The Tenderloin and the Town: Wolcott, IN

When I first starting looking at writing a blog about Wolcott I found three solid places to visit – an old movie theater that is now a café, a mid-19th century house open for tours, and (of course) a restaurant with a great tenderloin.  For sure, there would be a couple more hidden gems I could explore and introduce you all to in the smallest town I’ve attempted to write about (first one under 1,000 residents).  When I contacted the deputy clerk she assured me that there was not much of anything else in the town… really?  I saw it for myself, and there is not anything… not even an antique shop in an old rundown downtown building.  Wolcott is in a bit of a transition right now.  The combination of businesses closing due to COVID and a downtown revitalization that will progress, but not started yet, almost gives an impression of a ghost town.  But, as you will read in this blog, right now in 2024 there are still sites to see, friendly people to meet, and one pretty good tenderloin to eat.

The Tenderloin

The Roots Eatery and Pub has been on my radar for a while as a place to try a tenderloin.  The only bar in town also serves as a comfortable family dine-in restaurant.  It is a farm-to-table offering doesn’t seem to have to go far to get supplies as the farms seem to be only a couple blocks away.  The key to scouting out a place with an Indiana high quality tenderloin is looking at the menu and noting it is the first offering listed under sandwiches.  The high expectations were met when a crisp fried pork loin came out on a fresh bun.  It wasn’t anything circus-sized, but it was large enough to cut in half and save the rest for later.  The breading was seasoned nicely and the tender meat paired well with the hot buffalo sauce I got on the side.  It was a big-time sandwich served it a small-time town.  People are missing out on this place.  Not 5 miles away is the exit to interstate 65.  You can see all the cars stopped at the gas stations and chain fast food places packing them to capacity, while Roots sat almost empty on a Saturday at noon.  You all have to keep the small towns in mind while travelling.  People are gorging on pre-frozen, processed, packaged burgers served by a national chain that taste like… well… not like much of anything while only 5 more minutes away you can get a burger with flavor and made with local fresh beef supplied by families that make a living and help the small town’s economy.  On top of that, you can get a great tenderloin served up to you also.

The Town

I always like to seek out the town’s old movie house to see what it has become over the years.  Some are restored and still show movies and host shows, others fall into disarray and get abandoned or taken down.  Yet, some of the most interesting are repurposed and made into something totally different from its original use.  That’s what Wolcott has with there with Wolcott Café and Catering.  It is a small breakfast and lunch eatery in what looks to be the old lobby.  We stopped in for some breakfast and coffee.  This is not your mass produced frozen heated up breakfast either, you get fresh eggs and meat here.  The wings of the restaurant have a circular room where larger tables can gather as both rooms were occupied with locals starting out their weekend.  The café also houses meeting rooms throughout the old theater where larger groups can meet.

Like Don Quixote I headed out with my sidekick, Sancho, and sought out adventure on the frontier.  While we didn’t find Dulcinea, we did encounter many 3-armed giants and rode up to them to engage in furious battle.  OK… well… my son and I just drove up to a windmill to check it out.  These things spread out over the horizon for miles supplying power to the electrical grid.  You can’t comprehend of the size of these things until you stand underneath one.  It was a calm wind that day, but we could sense the rotation of the turbines from standing on the shadows they cast on the ground as they move away from our feet.  There is a door where you could climb to the top, but I would suggest you only “dream the impossible dream” and just look, not enter. 

The Wolcott House is open for tours the second Saturday of every month.  You can visit the home of the town’s founder, Anson Wolcott who was a distant relative of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Unlike other house tours of his period, this one is more or less self-guided.  You can go at your pace to check out construction and furnishings as they were in the late 19th century.  Make sure to check out the hair art on the wall – they got one here.  The highlight (no pun intended) is the access to the cupola above the roof.  You can climb some stairs and get a good view of the town.  It also serves a small town museum as there are displays of military history of people in the town and the high-school artifacts.  If you live by, you can even rent the house out for the day for small parties and get-togethers.  It is a nice little landmark to check out whether you are a collector of old house tours or just have never been through one before.

We also visited the Rodger G Wolcott Memorial Park behind the Wolcott House.  It’s a well maintained park with a short walking trail, playgrounds, sand volleyball court, and baseball field.  With the heat and mugginess of Indiana in mid-July it was nice to take a shorter hike along the paved trail and hang out in the shade for a bit.   Check out that water fountain – my son was freaked out to get a drink, but I had no qualms about it – and it does make a nice picture

As you can see, there are not many attractions, but great things and fun can still be found in the town of Wolcott.  The future is bright for this small town, the foundation is laid, and soon the businesses will be back.  Heck, they already have the most critical part of a true Indiana small town – a great place to get a tenderloin.

by Michael Tomko

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