Nappanee And Area

While in Nappanee for service we had some time to explore the local area.  Nappanee is in Northern Indiana and is a small town of about 7,000.  It is a picturesque town and I imagine it would be quite vibrant during the summer and fall periods as you get a real family feel when in town.  April is the start of spring but this year it is a little slow off the mark.

The town is dotted with Magnolia trees that do not know whether they started their buds too soon or not, but I would expect in a few weeks it will be quite aromatic around town.  The town is very reminiscent of most small towns in this part of the US and also has a feel like small town Ontario.  The homes close to downtown look like most small towns in Ontario, and you could be transported between one and the other and not know you had moved.

The area of Northern Indiana has a heavy Amish population and the roads are shared equally with single horse and buggy combinations transporting their occupants from one place to another.  There are hitching posts at most stores and it is common to see a horse patiently waiting outside the dentist office, the hardware store, or a family restaurant.  Most of the buggy’s are lit for night time operations with running lights, although they do not have headlights to speak of as I presume that would interfere with the horse.  I can imagine the horse trotting forward into its own shadow would be a bit spooky.  It is calming to hear the clip clop of the horse coming from downtown past the Service Center to take whoever is aboard back home.  Amish do not like pictures being taken of them but I did take a picture of a buggy going by the other day.

While we were in town we wanted to experience a few of the things that make this town celebrate their heritage.  We went to a place called the Coppes Commons.  It is a repurposed mill that made production wooden furniture for a lot of years before that kind of manufacturing dried up.  In fact, if you own a Hoosier cabinet it was most likely built in this facility as this was where they were built.  The mill is now a museum, with a number of restaurants, a bakery, and the obligatory gift stores.  Today, there are a lot of furniture manufacturing places around town but they are typically specialty manufacturers with over one year wait lists for the type of material they are producing.

The family also diversified into a large mill

We walked a few of the parks downtown and found they have done an excellent job of integrating the walkways with play areas for kids, and gardens that are likely tended by local people who volunteer to do that to ‘their’ park.

On a recommendation we drove a few miles out of town to a restaurant called the Dutchmaid Eatery that is the place to go if you want authentic local food.  It was one of those experiences that seem out of place in a way as we drove for ten or so minutes down a country road and did not see another car in any direction.  On that last turn onto the small road that leads to the restaurant you see a few buildings in the distance that look like any of the farms in the area, only to come upon a parking lot absolutely full of cars and horses with buggies and a restaurant on one side of the road and a grocery/market on the other.  The line up for the restaurant put us about twelve back but we did not have to wait long.  The ladies running the operation and seating people were doing it like second nature and we did not have to wait long.  This is a well known spot and the food and service was great.  Food is locally grown and raised and is fresh.

RV Hall Of Fame And Museum

To round out our local things to do we took a trip up to Elkhart to see the RV Hall Of Fame And Museum.  The museum is located there as Elkhart is arguably the RV capital of the world, and the vast majority of large manufacturers are located there.  We drove up there rather than taking the RV, but there are twelve spots where people with RV’s can park to visit, or stay overnight.  It is a Harvest Host location for users of that app.

The museum covers everything from the very first concept of living in something mobile all the way to the development of the homes of today that are fabricated in a factory and shipped to the site for final assembly and finishing.  There are examples of RV’s from the 20’s, 30’s and beyond as well as the early mobile homes that are typically called Park Models today.  They even have three manufactured homes right inside the facility to show how that concept has improved.  We spent a fair amount of time at the museum and really enjoyed the layout and content.  Well worth stopping to see if you are in the area.

Oh, I almost forgot.  When we are in some of these small towns I like to find a small local barbershop to get a trim.  It is a good way to get a feel for the town and if you can find a local independent shop you are likely going to get good value for the cut.

I usually google local barbershops and the top rated that looks like it is a real barbershop and not a salon chain gets my choice.  I selected Heplers Barbershop.  Getting up early has its benefits so I was there shortly after they opened.  There were two chairs running and both were occupied and there was one guy waiting.  Perfect.  As I started to sit down the one barber says, “Do you have an appointment?”  I said no, I figured this was a barbershop and was walk-in.  He stopped what he was doing and went on his phone to confirm the next appointment was at 0800 the next morning.  The two guys in the chairs already were looking at me quizzically.

I was quite surprised at that with only one guy waiting but came back the next day for 0800.  I had the same barber and again the other seat was filled and there was one guy waiting.  Turns out Chad and Cody are the two barbers and they are full most every day.  During Covid they developed the system of booking and loved it so much they continue today.  He said pre-Covid they used to sit around doing nothing for hours and then six guys would walk in and often wound up working past closing time to get things done.  Now, with the bookings they schedule them on 30 minute intervals and love it.  The shop runs right on time and $16 for a trim, eyebrows and neck shave you can’t beat it.

When the barber found out I was from Canada he told me how he loves to fish up there.  His family has been going to a small lake half way between Timmins and Sudbury for twenty five years and absolutely loves it.

Now that I think of that story it reminds me of a similar situation in 1998.  We took our son and daughter on a cruise and the first stop was the island of Sint Maarten.  Just before we went on the cruise I had been so busy with a project at work I had not had time to get my hair cut.  Checking out the prices in the ‘salon’ on the ship I found it was $25USD.  This was 1998 and I just paid $16 for a real haircut in 2025, so there was no way I was paying 25.  I decided to get my hair cut when we got off the ship.  For those that have been to Sint Maarten you will know the town of Philipsburg has streets that run parallel to the water front.  It is likely more developed by now, but back then it was three streets.  Front Street, Back Street and another one that I cannot remember.

Front Street has all the jewellery stores and fancy places to shop, eat and drink.  Back Street has a lot of souvenir type place and lesser grade jewellery stores and less fancy places to shop.  No barbershops that I could see anywhere.  So, I went back to the third street.  Looking up and down I spotted a barber pole a few blocks away.  Walking down this street was a little odd as there were no tourists and the stores were nothing like the first two streets.

Entering the barbershop I saw a single chair with no-one in it, and two local guys sitting in adjacent chairs looking like they were waiting to be served.  It was fairly dark in there and when I asked if this barbershop was open they both looked at me like I was from Mars and said something I could not understand to someone I could not see.  A few seconds later a lady came out from the back who was apparently the barber.  She had to be in her eighties, had a knife in one hand and a live chicken in the other.  I ended up paying $25 for a haircut on the ship.

Thank you for stopping by to read.