Make your getaway to some storied resorts
Published 1:30 am Friday, July 21, 2017
By Kathy Witt
At the end of a long and curvy Indiana backcountry road, in between the Hoosier National Forest and Brown County State Park, is a place called Story.
The remnants of a long-ago settlement — once the largest in Brown County — form the village of Story. These historic homes and buildings, all charmingly renovated into cozy overnight accommodations, fan out around the old general store. This colorful time capsule of pre-Great Depression America has vintage red and gold gas pumps on the porch, bottles and tins of old-timey remedies decorating its shelves, and an honest-to-goodness scratch kitchen serving up gourmet meals made with ingredients from the garden and orchard.
Founded in 1851, this former logging community has all the trappings for an unforgettable getaway in a picture-postcard setting. Each of the 18 rooms and cottages are decorated with Victorian flair.
For instance, the Blue Lady Room is named for the ghost that supposedly haunts the room and has a claw foot tub and private balcony. The Wheeler Homestead Front is in a renovated one-room schoolhouse and features a sitting room.
There are no televisions, radios, clocks or phones. And cellphones typically don’t get service in Story. But that’s OK, because visitors can truly relax without these distractions.
Wander the grounds. Explore artifacts that recall Story’s early days. Pair a seasonal dinner entree with the perfect wine in a dining room anchored by a stout pot-bellied stove. Sip a nightcap in the Story Still, the neighborhood pub located in the basement of the general store.
The Story Inn hosts a number of special events throughout the year, including the annual Hoosier Hops &Harvest. This Indiana craft beer festival takes place 1-6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 26, with Hoosier breweries pouring 2-ounce samples for the duration. The Indiana Boys and Flatland Harmony Experiment will perform live music.
Storybook setting
The story of Barnsley Gardens, a village on a former country estate in Adairsville, Georgia, begins in the early 1840s with a wealthy British gent named Godfrey Barnsley. Godfrey’s vision was to build a massive Italianate villa surrounded by elaborate gardens for his wife, Julia, and their large brood — but she died never having seen the manor house completed.
The remains of this home, now known as the Ruins, are a source of irresistible fascination for visitors. They loom large in the background, not far from the English-inspired village with its tree-lined lanes and trim one-bedroom cottages and cottages housing guestrooms and suites. The grounds are punctuated by gardens of exotic plants and hundreds of varieties of roses. Manicured, formal boxwoods encircle a fountain outside the Ruins draws visitors into its maze.
Each season at Barnsley has its special charms. For summer, a new package invites visitors wishing to relive childhood camping outings to do so with the resort’s Camp Grown-Up Adventure. Just don’t expect to rough it. In the place of bunk bed cabins are luxurious cottage accommodations with sumptuous bedding, fireplaces and soaking tubs. Stepping in for that canteen of stale water? A bottle of wine to enjoy while toasting s’mores by an outdoor fire.
Activities include hiking and horseback riding in 3,000 rolling and wooded acres; canoeing and kayaking on a scenic 10-acre pond; and shooting sporting clays at the SpringBank Sporting Club.
This package also includes breakfast each morning at The Woodlands Grill and a $200 activity credit valid for use on any outdoor activity or spa treatments, like the Vitamin C Sun Worshiper Facial, Deep Forest Detox and Herbal Compression Massage. This grown-up adventure makes those childhood camping experiences seem positively primitive.
Century-old story
When the American Club opened in 1918 in the village of Kohler, it was to house immigrants from Austria, Holland, Germany and Russia. The Wisconsin village — named for John Michael Kohler of bathroom fixture fame — featured a Tudor-style club replete with pub, bowling alley and barbershop, with rooms and laundry service for the men who worked in the Kohler Co. factory.
Visitors appreciate the elegant symmetry of the building, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places nearly 40 years ago, and of the village — created with the Olmsted Brothers as one of the first planned communities in America. Today, Destination Kohler, including the American Club Resort and located one hour north of Milwaukee, is the Midwest’s only Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five Diamond Resort-Hotel.
Pairing historic preservation with gracious hospitality, this resort features guestrooms with high-end amenities and state-of-the-art Kohler shower and bath experiences; an array of distinctive restaurants, including the Forbes four-star Immigrant Restaurant and the casual Horse &Plow tavern, once the taproom for Kohler Co.’s immigrant workers; Kohler Waters Spa; four golf courses; and a collection of boutique shops.
Also part of the resort is River Wildlife, a wilderness preserve and dining club encompassing 800-plus acres of unspoiled land, seven miles of the Sheboygan River and more than 30 miles of scenic woodland trails.
The resort’s Discover Kohler package is the perfect way to explore everything the American Club offers. It includes two nights’ accommodations; breakfast daily in The Wisconsin Room (gratuity included), including Sunday Brunch; 3-course dinner at Cucina (gratuity included); and a 20 percent discount on services at Kohler Waters Spa. Visitors can also take advantage of complimentary tours through the Kohler Design Center.
Contact lifestyle writer Kathy Witt at KathyWitt24@gmail.com.
Plan your visit
The Story Inn, Story: www.storyinn.com, 812-988-2273
Barnsley Resort: www.barnsleyresort.com, 877-773-2447
The American Club Resort: www.americanclubresort.com, 920-457-8000
