Regenerative tourism harnesses the power of sustainable travel to transform places and communities for the better. In this series, we look at Midwestern towns and small cities that have leaned into tourism to help lift local economies and create destinations that travelers want to visit.
Tiny Roanoke, about 10 miles south of Fort Wayne, makes a disarming first impression. Flower baskets and American flags hang from street lamps in front of restored buildings along a handsome 19th-century main street. Clothing boutiques and galleries fill refurbished storefronts interspersed with cafes and restaurants. Occasionally, elementary school students practice “plein air” painting downtown.
“I can drive my golf cart anywhere I want,” says Lee Ann Smith, the treasurer of the Roanoke Fall Festival and a 10-year town resident who moved to Roanoke when she fell “madly in love with the small-town feel.”
It wasn’t always so Mayberry. On the hunting grounds of Miami Indians, Roanoke flourished with the construction of the 468-mile Wabash & Erie Canal, which connected Toledo, Ohio to Evansville in the mid-1800s. A lock on the canal at Roanoke brought trade and traffic to town. It was later supplanted by the railroad. Eventually, Roanoke began to decline after World War II, losing its Main Street appeal to suburbs and shopping malls. By the 1980s, its retail core was largely abandoned.
A renaissance in rural Indiana
In 1990, Pete Eshelman, a former Yankees pitcher then working in Fort Wayne, chose tiny Roanoke to open a sports and entertainment insurance company called American Specialty. He began buying old buildings downtown and eventually opened the fine-dining restaurant Joseph Decuis (191 N. Main St.) specializing in wagyu beef that he and his family raised on their farm outside of town.
“‘Our corporate life and the renaissance of Roanoke are inextricably intertwined,” wrote Eshelman in a book he co-authored, “Roanoke, The Renaissance of a Hoosier Village.”
Though local favorites like the Roanoke Village Inn (190 N. Main St.), which dates to 1946, predated Joseph Decuis, the Eshelmans seeded the Roanoke’s incarnation as a foodie stronghold in rural Indiana, eventually opening the more casual Joseph Decuis Emporium (151 N. Main St.). “They have excellent gumbo and wagyu burgers, which are not things you can usually get in small town restaurants,” says John Nelson, a financial advisor and the board president of the Roanoke Beautification Foundation.
Other openings followed, adding diversity. The Copper Still (165 S. Main St.) specializes in bourbon, whiskey and cocktails served alongside a robust menu of salads, sandwiches and entrees. Play dates meet up at the Parker Grace Tea Room (138 W. First St.) tucked in a Victorian home for its vintage décor, light bites and desserts.
Between bites, Roanoke visitors can stop into its history museum or browse its many boutiques – among them Saving Grace Vintage (212 N. Main St.) for furnishings, A. Shively & Co. (138 W. First St.) for housewares with an organic bent and Outdoor District (159 N. Main St.) for men’s and women’s gear – that have helped make Roanoke a popular destination.
Nelson’s Roanoke Beautification Foundation designed Zent Commons on Main, an urban plaza with a fire pit inspired by ski resorts as a place to gather. He calls the town “borderline Norman Rockwell” and credits the all-hands approach of supportive residents. “If someone has an idea and checks the boxes and gets permission from the right entities, you can pretty much do any kind of event here you want,” he says.
Other things to do:
Through crash and recovery, the Roanoke Fall Festival has celebrated all things autumn. Now in its 72nd year, the weekend event, Sept. 10-12, features parades, a tractor pull, craft vendors, pie and ice cream eating contests, a baked goods competition, pig races and a rodeo as well as food and music.
Outside of town, parks are big attractions in surrounding Huntington County, including the recently expanded Salamonie Lake State Park protecting the namesake reservoir and surroundings popular with hikers and fishermen. Rustic Rivers Outfitters in the village of Mt. Etna offers canoe and kayak trips on the Salamonie and Wabash Rivers (6062 W. 600 S., Huntington). Thrill-seekers can ride eight zip lines and traverse four aerial bridges at Camp Timber Lake about five miles south of Roanoke (1740 E. 675 N., Huntington). Don’t miss the Sunken Gardens in Huntington created of an abandoned quarry (1125 W. Park Dr., Huntington).
Near Camp Timber Lake, Two-EE’s Winery offers glasses, flights, tastings, slushies and bottles of its estate-grown wines (6808 N. US Highway 24, Huntington). A dog-friendly outdoor patio and lawn host concerts, outdoor movies and trivia nights.
Where to stay:
Live like a townie in a downtown home on Airbnb. Just north of Roanoke, the Joseph Decuis Farmstead Inn (6756 E. 900 S., Columbia City) offers six bedrooms in restored 1884 farm buildings including a farmhouse, carriage house and barn.