OK, hippies–sometimes the journey is the destination, but sometimes the destination really is the destination. These ten lodgings are attractions in their own right, though we’ve also included some ideas for if and when you decide to leave. –Peter Margasak
This brick and limestone bed-and-breakfast was once the icehouse for a brewery, which has been converted to the StoneHouse Pottery & Gallery, where owner Charles Fach is among the artisans. Fach’s metalwork can be found in the inn’s two suites, in the bed frames, light fixtures, and doorknobs, and his ceramic tiles depicting hops and barleys pave the floor of the entryway to the gallery. Albert’s Glen, the larger suite, includes an enormous barrel-vaulted brick bathroom with a clawfoot tub; guests share access to a barrel-shaped cedar sauna and a hot tub that holds six. As part of a special “Glaze and Graze” deal, offered about once a month, guests decorate their own three-piece dinnerware set Friday and use it the following night at a dinner they prepare with chef Patricia Lehnhardt at the Great Galena Cookery. Galena, onetime home to Ulysses S. Grant, is known as the “outdoor museum of the Victorian Midwest,” and more than a thousand buildings there are listed in the National Register of Historic Places; it also offers a range of arts and crafts galleries and antique stores; see galena.org for more.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
The mineral springs in Okawville, about 40 miles east of Saint Louis, were discovered accidentally by one Rudolph Plegge, who lived and operated a saddlery and harness shop on the site in the 1860s. Suspecting that his well water was eroding his kettles, he had it analyzed and was advised of its medicinal qualities. Plegge opened a European-style spa and eventually sold it; in 1892 it burned to the ground, but the present spa and hotel were built immediately after. Room 28, the hotel’s finest suite, has five large windows with original glass. The spa features a steam room and mineral bath and offers the usual treatments–massages, aromatherapy, manicures and pedicures. There’s also an indoor pool, a white-tablecloth restaurant, and a game room. Guests can visit the nearby Schlosser Home, an unrestored turn-of-the-century harness shop, and the Dr. Poos Home, which was built as a bathhouse in 1888 but never opened to guests. The estate features a working windmill, Victorian furniture, and Dr. Robert Poos’s collection of medical equipment.
Crowne Plaza at Historic Union Station–Downtown Indianapolis Hotel
When I was a kid and my room was a mess, my mother would scold me by saying, “This isn’t a barn.” The Round Barn Inn, however, is (or at least was) a barn, so I guess you can go ahead and leave your skivvies in a pile–just don’t forget to take them with you. Erected in 1916, it was one of approximately 225 round barns built in Indiana; it was converted into a house in the mid-1980s and became a bed-and-breakfast in 1997. The common area is dominated by thick wooden support beams and filled with quirky antique bric-a-brac. The 1,100-square-foot Hayloft Suite has three rooms, including a kitchenette and a hot tub. Guests can make the 20-mile drive to Indianapolis for a range of activities (see the Crowne Plaza listing for ideas) or keep it country and visit the Conner Prairie Living History Museum in Fisher, a sort of reenactment theme park where you can stroll down a 19th-century street and barter with a fur trader.
Sand Hills Lighthouse Inn
3658 State Road 23 North, Dodgeville | 608-935-2321, 800-666-7848 | $105-$224 for themed rooms, $49.95-$99.95 for standard | fantasuite.com
