I had never heard of Columbus, Indiana until late summer this year. It was when my husband, Bobby, told me that a former classmate of ours from Cincinnati Bible College & Seminary (now Cincinnati Christian University), preached at East Columbus Christian Church. Our friend, Ron Bridgewater, asked if Bobby would come out and do a magic show for their Fall Festival. Bobby rarely turns down the opportunity to perform magic, so we decided to take a long weekend and visit the area of Columbus, Indiana.
Friday was our travel day and then the magic show, so we just checked into our motel when we got into town. After the show, we went to Culver’s a restaurant that serves American fare and ice cream delectables. I’m sure we’ll be writing about it in another post — but trust me, if there is one near you, you should go. It is really good!
Saturday was our day to explore the area. I usually do a little more research about what to do in a new place than I did for this trip. I am glad there are websites like TripAdvisor and Yelp. They can be very helpful if you have no idea what to do. Or if you want to try something different. Bobby is a good sport and basically lets me coordinate our trips. I told him the things I wanted to do and see while we were in this part of Indiana.
So, what are the three fun things to do near Columbus, Indiana?
- Visit the Brown County Historical Society in Nashville, Ind.; and
- View the scenery of beautiful southeast Indiana; and
- Enjoy ice cream at an 118-year-old ice cream parlor in Columbus.
Brown County Historical Society
You might have the idea that we like history here at Wendi’s Weekend Trips & Whatnot. We relish in reliving our own history (the good stuff) and we enjoy visiting historical locations (like Gettysburg, Antietam, Washington D.C., New York City, etc.). So when I saw that there was a historical village 30 minutes from where we were staying, I wanted to go.
The historical society has a large building as a museum. We started our tour there. We got to see some artifacts from by-gone years that were either made in the area or used in the area by settlers or ancestors. There was artwork and furniture and pictures and, well, just about anything you can think of. But it was laid out very well and created interesting displays. We could have probably been there for several hours, just to read everything!
One of my favorite displays was a display about the Liar’s Bench. Apparently, Nashville used to have a bench that men would gather to shoot the breeze. There were the “regular” guys that would hang out there on a consistent basis. On October 31, 1929, the wives took matters into their own hands and chopped up the bench that night and put the pieces in the main intersection of the town. The display has pictures of the bench — both before and after the “chopping bee” as it was later called. Now, isn’t history fun!
As part of the Brown County Historical Society, Nashville also has a Pioneer Village. The village is within walking distances of the museum. It includes building that were built in different times and locations, but then transported to the area and reconstructed. Buildings like a blacksmith shop, a smokehouse, a log cabin, a community building and the “old log jail” (which actually stands where it was originally built). The Old Log Jail is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. You can walk into many of the buildings and see displays. On some weekends, they have craftsmen on hand to show how things might have looked in pioneer days.
Brown County State Park
We were close to the Brown County State Park (we drove by the entrance twice), but even though we didn’t actually go to the State Park, we were able to enjoy the scenery of the area. There was an overlook that we pulled off about 4 miles outside of Nashville. The day and the view was beautiful! On our way to the overlook, we took a detour down a one lane road to see a covered bridge.
We had seen a scale replica of the bridge in the museum and the docent encouraged us to see the real thing. She had said it was a one lane bridge and she was right! Thankfully we didn’t run into any traffic coming the other way — until we got to the end of the bridge. At which time, the driver of the truck heading our way, pulled off to the side so we could pass by. It was definitely an adventure for me!
Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor and Museum
Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor and Museum began by three Greek brothers in 1900. The ice cream parlor is decked out in stain glass and marble and wood. The museum has several different soda fountains from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The Welte Orchestrion, a self-playing pipe organ, has been part of the parlor since 1908 (with a brief hiatus in 2006). It adds a carnival atmosphere to the already fun location to enjoy desserts and real sodas from an old-fashion soda fountain.
Bobby and I decided to enjoy just dessert there, because we didn’t want to fill up on lunch and then not have room to try the scrumptious, homemade ice creams. I decided that I would need to have a cherry coke made from the soda fountain. Bobby had a cinnamon coke.
Then in an effort to try as many flavors of ice cream as possible, Bobby and I split the Big “Z” an ice cream dish that comes with 5 scoops of ice cream and 3 sauces/toppings. I was curious how they would pull it off with the three different sauces, but what they do is bring the sauces on the side (like some salad dressings come). The ice cream we selected was chocolate, mint chocolate chip, cookies and cream, vanilla and butter pecan. The sauces/toppings we chose were chocolate, marshmallow and caramel.
How we split the dish up between the two of us is that I got the chocolate and mint chocolate chip. Bobby got the vanilla and butter pecan ice creams. We shared the cookies and cream. The presentation and the amount of ice cream was really awesome. It was a fun experience and by the way, the day we were there was their actual 118th birthday. Pretty cool, right?!
A visit to Columbus, Indiana, reminded me that little gems like the ones above can be found throughout towns all over this great nation. I hope that you get a chance to enjoy Columbus and Nashville, Indiana sometime. You’ll be glad you did!
