Wayne County IN-Auctions Greenhouses Oh My!
The winter weather held on way too long in my neck of the woods which is Central Illinois. We had a breath of spring then we were bounced right back into frigid wind, rain and such. Brr! What did I need? A dose of flowers and spring, thus the perfect spring trip to Wayne County Indiana. Annie Jansen and I met with the amazing Nancy Sartain and Julie Chance of Visit Richmond. They gave us a whirlwinds tour of an Amish auction, and Amish greenhouses and more! Thank you!
Cambridge City where we traveled s along the amazing National Road.
Nancy shared that the National Road was the first federally funded road. US 40- the National Road runs from Cumberland, Maryland to Vandalia, Illinois. For those like me in Central Illinois, the Mother Road is Route 66, but Route 40 has its own history which begins in 1926. With America celebrating their 250th anniversary, this history is fascinating. Using the numbered federal highway system, Route 40 was assigned to the route carrying transcontinental traffic at the nation’s midsection. The National Road website shares, “The mid-1950’s were a period described by many as the Golden Age of Automobiling. By that time, Route 40 served America well, carrying more automobile traffic than any other transcontinental highway. Back then, if you needed to go from coast to coast, there simply wasn’t a better choice. During its heyday, the highway ran 3,157 miles from Atlantic City to San Francisco, traversing the midsection of the United States. When the Interstate Highway system came along, many western sections of Route 40 were decommissioned.”
Monet on Main
With a hosted-stay at the beautiful, boutique bed and breakfast, Monet on Main in downtown Cambridge City, my friend Annie Jansen, and I ended up in Ryan and Carma Parrish’s beautiful Garden Suite. “We have only been open since November,” Carma shared, adding that they like to source locally and that includes flowers and plants from their own garden, and the breakfast they offer as well.
With everything Monet themed for this Francophile, it was heaven. They even offer a chance to work on a floral painting in the Garden Suite!
After ascending the 27 stairs, Annie and I were thrilled with what we found!
The Garden Suite has a roomy sitting area and almost floor to ceiling windows opening to Main Street, we have a front door view to the world. Flowers and plants decorated the suite all handpicked and designed from the Parrish’s own garden
Annie and I both had or own room, and there is a little kitchen to boot.
Room to sit and visit in the evening, rest at night, and work in the dining room next to the cheery plant filled window donned with lovely succulents.
Note that there are currently two suites the Garden Suite and the Water Lily with a third, the Poppy Suite on the ground floor that will soon be open. It is easily accessible except for a small step into the historic building.
Roses and Rainbows & Legatos Coffee House & Market
The building that houses Monet on Main used to be a bank After our overnight stay, on Thursday morning we headed for a delectable breakfast at Vanessa and Eliza Tanner’s Legato’s Coffee House and Market.
Vanessa said that the name Legato is a musical term that means connected! Annie and I are not coffee girls, but we tried an amazing chai tea latte. We had a delectable sausage egg and cheese pastry and an AMAZING chocolate chip scone. They use all clean and organic ingredients from scratch! “We just have always been passionate in our family,” Vanessa explained about how their family eats a bit healthier and shares this with her customers.
The gift ideas at Legato’s are a combination of Vanessa and her daughter and are comprised of local artists. Annie and I both walked away with gifts in hand! After dining, we stepped into Silvia Hamilton’s Roses & Rainbows, Flower & Gift Shop.
Silvia was busy before nine filling orders already. Her lovely shop was full of flowers and gift items, and she showed us the cooler where she keeps her flowers that was previously the bank vault. Silvia once owned the entire building where Monet on Main is located.
Wayne County Community Amish Auction
The first day of our trip actually began with Visit Richmond’s Nancy Sartain and Julie Chance meeting us on Wednesday morning outside of Monet on Main and we headed to a flower filled day. Our first stop was the Wayne County Amish Auction, and Countryside Amish Greenhouses along Carlos Road in Williamsburg, Indiana. They share on their brochure that this is “The place to buy and sell wholesale local grown produce. Our goal is quality service for the finest farm fresh produce, flowers, bedding plants, and potted mums.”
Check out the Facebook page for times and details.
I don’t know when I have ever seen such beautiful flowers. Vivid colors bursting blooms, all lined up ready for auction. With so many auctions going online these days, it was a treat to hear the auctioneers call and see clients loading plants into their cars with big plans in their minds as they picture what will go where.
Besides the plants, there were baked, and I mean, homemade baked goods for the buying.
I walked away with an amazing looking zucchini nut bread, and Nancy couldn’t resist a blueberry lemon loaf. Annie and Julie contemplated what they might add to their baskets. If this wouldn’t have been the first day of our trip, I would have purchased some of the beautiful strawberries as well.
One thing that fascinated me was the way they kept track of who had paid. There is a # assigned to each bidder, and when the bidder pays, they pull the paper out of the number slot!
Countryside Greenhouses
After the auction we headed across the way to the Countryside Amish Greenhouses. This was such a treat like walking into a botanical garden.
One mom with three kids had a great time filling her cart with flowers and taking pictures of her kids among the blooms. A vibrant foxglove plant, hibiscus trees, and the biggest and brightest Gerber daisies I had ever seen were beautiful. Row after row and path after path.
Lovely. “It was just the sheer color that so impressed me,” Annie said, “And there were so many different colors.”
Our drive to our next destination offered bucolic countryside views of rolling hills, a couple of sheep herds, grazing cows and beautiful horses. The Wayne County Amish population is a recently new group to immigrate to the county. “The first Amish came in the 1990’s from Lancaster, Pennsylvania,” Nancy shared. “There were around 40 families that came.”
Most Amish located in the north and northeast section of Wayne County with recent arrivals settling in the eastern side of the country near the Ohio border.
Dining in Wayne County Indiana
Food in Wayne County is amazing! During our stay, we tried Lakeview Restaurant in Cambridge City. It was a win win! I had heard about this restaurant in a previous visit from No. 9 Grill owner, Brandon Fortman who shared about No 9 Grill, “It is a family thing. me, my two cousins, Tyler and John, and dad Brent and Uncle Kent opened it. We just felt like the town was missing a sit down with family and friends’ kind of place.” He explained. that they added another restaurant to their mix. “Our dads once owned Lakeview, and we recently opened it.”
They added some very cool art with this mural outside. The restaurant sits alongside a lovely lake, the food was as good as at No. 9 Grill.
The meal Annie and I had at No 9 Grill on Thursday evening was as good as always. Annie and I shared an appetizer and an entree. Previously when I dined at the amazing No. 9 Grill, owner Brandon Fortman shared. “We opened in November of 2012. The building was a grocery store and before that Knights of Pythias #9 Lodge,” Brandon shared giving insight into the name.
I had to laugh when we decided to have dessert and Annie thought the cake would be small and asked for the shareable size. The delicious chocolate cake was the size of a loaf pan! Needless to say, we ate on that for a while. Yum.
Pizza and more!
Friday evening Nancy said, “Is pizza night, and Bad Dad’s Pizza and Tap Room in Richmond was her favorite! We had some type of amazing pepperoni pizza with hot honey. Not spicy, just delectable. Our server explained it all.
We ran into Nancy’s husband and son who had the same idea we did. I had to try their lightest beer which is brewed in Fairmont, Indiana their hometown, and also where James Dean grew up. Since my new book, True Farm Girl Adventures is coming out and mentions James Dean and Fairmont, it was a given.
Light and crisp, the beer was a perfect pizza companion.
Located in downtown Richmond, this was a fun stop.
Our Friday luncheon spot was Stone Hearth Cafe, a fun place connected to the famous Warm Glow Candle Company in Centerville.
Sunny Smiles and Arba Fountain Amish Greenhouses
Besides the Amish auction and Countryside, we headed to two other Amish Greenhouses. The first was Sunny Smile Greenhouse in Williamsburg. They had flowers and bedding plants and they were busy!
One fun view was of the fairy garden.
We enjoyed wandering through the beautiful plants and selections!
Our next stop was Arba Fountain Amish Greenhouse. On a previous visit Annie and I enjoyed the amazing selection and fresh sandwiches and bread at Fountain Acres Amish Store. The Arba Greenhouse is also located in Fountain City, and it was here that Nancy found the prettiest hanging plant of our trip.
Since it was our last day and we were leaving in the morning I also bought flowers to plant in my little concrete truck. They were so hardy and survived the trip home and are blooming like crazy.
Here are some of the other Arba selections.
Our last outdoor stop was Hoosier Hill at Indiana’s highest point. At an elevation of 1257 ft. we enjoyed posing with the rock declaring the elevation.
It is hard to believe that Wayne County just keeps bringing it! History, beauty, Amish goods and a garden culture that any enthusiast would enjoy. Antiques, industry, the National Road and more keep bringing me back to this eastern part of the Hoosier state.
Have you been? What did you love?
