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Waterfront views, mansions, architecture, shops are attracting visitors to historic Indiana town
By Steve Stephens
Columbus Dispatch
Published on Sunday, Oct 11, 2009
MADISON, IND.: The best aspect of river travel is the surprise that might await around the next bend.
I didn't arrive by paddle-wheeler — no one does anymore — but Madison, a charming small city on the Ohio River, was still the best kind of surprise.
Tom Sawyer might not feel too out of place among the 12,000 residents here, just a five-hour drive from Akron. At least the historic storefronts and downtown mansions would look familiar. Madison's downtown is one of the largest National Historic Landmark districts in the country, encompassing more than 1,500 properties, many dating from the mid-19th century, when the city was a rival of Cincinnati and Louisville.
The deep channel and gently sloping bank made Madison a prime stop for riverboats. The city also was an industrial powerhouse until the coming of the railroads, when Madison's relatively isolated location caused the town to lose its transportation advantages.
My trip to Madison was full of happy discoveries. The first was the Riverboat Inn, which energetic owner Kathie Petkovic has transformed from a flophouse into a well-appointed hotel — one with truly magnificent views of the river.
Petkovic had been a real-estate investor in Florida, but she fell in love with Madison on one of her frequent trips
on the passenger riverboats that plied the Mississippi and Ohio rivers until recently.
''My daughter said, 'You need to go to Steamboats Anonymous,' '' Petkovic said, laughing.
The company that operated famous riverboats such as the Delta Queen is now out of business, but Petkovic keeps the spirit alive at her inn.
''I'd been to all the towns, big and small, along the river — Natchez, Vicksburg, St. Louis, Memphis.''
But the charm of Madison lured her and her son Nick Petkovic to town three years ago to buy the crumbling hotel — ''It smelled so bad when we bought it, you couldn't even go inside,'' she said — and turn it into a showpiece.
And Madison is full of such stories.
While we were chatting, Petkovic called up her friend Camille Fife, who came to Madison by way of New York.
Fife, who prepared the application for the town's National Historic Landmark nomination, granted in 2006, appeared within minutes.
(''You want to meet the mayor? We can call him down,'' Petkovic said. I assured her that wasn't necessary.)
Fife has co-written a book about Madison's architectural beauty.
''When you think about Madison, the word authenticity comes to mind,'' Fife said. ''It's a real river town. It's the America you thought you'd lost.
''And everybody is friendly. It's a very nurturing place. Nobody comes here and says, 'I didn't like it.' ''
Madison's historic downtown seems to be thriving, with dozens of interesting shops and eateries, interspersed with many house museums and historic sites that are open to the public. Local nonprofit organizations operate most of the historic sites.
(Unfortunately, the pretty county courthouse, which had been undergoing renovations for the Madison bicentennial this year, burned in May, losing its cupola and roof during a construction-related fire. But reconstruction is under way.)
The most magnificent of the museums is the Lanier Mansion, an 1844 Greek revival mansion that was, when built, perhaps the grandest home on the Ohio River.
F.D. Lanier was a prominent Madison banker who later moved to New York but still helped the state of Indiana finance its Civil War effort.
His three-story home features huge Corinthian columns, an octagonal cupola and a vast veranda overlooking the river.
The museum includes much of the Lanier family's original furniture and household items.
Visitors will see what some experts call the two most perfect Greek revival parlors left in the Midwest, each a mirror image of the other.
The 14-foot ceilings, with ornate plaster trim, give a feeling of opulence that still impresses and must have surely wowed the Lanier family's visitors.
The site's lovely restored formal garden, with neat, squared-off hedges bordering flower beds and decorative trees, stretches down from the mansion toward the river.
But you don't need to visit a museum to get a feel for Madison's history.
Stroll along Main Street
Main Street, just two blocks from the river, is lined with historic Italianate storefronts filled with boutiques, antiques shops, galleries and eateries of every variety.
''It's a real town, not a fake place invented for tourists,'' said Steve Thomas, who owns Thomas Family Winery, one of three wineries in Madison.
And with the tourists come entrepreneurs and artists who are looking for a vibrant, friendly and beautiful place to call home, he said.
''You have a lot of downtown business people who live above their businesses, which adds to the sense of community.''
The Thomas Family Winery displays the works of local artists on its walls — which is not at all unusual in Madison.
''All these places downtown show art from local artists,'' Thomas said. ''If you add up all the venues, that's a lot of wall space for our artists.''
After just a day, I realized I'd need a week or more to sample the things this little city has to offer.
Just a short drive from Madison, visitors will find a number of golf courses, two casinos and a myriad of parks and preserves.
Unfortunately, my time was short. I did squeeze in a visit to Clifty Falls State Park, a peaceful woodland oasis dotted with waterfalls just five minutes from downtown.
Nature lovers might also want to check out the Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge, a 60,000-acre nature preserve with limited public hours. The story of the refuge, which was once a U.S. military weapons-testing ground and one of the largest continuously fenced properties in the country, is fascinating.
Visitors can learn the details, along with many other cool facts about the area, at the Jefferson County Historical Museum downtown — assuming they have the time.
Pulling out of Madison, in search of a place for lunch before the trip home, I was about to get my last pleasant surprise.
Nameless eatery
Driving along the river, I noticed an interesting little building — much younger than the Madison norm — at Vaughn Drive and Mulberry Street. The building had a kind of space-age drive-in architecture, a terrific view of the river, but no sign save for a small neon ''open'' in the window.
But several cars were parked there. So I pulled in and saw folks eating at tables inside.
The waitress handed me a page headed, simply, ''Menu.''
''We just opened Friday,'' she explained. ''We don't have a name yet.''
In Madison, a little thing like a name isn't all that important, joked owner Dave Harden, who said his place was the first in town to offer made-on-the-premises barbecue.
''We could call it 'A Very Brady Restaurant,' '' he said, joking about the building's 1960s-style architecture.
''But it's a small town. If you haven't heard I'm open, there's not much I can do to help you.''
I enjoyed a delicious no-name pulled-pork sandwich, served on a toasted bun that held up under a tasty assault of pork juices and sauce, while watching a huge barge chug upstream and disappear around the bend.
For a while, at least, Huck Finn had nothing on me.
MADISON, IND.: The best aspect of river travel is the surprise that might await around the next bend.
Get the full article here.
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