Metamora Train Day Trip

This was without a doubt our best attended Day Trip this year and perhaps, ever!

Today, we drove over to Connersville, Indiana in two buses and our car. We had a total of 50 people. At Connersville, we boarded the Whitewater Valley Railroad bound for Metamora, Indiana. Metamora is a historic pre-Civil War town. It sports many shops and eateries. And even has a working Grist Mill, Canal Boat, and the railroad.

Along the route one of the volunteer conductors gave a running account of our whereabouts and gave historical information about the train and the area that we travelled. In one area, we could see five modes of transportation merging in one place. There was the river that the Indians frequently used for travel via canoes; there was the Whitewater Canal used for transporting people and freight via the canal boats; there was the railroad, which used the tow paths for the canal as the rail bed; there was a highway for auto and truck traffic; and there was a grassy airplane runway for small aircraft landing and take-off.

This was promoted as a Fall Color Tour. That was a bit of a stretch. We were about a week late for the best color. However, there was still some color and our people were busy taking photos (through dirty windows). It was nice seeing the river most of the way and crossing a number of bridges. There are also a number of old Canal Locks, although none of these are in operation. Some of the canal also still has water but could not be used for transportation because of the many fallen trees across the canal and also the non functioning locks. If we do this again, it would be best to leave a little earlier in the month.

I think there were only three places in Metamora that are serving meals during this time of the week. I recommend using three of them; Smelly’s. Steeplechase, and The Farm House. Smelly’s is also a coffee house and gift shop. The Farm House is a B&B. There is another restaurant but I don’t recommend it. In addition there are candy shops and some that serve ice cream. So, there is a good variety of places to eat. None of them are big enough to handle our group, so we split up and moved to 4 of the restaurants. Nancy and I with several others chose to go the The Farm House and we got very good service and food. On a previous trip, recently, Nancy and I went to Smelly’s and also have very good service and sandwiches along with soup, while there.

Steve, aka – Smelly, is a very personable proprietor and fun to visit with. Originally, they travelled with many of the craft shows and became known for their Disk Clocks and Smelly stuff. Eventually, they decided to make a shop their full time venture.There are a multitude of craft shops in Metamora and some of the ladies enjoyed going through those. But, one limitation of going via the train is that it only stays in Metamora for two hours. After taking time to eat, and perhaps take a Canal Boat ride, there isn’t much time for shopping. While at Smelly’s we bought a number of bags of their delicious Carmel Corn. He also specializes in a variety of cheese Panini sandwiches, homemade soups and chili. He even sells chili kits to make your own. We bought some the last time and it is very good. This time he also had some Beans and Ham with cornbread. I had to have some of that, even after a full meal with pie. I got a to-go container and finished it at home!

Some of the people in our group wanted to enjoy a canal trip. So they took this canal boat for a ride down the canal and back. It is a pretty cool ride and I recommend it. Unfortunately, doing so takes some planning. We arrived by train at 11:30am, the boats run every hour on the hour, and the train leaves again at 1:30. Hence, the only reliable time to take the boat is at noon. We advised those who wished to take the boat to bring a lunch.

This is the ice cream and cookie jar shop. They have one of the largest collections of cookie jars in the country.

The train cars are actually old Interurban cars and ours was built in 1934! There are three means of heating the cars, people – stoves like this one – and a propane boiler a couple of cars along the way. It was chilly but not cold enough to add heat since we were all prepare with jackets, anyway. On the return trip to Connersville, we had to stop twice for fallen trees. The volunteers rush off the train with chain saws to get the trees out of the way. Cool, not a train wreck but a little extra excitement. They do also have occasional derailments but at only 15 MPH those aren’t bad and can often be readily corrected and the train continues on the way. We also saw the Elmhurst Mansion just before entering Connersville.

The Elmhurst mansion at the south edge of Connersville, in Fayette County, Indiana, was home to political leaders, a station on the underground railroad, a sanatorium, an exclusive girls’ school, a military institute, and finally, a Masonic lodge.

The house was originally built in 1831 by pioneer statesman Oliver H. Smith, then a member of Congress from Indiana.

The second occupant of the house was another congressman, Caleb B. Smith, who later served as Secretary of the Interior during part of President Lincoln’s administration. The mansion was an important station of the pre-Civil War underground railway. The trail of the road by which escaped slaves were smuggled to freedom divided there at the Old Elm Farm, as the estate was then known.

A third congressman, Samuel W. Parker, acquired the mansion in 1850. He was a devout conservationist and is given credit for planting many of the trees that surround the house. After his return from Washington he became president of the Junction Railroad Company and the Whitewater Canal. He gave invaluable support to the career of Henry Clay, who was a visitor to the mansion. It is said that canal boats would ring their bells as they passed the mansion in honor of Parker.

The estate became the property of Senator James Nelson Huston (1849-1927) in 1881.

I would give a strong recommendation to doing this trip for anyone. Especially, those with kids interested in history. They have a number of fun excursions including shootouts, polar express and even a dinner ride. Check their schedules and programs on their website.