The primary goal of our visit to Michigan City was to reacquaint ourselves with the beauty of the Indiana Dunes. We discovered that the Michigan City area offered more to do than we expected.

Michigan City Art and History

We found ourselves exploring the city’s Uptown Arts District on the first Friday evening of the month when museums, galleries and historical attractions are free and open until 8:00 PM.  With only about an hour between the time we learned of the events and having to meet friends, we visited as many sites that we could:

• Lubeznik Center for the Arts. We explored its primary exhibit, Nature vs Everything. The exhibit portrayed different types of imaginary beasts, a lovely multi-panel display that portrayed a landscape ranging from mountains to forests to a city, and a sculptural piece that portrayed dozens of trashed vehicles that are partially buried in sand;

• Old Lighthouse Museum, a beautifully restored mid-19^th century lighthouse with period-decorated rooms and displays that span the lighthouse’s fascinating history (with a particularly interesting display of Civil War-era artifacts), models of a number of ships that once sailed the lakes and a poster that portrayed the roughly 100 major maritime disasters that have been suffered on the lake from the 17^th century to the present;

• Barker Mansion is a beautifully restored 1858 mansion of which the opulent, partially furnished main floor was open. While the two upper floors were closed for the evening, the first floor and garden provided strong clues as to how the wealthy industrialist’s family lived;

• Franklin Street Arts District had roughly half a dozen galleries and studios in the two block district open. Additional work was displayed on the street and a church choir was singing on the sidewalk.