The first stop on the Lincoln Highway is the Ancilla Domini Chapel which dominates the center wing of the main building of the Motherhouse for the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ in the U.S. province.    The first Sisters came from Germany in 1868 and settled near Fort Wayne, Indiana. In 1918 they purchased property just beyond Donaldson for retreat, rest and recreation. On May 24, 1923, the “Chapel in the Corn Field” was dedicated.

After your tour of the Chapel, I’m sure your group will appreciate a light lunch.  However, maybe not as light at the lunches Abraham Lincoln enjoyed.  At lunch, he usually had a biscuit, milk and an apple. Your group will enjoy a boxed lunch in the park that includes Mr. Lincoln’s lunch plus a little extra!

Kosciusko County takes great pride in the fact that we are home to one of the few Lincoln Highway markers still in existence.  In fact, it is the only marker in the State of Indiana in its original location.

 Join us as we take a few moments to pay tribute to the citizens of America and to the automobile industry for their contribution to this great highway and hear a few words from our current Lincoln Highway chairman, Ken Locke. (A fantastic photo op!)

As you may know, Lincoln was a very religious man.  He could quote many parts of the Bible and read from it every day.  We have no doubt that he would have loved the Warsaw Biblical Gardens, a unique garden of Biblical plants, which is just a stone’s through away from the Lincoln Highway.  This garden was started in 1986 and has since grown to be the 3^rd largest of its kind in the United States, offering more species of plants than any other with the exception of the Holy Lands.  Your group will enjoy a guided tour of the gardens as they walk through Biblical times among the plants, flowers, trees and herbs.  The gardens are comprised of six micro-climates which represent the main environments of which the Bible speaks. Many of the herbs in this garden where used back in Lincoln’s day as medicines for the ailing.

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Your group can enjoy a tour of the Old Jail House.  This building housed many criminals from 1871 until 1982 w hen it closed.  No doubt that the Lincoln Highway made transporting visitors much easier for the county Sheriff.  See why this building gave one cause to reconsider a life of crime…because it was certainly punishment to live in this building!

Check-in time.  Your group will stay at one of our fabulous hotels located right on the Lincoln Highway.

Your group will enjoy a wonderful 200^th Birthday Dinner for Abraham Lincoln with a signature dish option and a White Almond birthday cake (Lincoln’s favorite of his wife’s cakes) at Mad Anthony’s Tap House and be entertained by the dinner show, "The Lincoln Highway."

Another Stone’s throw away is Biomet, Inc., one of several of the manufacturers of orthopedic implements headquartered in Kosciusko County.  During this tour you will learn how orthopedic implements (knees, hips, etc.) are created from raw material through packing to hospitals. We have come a long way since 1912! Your group will also enjoy hearing about their Patient Match Implants Division.  This division works with individuals who have serious wounds or birth defections to their skeletons.  If Lincoln would have survived his gun shot wound, these implants would have been very helpful in repairing the shape of his head and face. 

Throw your stone in the other direction and your group will be in beautiful Winona Lake – Home to the Beyer Brothers and their early dairy business as well as world renowned evangelist Billy Sunday.  Listen as your group learns why the Lincoln Highway was instrumental in the progress of Winona Lake. Your group will then have some time to browse and shop in the beautiful Village at Winona.

Enjoy an organized lunch at the BoatHouse Restaurant or have your group eat on their own at one of several wonderful locally owned restaurants in the Village.

Christmas decorations in Lincoln’s day where quite different than they are today.  Decorations were tinsels, silver wire ornaments, hand knitted stars and snowflakes, small beads and candles. In 1870, the first glass ornaments began being shipped from Britain and they quickly became a status symbol.  Today, collecting Christmas ornaments has become a hobby for many. In 1973 one manufacturer, Hallmark, decided to embrace that hobby and began making collectable Christmas ornaments.  How many in your group share this same hobby?  We will find out as we tour the only place where they can see a complete collection of Hallmark Ornaments on public display at the Hallmark Ornament Museum.

Although Lincoln was not a sweet eater per say, Mary Todd did have a sweet tooth!  We are sure that she, as well as your group, would enjoy one of the best chocolate shops you will ever have the pleasure of experiencing.  Weckmuller Chocolates, where your group will learn the history of chocolate and even get to take part in making some of their own. 

The Boston Tea Party in 1773 made drinking coffee a patriotic duty in America and Lincoln was happy to continue that duty in the 1800’s - one of his favorite meals being Butter-Browned Steak with Coffee-Mustard Sauce.  Coffee too has changed since Lincoln’s day.  Now you can find coffee cold or hot and in any flavor that you would like.  However, a true European coffee house seems to rank among the highest with coffee lovers.  Your group will visit such a coffee roasting house – the Blue Lion.  Listen as owner David Taylor shares the history of the coffee bean and roasts some of his special blends for you.

Back to the hotel for a little relaxation and freshening up!

Enjoy a delicious buffet dinner at the 2517 before you head across the walk to the Theater to enjoy a professional performance (summer and holiday seasons).  No, this is not the “Ford Theater” of 1865 with its high ceilings and the Lincoln’s sitting in the balcony box, but we can also guarantee that no one will be shot tonight either!  Your group will be entertained by a wonderful musical or theatrical production at the Wagon Wheel Theatre! This awesome theater in the round has been producing Broadway hits since 1955 and sits where? – you guessed it, right on the Lincoln Highway!

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Sit tight at the 2517 for a performance of the Al Capone Dinner Show. Step back in time to the heyday of gangsters in Kosciusko County.  Al Capone, John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson were just a few of the gangsters who hid out in Kosciusko County, and pity the soul who was staying there when the gang arrived! Experience the era of gangsters as your group meets Al Capone and hears some of his wildest tales about his gang, women and whiskey. You will also be entertained by some of the greatest music of the era from Bunny Love and her sweet, sexy voice.  There’s no doubt that the Lincoln Highway was a great advantage to Capone and his gang when they needed to get out of Chicago fast.  They would just zip on down the road to Kosciusko County and lay low until the heat cooled down! 

What a better place for you to finish your Lincoln Highway Tour than with a tour of the Lincoln Museum in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.  This museum houses the world’s largest private collection dedicated to the life and times of Abraham Lincoln.  It includes: signed copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th amendment;  7,000 19th century prints, engravings and 19th century newspapers; 5,000 original nineteenth-century photographs; 200,000 newspapers and magazine clippings; 300 nineteenth century sheet music titles; scores of period artifacts; Lincoln family belongings; and manuscript collections.

Enjoy an organized lunch or depart for home.