Greencastle, IN
Greencastle institution on the historic courthouse square, three decades in the same spot and a short walk from DePauw's campus. Contemporary American comfort food from a scratch kitchen; the homemade desserts are the calling card, different ones every day, and people drive in just for them. The Swizzle Stick Bar adjoins. No breakfast; doors open at 11am. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday are lunch-only with a 3pm close; dinner runs Monday and Thursday through Saturday. Worth pairing with a walk through the DePauw campus and a stop at Eli's Books on the square, the university bookstore named for Eli Lilly, who opened his first drugstore in Greencastle.
On-field family restaurant at the Putnam County Regional terminal. Hoosier comfort menu; skillets and omelets at breakfast, sandwiches and burgers at lunch, and the Fly Burger is the one regulars name. Soups and desserts are homemade. Watch gliders and small planes from the dining room or the outdoor seating, with a 10-foot aviation mural along the inside wall. Closed Mondays; most days it's breakfast and lunch only with a 2pm close; Thursday and Friday run full dinner hours.
Greencastle bought 205 acres of farmland for a municipal strip back in 1935, and by the war years three grass runways crossed the field. The 1947 hangar at the south end went up with volunteer labor to a design by DePauw's Arthur Perry, and it took county equipment to pave the north-south runway in 1970. Growth came in steps a pilot can read on the field: 4,000 feet in 1990, then 5,000-by-100 in 1996 when Crown Industries arrived, with the Dixie Chopper hangar complex following at the turn of the century.
Indiana's largest waterfall by volume — upper and lower falls in a sandstone gorge on Mill Creek. Not dramatic by Niagara standards, but the gorge itself is striking from the air, cutting a dark seam through otherwise gentle terrain. A covered bridge (one of Parke County's neighbors) sits near the upper falls. Best after heavy spring rains when the falls are running full.
31 historic covered bridges — more than any county in the US. The Bridgeton Bridge (1868) and Mansfield Bridge are the most photogenic from the air. At 2000ft AGL in mid-October, the hardwood canopy surrounding each bridge turns orange and crimson. The annual Covered Bridge Festival draws 1 million visitors. The bridge cluster is concentrated between Turkey Run and Raccoon Lake along Sugar Creek and Big Raccoon Creek.
Deep sandstone gorges carved by Sugar Creek over millions of years. The old-growth forest here was never logged — some trees are 300+ years old. From 2000ft, the gorge system appears as dark shadows cutting through solid canopy. Sugar Creek itself makes dramatic S-curves visible from above. The suspension bridge is hard to spot but look for the clearing at the nature center.
The 1898 octagonal study where Civil War general and Mexican Ambassador Lew Wallace wrote much of Ben-Hur — at the time the best-selling American novel ever, eventually adapted into multiple films including the 1959 Charlton Heston classic that won 11 Oscars. The study is a National Historic Landmark with Wallace's original desk, books, and sword collection. Wallace was a fascinating polymath: lawyer, general at Shiloh, governor of New Mexico Territory (he negotiated with Billy the Kid), ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, and author. The ornate Italianate study reflects his global eye. Adjacent to Wabash College campus.