By Nicole Thomas

Known as the RV capital of the world, Elkhart County is located in Northern Indiana as part of the Michiana region. More than 200,000 tourists visit the county for its annual 4-H Fair — the second-largest county fair in the United States.

AMERICAN LIFE ILLUSTRATED

The Midwest Museum of American Art in Elkhart features 25,000 square feet of 19th- and 20th-century American art in a renovated neo-classical style bank building. The museum’s collection includes several signed stone lithographs from American illustrator Norman Rockwell. One of the lithographs displayed in the museum is “Freedom from Want,” the third of four oil paintings in Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms” series, inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s State of the Union address.

A SPROUTING TRADITION

Over a million flowers bloom each spring in Elkhart County’s 17 quilt gardens featured along its Heritage Trail. Das Dutchman Essenhaus, an Amish-style restaurant in Middlebury, has participated every year since the gardens were created in 2007. About 200 volunteers work 2,000 hours planting, watering, and weeding the gardens for the public to visit from May through September.

AMISH COUNTRY

Nearly 20,000 Amish live in Northern Indiana. Elkhart County’s Heritage Trail allows visitors to learn about Amish life in one of the country’s largest Amish communities. From tasting fresh pies to admiring handcrafted woodwork, visitors can stop by multiple Amish-owned local stores along the three-day self-guided driving tour through Nappanee, Middlebury, and Shipshewana.

COUNTY FACTS

FOUNDED: 1830

NAMED FOR: the Eastern Elk, an extinct subspecies of elk

POPULATION: 206,890

COUNTY SEAT: Goshen

INDIANA COUNTY NUMBER: 20

NICOLE THOMAS is a freelance writer from Indianapolis.