Spring Break is almost here. Granted, we could head off to the beaches of Florida or the mountains of Colorado, but there is another option in checking out the tenderloins of Indiana. It’s road trip time as we head down to the South-side of Indiana and the first stop is the town of Versailles.
The Tenderloin
This blog has been around for over two years now and the ITC Facebook page has gotten around 700 followers. We’ve sought out some of the best places in the state to get a tenderloin and some have become a fan of our page. For the first time we are able to visit an existing follower and see what savory sandwich they have to offer. I’ve noticed that Baskets in Versailles, IN has commented and liked posts over the past couple of months. So we decided to head down there for our first stop on a road trip tenderloin. Baskets is a new place located south of the courtyard square. It seems to be the place to eat locally as we saw both police and firemen there on their lunch break. The Breaded Pork Tenderloin is listed in their sandwich menu and we ordered a couple up to see if they serve it up just as well on the South-Side. Good news, they do! Out came out an oversized hunk of white meat loin with a crispy seasoned batter. It does not give up thickness for size either as there was much meat to sink our teeth into with every bite. The batter retains its crispiness when the sandwich cools down and even when we put our hot sauce on. There is no slacking off on the South-Side, their tenderloin represents the superior quality expected by the rest of the state. Plus, Chris and the rest of the crew there were very nice and welcoming during our visit. With top notch service and a great tasting tenderloin, Baskets is a great stop to visit during any Indiana road trip.
The Town
When traveling through these small towns seeking out things to do and people to see, a lot of giant, grand, churches line the trail. I’ve avoided visiting and writing about them, but not because I don’t respect the church, it is quite the opposite. Growing up Catholic, we were taught that the church is a revered place of worship, not a touristy palace to gawk at. A couple things changed my mind in the last week on how to approach Tyson United Methodist Church. First of all, I was in Montreal, Canada the week before for work, where the Notre Dame Basilica towers over the old town. I couldn’t attend mass on Sunday, but there were tickets to visit the day before. It was so beautiful in there and was able to approach it with enough respect to not feel like it was blasphemous in any way. Secondly, The Ripley County Tourism Bureau invited me to come and even set up the tour for the Tyson Church in Versailles, so it didn’t feel like an intrusion into their faith. I had seen the church before on the PBS show “Journey Indiana”, so I was pretty excited to gaze upon it with my own eyes. You will first notice from the outside that it has a different architectural style than others. Most are Gothic or Renaissance, while this one is Art Deco. The curves and large block bricks remind you more of the Empire State Building, than… well… the Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal. The spire, itself, looks like the top of a skyscraper ready to dock a zeppelin. In the inside you first notice the spiral handrail going up the stairs formed in the block. You walk into the main section and the giant windows on the sides made in England flood the area with natural light. Stars cover the ceiling with constellations and the golden rainbow encloses the sanctuary. The church is fortunate as it was built in memory of his mother by Versailles native James Tyson who was a co-founder of Walgreens. His philanthropy set up funding to establish and keep up the church as well as other public buildings and utilities in town. Even if you don’t get to venture inside, it is worth stopping by and gazing upon one of the more unique looking buildings in the state of Indiana.
Just a few miles outside of Versailles is the town of Milan. If you haven’t heard of the real town of Milan, you may have heard of the fictional town of Hickory. If you haven’t heard of the fictional town of Hickory, you haven’t seen the movie “Hoosiers” which is about an underdog high school basketball team from a small farming town that goes to win the Indiana state basketball championship. That movie is inspired by the Milan basketball team that actually went on to win the whole thing in 1954. Although Milan was a highly favored team that year, it still doesn’t take anything away from a small high school beating out the large city schools before Indiana went to different basketball classes based on population. The Milan ’54 Hoosiers Museum contains memorabilia from both the 1954 Milan team and the movie “Hoosiers”. The lockers with all 8 Milan players sit on the wall and the room in the back has the championship game on a continuous loop. The bed from the hospital scene with Dennis Hopper is in there as well as the basketball uniforms and cheerleader outfits from the movie line the top of the walls. The place is a shrine to Indiana sports and should be a bucket list place for any Hoosier with a connection to basketball. Interesting fact I learned: One of the ’54 players, Bill Jordan, played the Amish father to Randy Quaid in the movie “Kingpin”.
On the courthouse square is a small coffee shop – Emily’s Brew. We started our day in the early morning and headed here first for some breakfast and a coffee. While my son got a large chocolate muffin, I got the Emy Classic, which is an egg, cheese and sausage sandwich on a bagel (you could get bacon instead of the sausage if you would like). There was just something so pleasant sitting by the window with the courthouse in view, enjoying the coffee and breakfast, and discussing the events to occur in the day. Before arriving we saw the lines for the fast food places of people waiting for their morning fare. I can’t imagine that some of those people wouldn’t want to stop in here instead for a better quality start to their day. They would probably get their food quicker too.
The area also has a state park nearby. Versailles State Park was developed with a dam to provide a late for boating and fishing. There also are a variety of hiking trails throughout the park. The weather was not on our side on this trip as rain spoiled our hiking plans, but we were still able to drive over to the dam and check out the lake. Most of the dam is an earthen, but a concrete spillway is built into it that feeds the creek below. You end up with a giant artificial waterfall. We parked at the foot and climbed the steps to the top to get a good view of the lake. Although man-made, it is one of the best views of a waterfall you can see in the state. There is a covered bridge too; make sure to check that out on the way in or out.
Although the weather outside in Ripley County was gloomy, the welcoming we got was bright and sunny. Even with one of the smallest populations in the state, if we had more time and a closer drive, we could find much more to do in and around Versailles. The small sample we did have gave our spring break a great start with some history, some engineering, a good breakfast, and one of the better tenderloins to be found.
Imagine the pride of having this in your small town
by Michael Tomko
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