DAY FOUR – HANOVERTON, OH TO FORT WAYNE, IN

Last night was spent at the restored Spread Eagle Tavern… built in 1837 and brought back to life in 1990. It’s a fine‑dining restaurant and bed‑and‑breakfast now, with period‑authentic rooms, a dozen fireplaces, and all the classic Federal‑style details… symmetry, hand‑carved mantels, even a stone eagle watching over the entry. It’s also believed to have been a hiding stop along the Underground Railroad, which gives the whole place a quiet weight under all the charm. And disturbingly, a death mask of John Wayne Gacey in the basement as well.

We got in late… later than I wanted… so we abandoned our plans for dinner and ate right at the inn. Hunter dug into his salmon before I could even get a picture, and my pork osso bucco was absolutely delicious. Afterward, we wandered a bit… the dining rooms felt a little awkward with people still eating… but the tavern itself was beautiful.

Morning came with a surprise — the most delicious free breakfast — except breakfast didn’t start until 8 a.m. and our planned departure was 7:00. So we began the day already an hour behind… but honestly, it worked out. I used that extra hour to sleep in a little and roam the tavern with nobody around. The whole place felt different in the quiet… warm… still… almost like it was letting me see its real personality. Hunter and I even went down into the cellar again to explore. Breakfast was delish, and our server was beyond kind.

PART ONE

PART TWO

Out of the gate, I blew through the very first left I was supposed to make… and Hunter went, “Mom… there’s a Lincoln Highway sign… you’re supposed to make a left.” I paused and asked what the turn‑by‑turn directions said. He checked… “Left on First Street.” Sure enough… I was supposed to make a left on First Street. So I turned around… made a right… and we got ourselves sorted. You get the drift. My navigator is amazing.

Hunter and I finally got to experience our first stretch of original Lincoln Highway brick road. We missed the one we wanted to stop at in Pennsylvania because of rain… there has been a lot of rain on this trip. And yes… there were moments of “You can’t make a right here… that’s a thin line… no, that’s a thick line… wait, what does the turn say… don’t just make things up… follow the directions first…” It was chaotic and hilarious and very us. But we found the bricks… taped a bunch of it… and I was so excited. (thin lines are where the road used to be but no longer exist).

The Baywood Street brick segment in eastern Ohio is one of the best surviving stretches of early Lincoln Highway paving… laid in the 1910s and 1920s and still holding its shape more than a century later.

The Cindell Street Remnants preserve a small surviving piece of early Lincoln Highway alignment, where original brick and early roadbed materials from the 1910s–1920s remain visible. Though only a short segment, it represents one of the few intact traces of the highway’s first-generation construction in the region.

Then a quick detour for me to see The Ellis A. Feiman Hous. Built in 1954, Frank Lloyd Wright’s characteristic horizontal lines, natural materials, and compact planning, forms one of Canton’s four Wright-designed residences. We saw one of the other’s but it was overgrown and undetectable

The John Studebaker Monument in Rowsburg, Ohio, marks the childhood home of John Studebaker, who later built wheelbarrows for Gold Rush miners and helped launch the Studebaker company.

A short detour to the Ohio State Reformatory … why are we going to a prison, Steff? Because I’m the best ex‑wife in the world. Built between 1886 and 1910, the Reformatory stood here during the 1913 original iteration of the Lincoln Highway and operated as a state prison until 1990. Its massive Romanesque and Victorian Gothic architecture made it a natural fit for film work after closure — most famously The Shawshank Redemption. So, Frank, this stop is entirely for you and your love for Stephen King.

And then because I truly am in the running for Best E-Wife EVER… I stumbled upon this, turned around, and took pics…

We continued west, stopping in Mansfield to see this cute little town with a carousel, the Coney Island hotdog diner, and what should have been our first statue of President Lincoln outside the East Coast.

Richland Carrousel Park opened in 1991 and became an instant landmark, and every single one of its 52 animals… horses, lions, ostriches, all of them… was carved and painted by Carousel Works, the Mansfield‑based company whose craftsmanship helped spark a national carousel revival in the 1990s. Hunter didn’t want to ride it, so we grabbd a quick bite…

The Coney Island Diner opened in the 1930s and still feels wonderfully old‑school… steamed buns, chili sauce, neon, counter seating… exactly the kind of place that belongs on the Lincoln Highway. The waitress asked if I wanted the regular hot dog or the all‑beef, and I said, well, a Coney Island hot dog is Nathan’s. She said they aren’t Nathan’s. I told her to give me whichever had the best snap. She sighed. Need I say more? They were super nice people!!!!

We arrived at the park, Hunter found the marker immediately, but the statue was nowhere. We even asked someone… he had no idea what we were talking about. I checked the map, and we were standing exactly where the statue should be. So we walked over and found an empty plot of freshly dug dirt. No more Lincoln statue in Mansfield.

The mural in Bucyrus lived up to everything anyone had ever written about it. It’s truly stunning… the depth perception… the way the sky blends into the painting… it’s incredible.

Then in Ada, the skies ahead looked a little dark, and it was Sunday, so the road beside the parking spots on Main Street was completely empty. I pulled over, and with Hunter’s help we packed our overnight bag right there on Main Street in the middle of town. Classy, I know. But I don’t bring all our luggage into every hotel or motel each night. I pack an overnight bag from the bigger suitcases so if it’s raining or there’s valet, it doesn’t turn into a wet or awkward mess. Both ideas hit me as we were driving, so I figured I’d get it done now and not worry about it later.

We stopped at the site of the Snow Cruiser Incident… I took a picture… so if you ever needed to know what it looked like… or if you’ve wondered your entire life… here you go.

The last big stop of the day was Van Wert. What a cool town. They take real pride in their Lincoln Highway history… and they have a sweet little exhibit and a couple of historic places… but the library is what blew me away. Hunter thought it had been a church… but we realized quickly that no… it had not been converted… it had always been a library… and it is absolutely beautiful.

On our way out of town, we finally got to the root beer stand I had been looking forward to. The B&K Root Beer Stand began in the 1940s as a small Indiana drive‑in serving house‑made root beer and classic curbside fare, known for its orange‑and‑white signage, roller‑skating carhops, and frosty mugs. Of course it was closed because it was Sunday afternoon. There were people sitting in a truck in the parking lot who probably wondered why I was taking pictures of a closed root beer stand. One of them pulled up to me after I finished and said, “Need to come back when we’re open.” I said, “Oh… you’re the owner…” and he said, “Yeah.” I told him we were on a road trip and that his stand is in a lot of books, and they smiled when they realized we had come all this way. I said I had been looking forward to it, but we were already two hours behind where we should be today.

Then quickly came to a detour sign informing us that in the next seventy‑five miles the road would close. I thought, well that’s fine… we don’t need seventy‑five miles… we’ll be where we need to go in no time. Oh no. It wasn’t in seventy‑five miles… it was for seventy‑five miles. And by the time we got one thousand feet… the road was closed.

So we hopped up to Route 30… crossed into our sixth state… counting West Virginia… and zoomed into Fort Wayne.

The last stop of the night was another Coney Island Weiner Stand, and I will say… the onions were excellent. I’m going to Lua Park as soon as I get home!