Door 3 of 6 Food, recipes and lodging
Eat, stay and cook. The valley at the table.
Places with a story, and the recipes they were proud of.
Where to eat and where to stay, chosen for their stories: dining rooms in old banks and depots, family tables that have fed a town for generations, inns in houses built before the railroad came. And from the old cookbooks and weekly papers, what the valley cooked.
Fruit PotpieNappanee · 1909
Apple FrittersThree Rivers · about 1896
Potato SoupGoshen · 1909
Stuffed PeppersDowagiac · 1909
Chocolate Cream CakeCassopolis · 1909- Places to eat with a story
- 34
- Inns and bed & breakfasts
- 14
- Recipes from the Valley Kitchen
- 40
- Months at the table
- 12
Food pictures from the studio, for menus, recipe cards and the businesses that feed the valley. For businesses
Places to eat34 places with a story: old banks, depots, family tables
Places to stay14 inns and bed & breakfasts in old houses
Recipes from the Valley Kitchen36 old recipes, with the pages they were printed on
Where the food came fromOrchards, mills, celery and the stove town
The year at the table
What the valley is picking, pressing and boiling down, month by month, and the old recipes that suit it.
January
Winter. The orchards are resting; the ice festivals are on the calendar.
From the recipe box, at its best in winter
February
Still winter. Maple sugaring usually begins as the days start to warm.
From the recipe box, at its best in winter
March
Maple syrup time. The Kalamazoo Nature Center’s Maple Sugar Festival comes early in the month.
From the recipe box, at its best in spring
April
Sugaring ends with the Wakarusa Maple Syrup Festival late in the month, and the fruit belt starts to bloom.
From the recipe box, at its best in spring
May
Blossom time in the fruit belt, with Blossomtime in St. Joseph and Benton Harbor.
From the recipe box, at its best in spring
June
Early summer: the orchards are setting fruit and the u-pick season is coming.
From the recipe box, at its best in summer
July
Blueberry u-pick season opens, and the Coloma Glad-Peach Festival comes at the end of the month.
From the recipe box, at its best in summer
August
Blueberries and peaches, the National Blueberry Festival in South Haven, and apple picking from the middle of the month.
From the recipe box, at its best in summer
September
Apple-picking season, the Nappanee Apple Festival, and cider again at the orchards.
From the recipe box, at its best in fall
October
Apples, cider and doughnuts at the orchards, through the end of the month.
From the recipe box, at its best in fall
November
The orchard season closes. Time for apple butter with cider from the Valley Kitchen.
From the recipe box, at its best in fall
December
Holiday candy from the Valley Kitchen: maple creams and popcorn candy.
From the recipe box, at its best in winter
Recipe of the weekCorn BreadSouth BendBreads“Take 1 pint bolted corn meal, 1 pint wheat flour, 1 pint thick sour milk, 2 eggs, ½ cup sugar, butter the size of an egg. Stir all together, then add …”Make it ›Open the recipe box
40 cards from the old cookbooks and papers, sorted the way a cook would keep them.
Where the food came from
Grading and assorting peaches near Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, Michigan, 1913 The fruit belt
Along the Lake Michigan shore the big lake keeps spring frosts back and autumn warm, and for well over a century the counties near it have grown apples, peaches, cherries, grapes and blueberries. Many of the valley’s festivals are harvest festivals.
The Old Mill, Vandalia, Mich., about 1908–1918 · David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan Mills on every stream
Before the railroads, every town needed a grist mill to grind its wheat and corn, and most of the valley’s early towns grew up beside one. A few still stand, and one or two still grind.
Celery and the muck lands
Kalamazoo’s low, black “muck” soil made it famous for celery from the late 1800s. The Celery Flats Historical Area in Portage keeps the story.
New Round Oak Warehouse, Dowagiac, Mich., about 1910–1918 · David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan The stove in the kitchen
Dowagiac’s Round Oak stoves heated and cooked for farm kitchens across the country. The Dowagiac Area History Museum tells the story.
Before you go
- Call or check first. Hours change with the seasons, and small places close for holidays and family days.
- Make a day of it. Pair a meal with the museums nearby, the Broadway walk or a festival.
- Know a place with a story? Tell us, with what you know of its history.
- Own one of these places? You can sponsor or advertise; paid places are always marked, and the listings are never for sale.
Plan your visit: ready-made days out, food, lodging and festivals See my day (0)