Parke County Covered Bridge Festival

Billed as Indiana's largest festival, it spends 10 days on Parke County's 31 historic covered bridges, in the place that calls itself the Covered Bridge Capital of the World. It always opens on the second Friday in October, with stops in towns across the county. Rockville is headquarters, with live wood carving, antique stores, and the Historic Ritz Theater. Billie Creek Village holds three covered bridges, a general store, and a schoolhouse. Bloomingdale is known for homemade apple butter at the Friends Meeting House. Bridgeton adds a working mill and a food court. Montezuma plates roast hog, crullers, cider, and iron-pot ham and beans beside canal tours, while Tangier serves buried beef with pies and cakes near five bridges.

Our take: Do not stay in Rockville only; Tangier's buried beef and Montezuma's roast hog are the food stops worth the extra drive between bridges.