A Bit About Waynesville

As a child, my only interest in Waynesville was the Old Mill Stream Swimming Pool. While there was a public pool in Kettering, it was small and always crowded. So my grandparents or my mom would load up the station wagon and haul my sister, brother and I along with my three cousins who lived down the street and off we'd go to make a day of it. If it happened to be my grandfather driving we'd sometime stop beside the Little Sugarcreek creek (or crick as he called it) to wade in the spring-fed waters and look for 'minnies' (minnows).

The Old Mill Stream was sold and filled in and the lot now houses the Der Dutchman Amish-style restaurant. Waynesville has recreated itself as the 'Antiques Capitol of the Midwest' and brings in tourists by the thousands every year with their annual Sauerkraut Festival held on the second full weekend of October.

Waynesville was settled in 1797 by a group of Englishmen who laid out the town in the manner of an English village. Designed as a rectangle, formal parks and squares were built around a central public square. The original settlers had hoped that Waynesville would be the capitol of the Northwest territories, but that was not meant to be.

Antiques dealers started filling the old homes lining the main street of Waynesville with their collections of primitive tools and household items and Shaker-style furniture and people started to notice Waynesville for its attractive old buildings and wide variety of antiques shops. Soon the side streets were lined with specialty shops and bed and breakfast places and Waynesville became the place to go to look for antiques. One year the merchants decided to serve a sauerkraut dinner while having their annual sidewalk sale and a new tradition was born. The Sauerkraut Festival now draws attendees in the thousands with a wide variety of foods, including the infamous sauerkraut ice cream, and over 500 craft booths. If you enjoy ghostly activities, then October is the time to come to Waynesville as that is when the ghost tours begin.
Plus, the fall color should be just about at its peak for the area then.

And us? We hate crowds-we'll be out of here!