Amish Acres Will Be Sold – Again. What Happened with The Barns at Nappanee?

The Amish Acres complex in Nappanee, Indiana was a long-running and popular tourist destination in northern Indiana Amish Country. It offered a restaurant, theater shows, and Amish-themed tours and activities.

I think it’s fair to say it was one of the best-known Amish-themed tourist attractions in the country, maybe “top five” even. After a 50-year run, the property was sold by its original owners in 2020.

There was then a rebranding as the Barns at Nappanee. The site continued offering restaurant food, theater shows at the Round Barn, and tours.

The Goshen News report gives a brief summary of both ownership periods:

The grounds were first opened to the public in 1968 by the Richard Pletcher family, and rose to national prominence as Amish Acres. The enterprise was well known for bringing historical local structures to the site and giving them a new purpose, while still maintaining their historic integrity.

One of their most recent additions was the 1911 Round Barn, which originated in Marshall County and was relocated to Amish Acres in 1998. It soon became one of the region’s premier sites for Broadway calibre theatre.

When Pletcher chose to retire, Amish Acres was sold to Marlin and Christy Stutzman in 2020. The couple invested $600,000 in renovations and brought in new ideas for the style of the restaurant, rebranding it as the Stutzman Brothers Steakhouse. Much of the original Amish Acres vision remained unchanged, with tours, buggy rides, gift shops, and other attractions still bringing in guests from across the country.

What happened with the Barns at Nappanee?

When recently working on an article about northern Indiana Amish Country restaurants, I got the impression that the Barns at Nappanee was heading in a different direction – as I discovered that the restaurant was no longer operating.

Looking closer, that was confirmed when I came across this February report at WNDU. The place was becoming strictly an event venue:

The Barns at Nappanee is transitioning into a venue solely for weddings, parties and corporate events.

All performances and concerts scheduled at the Round Barn Theatre for 2025 have been canceled and refunds will be offered.

Also closed is the Stutzman Brothers Steakhouse, various shops, and historic tours of the property will no longer take place.

I did not visit it personally, but from a distance the “Barns at Nappanee” branding always had more of an upscale feel to it, with the “Amish” element de-emphasized…as opposed to the more homey, family-feel of the more traditional Amish Acres brand.

You can see what I mean watching this 2022 promo video below on the Barns at Nappanee. The Amish aspect is mentioned only late in the piece, almost as an afterthought.

It follows discussion of the theater schedule, an artisan market, and a white-tablecloth steakhouse featuring Wagyu steak and pecan-encrusted grouper: “we still have our tours of the Amish farmstead…”

Along similar lines, the executive director explains that the buffet had gone absent, but that it would return for theater season. “Amish-style restaurant experience” and “big hearty buffet” are not exactly synonymous…but it’s pretty close.

So in this video at least, it certainly doesn’t feel like they were leaning quite so hard into that proven successful formula of a family-focused Amish-style tourist attraction – though at least at the point, they hadn’t outright discarded it either.

Former Amish Acres Will Be Sold Again in August

Now, after five years, the property is being put back up for sale. Again from the Goshen News:

The auction, which is exclusively online, is scheduled to close at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13. The minimum opening bid has been listed at $1.399,900, and Kraft Real Estate Auctions LLC, of Valparaiso, is coordinating the process.

…

The entirety of the complex, which includes the Round Barn Theatre, the former Greeting Barn and event venue, the Restaurant Barn, and several other buildings, as well as 9.58 additional acres, is being sold as is. In all, there are ten buildings, encompassing 54,000 square feet of space, that comprise the storied Nappanee attraction.

Could the sale to a new owner mean a re-orienting back to something more like the original Amish Acres?

Or, could the sale mean an end to the property’s use as an Amish-themed tourist destination?

Back in 2019, that was a concern by many who loved the old Amish Acres. The Barns at Nappanee at least continued something of that vision for a while.

It will be interesting to see what comes next. The property is holding two public walk-throughs for potential bidders, on July 29 and 31.

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