the true meaning of Christmas in a new theme.

The Blue Gate is amazing they offer over 300 shows, 100 artists and outstanding Amish Musicals. Along with all this many of the artists are household names and they also offer a solid gospel list as well. The food was wonderful and filling! There is a gift shop and carriage rides as well!

A Tour with Our Amish Guide

When in beautiful Elkhart County with my blogger group, I had met the wonderful Orley Miller, an Amish step-on-tour guide. We met him at an Amish breakfast at his daughter Carolyn Yoder’s home. While Mr. Miller usually takes bus groups on guided tours in Amish country, I talked him into taking Keith and I on a guided tour for two. This was part of Keith’s Christmas.

We passed an Amish school and Mr. Miller said, “We have at least 100 Amish schools in LaGrange and Elkhart County. The Amish go from here in Shipshewana to Goshen. They spread about 40 miles square, then there is a big settlement in Michigan and one in Nappanee.”

Tour Highlights

We met Mr. Miller at his home not far from Shipshewana. He took us to some wonderful stops and shared with us about the Amish culture. Orley Miller and his wife Mary moved to this area in 1965. They have 11 grown children. While Mr. Miller began as a farmer, he later moved houses. Then he got into the carpentry business.

Keith’s favorite stop of the day was hands down Shipshe Farm Supply where they sell horse drawn equipment. Here we saw new one bottom horse drawn plows for sale! While I usually write about antique horse drawn equipment, this was my first new sighting!

Orley Miller also took us to a horse auction barn. We saw several horses that would be going to auction. We went to the Riverbend Harness and Horseshoeing shop. Then it was on to his son and son-in-law’s business EASH Sales, The Outdoor Store, which had a little of everything! It was here that Keith found his favorite purchase of the trip. A cool sign.

To hire Mr. Miller, contact the Explore LaGrange County about information on how to reach him.

Goshen Wrap Up

The trip to Elkhart County and Shipshewana was magical to celebrate the holiday. The day we left; big snowflakes were falling the size of nickels. We took a few minutes to stop in Goshen. Keith went through the Goshen Antique Mall. I perused the Goshen Historical Society Museum. I learned there is a police booth downtown and that the fountain by the courthouse has Neptune in it! What more could we want for a Merry Christmas end to our trip?