Such a great experience! Extremely informative! The museum has many cool artifacts from Lew…read moreWallace's life as well as props from Ben-Hur film adaptations. The study itself is stunning. Our tour guide Tom was extremely knowledgeable and explained the history of Wallace's life and all the objects in the study in a very engaging way! This is a can't miss spot in Crawfordsville!

If you watch the 1959 movie "Ben-Hur", you will see a story about a man who lived a life that was…read morefitting to be on the big screen of Hollywood. However, if Hollywood wanted to make a movie about a real life man who accomplished a variety of great things, a movie should be made about the author of the novel, General Lew Wallace of Indiana. Born in Brookville in 1827, the man was a war hero in the Civil War, an author of seven novels, an inventor, sculptor/painter, foreign minister to the Ottoman Empire, and governor of the New Mexico Territory. And for a day job, he was a lawyer in Crawfordsville, Indiana where he settled and raised his family. Before living such an active life in service to his country, he moved to Crawfordsville and attended an event at the home of his former commander in the Mexican War, Henry S Lane. Lane's wife was one of the daughters of prominent Crawfordsville business man Isaac Elston. Another of Elston's daughters, Susan, was in attendance. Wallace met Susan which led to their eventual marriage and raising of a son, Henry Lane Wallace. Being a man of means, Wallace acquired property near the Elston family land holdings which is the site of the study and museum. He had the study built on his property that featured a 25 x 25 room with a skylight and walls filled with rows of books. In the study and beneath a large tree just west of the building, Wallace did his writing, sculpting, inventing, and painting. Truly, he was a modern day Renaissance man. If you visit the Wallace property, you can walk the grounds outside the study for free. There is parking by the carriage house or street parking outside the property on the east and west sides. However, if you want to go inside the study and learn more about the life of the man, you can take a tour for only $5. The tour begins in the carriage house with a 15-minute video about Wallace and his most famous creation, "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ". The video room is filled with movie memorabilia. From there, you see some of the property including the site of the former moat, some flower gardens, and a Wallace Statue placed where the tree he used to write under had been. And finally, you get a tour of the study and get to see many of the paintings, inventions, and books that where mentioned in the video. The place has been painstakingly preserved while restoring it and updating things like plumbing and wiring for safety reasons. The room is filled with art and details that were innovative for their time. You can spend a lot of time looking at this extensive collection. Note: there is also a side room that was set up to show some of Wallace's Civil War activities and collections. Tours are available during normal business hours and can be started whenever you arrive unless another tour has already begun. If you are a fan of history and appreciate creativity, then this is a tour you will definitely enjoy. Review #1387

The woman who was there at the time was very friendly and helpful. Provided us with everything we…read moreneeded. The signs on the route, however, need a little work. I don't know who is in charge of that, but there needs to be a sign at every intersection and some are so faded, they are hard to read. Since some are not on the colored routes, there should be signs to point to them or they will be missed. We had to backtrack several times. We needed up using their map, plus GPS to find the street names and even then it was a guessing game in some areas. We had fun, though.

Although the actual visitor center part of the former depot is small, it does have a lot of…read morebrochures and booklets about the county. The staff member working was friendly and helpful with a good base of knowledge about the attractions and their history. I was able to get several questions answered without having to read through the brochures to find answers. They have convenient parking next to the depot and signs pointing you in the direction of the different covered bridge trails which are given colors. These driving trails correspond to their Parke County map and if you follow the path in the right direction, you will see signs about where to turn on your route. I also liked their website and response times for inquiry too. Not the biggest Visitor Center I've visited in the state, but a place worth checking out before exploring the county on your own. Review #3146

On the east side of downtown Crawfordsville, you may notice a stretch of land on Wabash Street that…read moreis lined with large estates with beautiful old homes. A great deal of the property was once held by local business man, Isaac Elston. He and his wife raised nine children, many of whom lived along this stretch, including his daughter Joanna and her husband, Henry S Lane. Lane was a lawyer and prominent politician who was a key player in getting Abraham Lincoln nominated for President, and was actually elected Governor of Indiana with his Lieutenant Governor Oliver Morton. In those days, US Senators were appointed and since Lane knew he would become appointed Senator, led the gubernatorial ticket instead of the controversial Morton. Two days after taking office as Governor, Lane stepped down so that he could become Senator while allowing Morton to step into the Governor's position. Seems like wheeling and dealing have always been part of the American Way. Lane is known as one of the most popular founders of the Republican Party as the Whigs were losing power and elections to the Democratic Party. New life needed to be breathed into the party, so a fresh start was needed. Lane, along with others like Lincoln, was a great orator and he was able to bring people together to agree with his ideas. The Lane House/Place/Mansion/Museum (it goes by many names including Antebellum in the description) is a beautiful estate which faces Water Street, but has access from Pike Street which allows you to pull onto the driveway and walk around to the entrance. For $5, you can take a guided tour of the home and see the elaborate collections of historical and political memorabilia. It is open from March 1 to December 1, Tuesdays through Saturdays until 5 p.m. The tours are individually available so you don't have to wait until a set time to start. That allows time to ask lots of questions. So, the tour can last for well over an hour if you are curious like I was. (see website for specifics on prices and other issues.) The house started off modestly, but was added to over several phases as the family grew. The tour starts off with showing the formal entry and music parlor. The opulence is immediately apparent as you see the paintings of family members and a porcelain inlaid cabinet designed specifically for holding piano music. That room connects to the study which is filled with collections of political papers and photos that were collected by Lane. There are many historical items as well, including doctor's medical kits, and many other period items. From there, you enter the formal dining room loaded with more plates and serving specific bowls, plates, and utensils than most people could guess at. Everything had a purpose and though it may seem odd now, was expected of those wishing to maintain the highest social standing. Rounding out the rest of the first floor tour is a less formal room where the children would often play while the adults would meet in the previous rooms. Paintings of the children and a miniature tea set can be seen. Heading upstairs via a custom made stairway (Joanna was quite short in stature), the tour leads you through three bedrooms. There you will see the crib that Joanna and her eight siblings all slept in as infants. Beyond that room is the one selected by Joanna's niece Helen who became the home's owner after Joanna passed away. Helen blew through her inheritance fitting the house with more upgrades (?) and additions. The room is quite bold in appearance. The last room on the tour was the guest bedroom which includes a knocker on the door and a private balcony over looking the yard on the north side. In there, a bed of a man named Whitlock is currently being displayed. Wherever Whitlock went, he had his bed disassembled and put up where he stayed. Must have been a man of influence to make his hosts put up with that eccentricity! The house is filled with family items that boast around a 95% authenticity rating. That is one of the highest I've found in my travels. So, if you want to get a feeling for what a place looked like when the owners lived there, this should be at the top of your list! Review #1388

terrible, somehow mess up the easiest recipes. just make regular meals not all the special extra…read morestuff and keep it consistent too. not a single student at Wabash college truly enjoys anything besides chicken tenders on Wednesday or the burgers on Monday

bon appetit does a great job. Students like to complain about it, but really, find me a College…read moredining hall that students don't complain about! This is clearly a case where the little buggers don't know what's good for them. bon appetit is remarkably good and remarkably consistent, worthy of praise for its effort to source locally, and a fine example of the kind of patient, dedicated service that we in higher education strive to provide. I've dined in many a dining hall through the years, but none beats the one at Wabash for quality or choice. The house-made potato chips alone are worth the price of tuition. Gentlemen, Appreciate what you've got. And eat well.

We hired Erika for our destination wedding in Las Vegas, NV over Labor Day weekend. My husband and…read moreI both went to Purdue in West Lafayette, IN and chose Erika to do our engagement photos. Erika and her husband Austin made us feel very comfortable while taking photos around campus. They were patient with us and had a lot of good ideas about posing and good feedback to make us feel more comfortable. She is very reasonably priced, got our photos to us in a timely manner and while very professional, also friendly. One of my favorite things about Erika is that she is calm and confident, this helped calm my nerves and to trust her. While looking for a wedding photographer in Vegas we just could not find anyone that had the quality of Erika while offering so much. Luckily, Erika and Austin were willing to join us in Vegas for our special day! We could not be happier with their work. They photographed our rehearsal dinner and showed up at noon the day of the wedding and spent all day with us up until the wedding and through the reception. My family loved having them around and appreciated how they put everyone at ease. Erika was always available through email or phone calls especially with helping me put together a timeline for the day of the wedding. She also helped me decide on whether or not we should do a 'first look' (I'm SO glad we did!). She has a wide variety of packages so that you can decide what is best for you. I think having a photographer that you can trust to take the right photos and to do what was discussed the day before the wedding is SO important. The actual day of the wedding there are too many other things going on to make sure the photographer is doing what they are supposed to and Erika is very competent and makes a GREAT team with her husband. We also appreciate Erika's efforts to keep up with technology. She has online proofing for all of the guests at the wedding so that they can order prints or other products from her. She also just started designing apps for couples. The app is like having a wallet of photos so you can show off the wedding pictures whenever you want. My mom loves this so she can show the pictures to everyone on her ipad and iphone. It makes it super convenient so that friends and family can view the photos while on the go. We can't say enough about Erika Brown Photography, this is by far one of our best decisions regarding the wedding. I would highly recommend using her!

Very cool old theater. New seats but not fancy. Cheap prices. Good picture and good sound. Not so…read moreloud it blows your ears out. Only one movie per week, always a new release. If you are staying at the Park Bridge Motel, show your room key and get in free on Wed night. Thor the Dark World was showing tonight. The new hunger games starts Friday. All movies are PG-13 at most.

Great family theater!!! Boy, this theater is from a golden age of entertainment... Large screen,…read morevintage seating... The picture screen is on a stage! Had to use the restroom & was very pleasantly surprised to see such a spacious, modern & CLEAN bathroom! My experience in small 'vintage/retro' theaters has been scary to say the least. We came on Wednesday (which is family day) & was ecstatic to find ALL tickets are $5~ WooHoo! Nothing like seeing a new movie with my family for UNDER $50.00! Yeah, having 8 children can get ya... luckily we only had 6 with, lol!

The Strawberry Festival has been going strong since 1976, and this year was no exception. I make…read morethe drive back to Crawfordsville every year if I can to the grounds of the Lane Place for the festivities, and this year did not disappoint. Walking through the booths of crafts, shirts, artwork, incense and candles, I was pleased to see most of the vendors were local to Montgomery County. I also was pleased to see so many artistic creations that were local, like the colored pencil drawings of the Lew Wallace Study and the Elston Home. I think festivals such as this should be about the local community, and so many bigger ones have so many out of town vendors that it loses the community vibe. This isn't the case here. The REAL reason I went was the food, which I think is secretly the real reason any of us attend in the first place. I look forward to the Strawberry Shortcake every year, and I walk around until I find the booth run by a church with the oldest women working Why? Because I know it'll be the BEST Strawberry Shortcake I'll eat all year. Was I right? Uh.. yes. It was awesome. I like that the Strawberry Festival is sectioned out into four areas: Booths, Food, Entertainment and Kids area. This helps keep the flow of traffic through the place moving, and keeps the kids (for the most part) out of the areas I want to visit. One thing worth mentioning: the larger festivals set a standard price for items, such as water and cans of soda. This isn't the case here. I saw water for 1 ticket at one booth and 2 tickets at the one right next to it. Same size and brand, but double the price. Decide what you want and shop around for the best deal.

I have done this festival for years and have enjoyed it as a craft vendor and enjoyed the staff and…read morethe public very much. About 10 years ago I could see the home made craft business was going down hill, so I got out of craft shows. This year and previous years we went this festival, I couldn't' believe how it has turned into a flea market show. Very few crafters. A lot of items from Mexico. The prices of the food were very expensive. $5.00 for a dish (1 scoop) of ice cream, strawberries, and a very, very small piece of cake with no favor. This place was always our favorite place to go to end the day at the festival. We wont be back. Very disappointing day.

We have been visiting IFF since 2018, but have had friends going consistently for much longer. The…read moreHaunted Hayride is always a family favorite. We get to enjoy some consistent attraction, but there is always something new. And, like any live performances, the actors bring different energy to familiar scenes. The Slaughter Barn is definitely not for the faint of heart. My children didn't start venturing in until their late teens. I look forward to it every year. Surprisingly, my favorite part is interacting with the characters while waiting in line for the attractions. You will definitely enjoy waiting your turn.

My husband and two of our friends went here over the weekend for the first time. We did not…read moreencounter anything that was even remotely scary, so this is definitely the haunted house to bring your kids to. The haunted hay ride was actually super fun and surprised us by having 2 dance number scenes. The weather was divine and it was so nice to roll through all of the fun scenes they have set up with the breeze going. Some of the scenes felt like we went through them too quickly to get to see everything, but others you could really see all of the detail they put into it. The slaughter barn was very quick to get through- even when haunted houses aren't scary I like when they are big and you get to walk around in the spooky rooms they have set up. The haunted hay ride was the best part of the night by far. One thing none of us liked was that one of the characters that wander around to entertain guests who waiting in line, buying concessions, etc kept very quickly circling around everyone while pulling a wagon that had a duck caged in it. It couldn't even sit or get comfortable because it was constantly bracing for turns and bumps. A fake duck glued to the cage or no duck at all would have sufficed. Not sure why live animals need to be toted around as props. We had purchased our tickets online during pre-sale, so it was a 2-for-1 deal. We definitely wouldn't come back if we had to pay full price, but I do think my brother with autism would like this, so we may bring him here next year.