If you look closely when you're on the road between Fort Wayne and Elkhart.

You'll spot a little trace of history when you're just south of Ligonier, Indiana.

The locals call it Stone's Trace, and these local volunteers are getting dinner ready.

Right now I'm Wendy, but soon I'll be Susan.

Wendy Howard is one of those volunteers, and she's currently portraying a woman named Susan Higgins.

All right, sir Richard Stone, thank you for coming.

And this is Jim Hossler.

He's portraying Susan Higgins son in law.

Richard Stone, the original owner of this historic property.

I'm a history buff.

Basically it is.

I'm a history buff when I was in school.

I love the Civil War era.

I love that time period.

It's a lot of fun to do.

I try to think of how she would have felt, things she would have done.

Both are members of the Stones Trace Historical Society.

And they're currently welcoming guests for an annual fundraiser, The Hearthside Dinner.

An immersive event where everything and I mean everything, The menu, The food, the costumes, All of it is inspired by what life was like right here in Indiana in the mid 18.

Hundreds.

This experience means a lot to everyone involved.

I'm actually rather new here compared to many of the members, but have just gotten in and gotten going, and it was actually at the Hearthside Dinner was the first thing that I came to.

Figured you always need someone to wash dishes, and I volunteered to do that.

And they actually put me in a serving, and I've been here ever since.

All the proceeds from this event help maintain Stone's Trace and all of the historic structures here, especially their oldest building.

The tavern, its the biggest attraction is what he had built in the 1830s.

It was his third home.

At roughly 190 years young, this tavern is almost as old as the state itself.

And this wasn't just Richard Stone's home or Richard Stone's Tavern.

Because you think tavern you think of a bar, but isnt necessarily that it was a roadside inn to where people would stay It was the building of the area, the tavern, the inn, the church, the trading post, the courthouse, jailhouse, schoolhouse.

You name it.

It probably housed it.

Just like how it's Housing 20 guests dressed to the nines.

They're getting ready to eat the first of their next nine Courses worth of food.

so your first course, it says spiced apples.

for our next course it's mint cherry ice.

Its amazing how full you get because you're eating more slowly.

So you may look at your plate and it's like, oh, there's not very much on there, But by the time you get to maybe the fourth course, maybe the fifth, I've had people say please stop feeding me because they were just so far with everything.

And each new Course is served with just a little bit of history on the side.

for our next course, it's charcuterie.

Now, most of us think of a fancy charcuterie board.

Charcuterie actually was a smoked meat.

The word broken down is cooked flesh.

it was to preserve again they did not have refrigeration.

for the next course that we have coming, it says sippets and jam how do you describe sippets, It's it's like like a grilled cheese sandwich, but it's just the toast.

And it would just be buttered and toasted they would always cut the crust off because you know, they didn't have like plastic containers to keep everything fresh.

So it would the crust would get really hard.

It takes a lot of work to cook, present and serve all of this history.

And while Wendy has spent the last five months planning every little detail of the evening.

The historical society itself has spent the last 60 years preserving Stone's Tavern.

And that was no small task.

You see.

Richard Stone only owned this building for about 20 years.

You know, he built it in 1837.

He lived there until 1860.

Sold it.

And then it was turned into a barn.

yep.

You heard that right.

The building that all these guests are Currently enjoying their dinner in?

That building spent the better part of a century as just a regular old Barn in the western half of Noble County.

The windows were gone.

And it had lean tos and everything on it.

After Experiencing the next 80 to 90.

Years of wear and tear on a farm.

Stone's tavern, or I guess barn, Looked like it was close to collapsing In the 1960s But it Was never just an old barn to a Special group of people.

The Stone's Trace Historical Society Stepped in and Acquired the property, And those Volunteers worked hard to preserve some of their oldest history still Standing the siding, the roof, the chimneys, the fireplaces are not the original, So the bones of the tavern is still his.

His hands touched every wall stud, every floor joist, every rafter, everything there he touched and put together.

The society brought the tavern back to life, piece by piece.

And they've been bringing the 1800s Back to life ever since.

Welcoming all who enjoy experiencing Indiana history like Barbara Adams.

I thought it was awesome.

I learned different aspects of how they cooked the food and how they prepared the food.

I just always learn when I come to things like this, I like that ice, which I thought was interesting that they use that to cleanse your palate.

That was something I really didn't know.

One historic experience to help preserve one historic tavern.

we've been here forever, you know, tornadoes and storms and all the bad winters.

She still stands.

So we can say our ancestors knew how to build stuff.

to remember that we came from somewhere, and, someone had to come here and do all of the work so that you can enjoy the things that you're enjoying now, And it's just a lot of fun.