Step out of busy Downtown Indy and into the 19th century, or a least that’s how it feels when you see the historic architecture in this neighborhood, which is incidentally also the birthplace of orphan Annie.
Lockerbie Square is the oldest residential neighborhood in Indianapolis. It’s just a few blocks from the city’s bustling Downtown district, but the tree-lined streets, gleaming cobblestones, quaint cottages, and grand, brick mansions are straight-up 19th-century perfect – right down to white picket fences, here and there.
Slow-paced strolling is a natural reaction to this time-stood-still enclave – anything faster seems almost disrespectful to the love that’s so clearly been lavished here. Hurry too much and you might miss local eccentrics, such as the bakery for dogs. Or potentially wander right past Indianapolis’ most venerable restaurant, Rathskeller. It opened in 1894 and is still serving schnitzel and brews in the beer garden.
Stay with the European theme for a minute and you’ll understand Lockerbie’s odd mix of architectural heritage. Many immigrants settled in this neighborhood and so, with ambitious 19th-century Scots-Irish, a smattering of Swiss, and some German in the mix, it’s no surprise that Queen Anne merrily rubs shoulders with Greek Revival and snuggles up next to graceful Italianate villas.
Eating around the neighborhood is just as eclectic. Go casual in an old-fashioned British pub, swank it up with a James Beard nominee, let locals serve you dinner in their Victorian home, or find a traditional Irish bar for Connemara chicken and up to 33 whisky chasers.
You may get the sense you are wandering aimlessly in leafy and charming Lockerbie, but it’s a cunning little district, subtly guiding visitors with its signs scattered here and there. Everyone eventually ends up at the James Whitcomb Riley Museum House. Don’t resist. The home of the poet who penned Little Orphant Annie is like a microcosm of the entire historic neighborhood. And if you didn’t know better, you’d swear the man himself had just stepped out for a minute, sometime in the 1890s.