Angola

Angola is the seat of Steuben County, tucked into Indiana’s northeast corner where the state narrows toward Michigan and Ohio, and the whole area is stitched together by lakes — over a hundred of them within a short drive, glacial leftovers that give the region a resort feel you don’t expect from inland Indiana. The town square itself is modest, a limestone courthouse and a scattering of small businesses, but it’s really the gateway to Pokagon State Park a few miles north that pulls people in, and pulled us in too once we saw Lake James glittering through the trees.

Pokagon State Park

Pokagon was built in the 1920s and 30s partly by the Civilian Conservation Corps, whose stonework still holds up the park’s Potawatomi Inn and the toboggan run that turns the hillside into a bobsled track every winter. In summer, though, it’s Lake James that matters — clear, cold, ringed by cottages that have been in the same families for generations. We rented a canoe from the boathouse and paddled out past a swimming beach crowded with kids, Lia insisting the water was colder than anything she swam in back in France despite the July heat.

Downtown Angola

Back in town, the courthouse square holds onto a genuinely small-town rhythm — a diner with a rotating pie case, a hardware store that’s been open since before either of our grandparents were born, and a drive-in theater a few miles out that still runs double features on summer weekends. We caught the last showing of the night from the hood of the car, radio tuned to the drive-in’s frequency, fireflies lifting off the grass between rows of parked cars.

Getting There

Fort Wayne International Airport (FWA) is the closest with regular commercial service, about an hour south via I-69. Toledo (TOL) and South Bend (SBN) are viable alternatives at similar distances. A car is essential — the lakes region is spread across rural roads with no public transit connecting them.