Bartonia Restaurant
By Kevin Williams
There aren't many places close to me that I haven't been before. I live in southwest Ohio and I've criss-crossed every nook and cranny within 100 miles of me. Or at least I thought. Although, curiously, I had never been to the town of Yellow Springs, Ohio until a year or two ago. I say curiously because it's a quirky little town outside of Dayton that just seems like a place I would have visited before. But I was finally able to cross that off my list.
Yesterday, I was exploring a strip of county straddling there Ohio, Indiana border...going through little gasps of towns with names like Whitewater, Indiana; Hollansburg, Ohio, and Baratonia, Indiana. I'll share more about why I was there in the weeks ahead. But, sheesh, it really is in a "no-man's land" between Richmond, Indiana; Greenville, Ohio and Muncie, Indiana.
While there I stopped for lunch at a small diner called the Bartonia Restaurant with the aptly visible and boastful slogan "it's worth the drive." It may well be (well, I'm not sure how far I'd drive to this place...but the food was good...so maybe I'd draw an hour radius from there and say it's worth the drive). There's actually what passes for a town around the restaurant and that town is called Bartonia. Never heard of it until I stumbled into it yesterday. This area really is a No Man's Land and it's kind of refreshing to find such a place in today's non-stop, fast-paced world.
Curiously, there was a photo outside the restroom of the "Woodland School" with plainly dressed Amish or Mennonite kids in a snowy scene. Most of the framed photos in the restaurant depicted a local scene. The food at the restaurant was great, but the woman working there seemed a bit frazzled (I think she was the only one working there at the time and there was a little bit of a lunch rush, surprisingly in a place as small as Bartonia) so I didn't want to bother her by asking her where the photo was taken.
Woodland School
Does anyone know? I "Googled" Woodland School and there is one that comes up in Pennsylvania. Perhaps someone reading this has seen the Woodland School in Pennsylvania and can verify this is it? Sorry for the dim photo, taking a picture of a picture doesn't always turn out so well!
Sheila
There used to be a church called Woodland Mennonite Chapel in PA and there was an amish school around that area at one time. I am not sure if that building is in use anymore. It is around Barrville, PA. I do not think Barrville is on most maps but it is in close proximity to Reedsville and Milroy.
Katie Troyer
This looks like Woodland School in Wayne County Ohio, taken in the 1970's or so.
Kevin
Thanks, Katie, I think you came through for us!
Andrea
I wouldn't call it no man's land...I live here silly boy! Plus all the farmers who eat there for lunch would boggle your mind where they all came from and who rang the dinner bell for them 😉 You didn't mention Bethel, IN which surely you drove through, and I hope you stopped to find the highest spot in Indiana as well and signed the book.
Kevin
Well, okay, not No-Man's Land, but it was certainly a corner of my backyard I hadn't explored yet. And, yes, I DID go through Bethel and that darn Indiana high point bedevils me every time. I have seen signs for the high point while on US 27 and the signs just seem to lead to nowhere, so every time I have tried to find it from that angle, I have failed to find said high point. I toyed with the idea of finding it when I saw a sign to it from Indiana 227 the other day but, given my previous experiences with this and the fact that i was running late, decided to pass. But I'll be going that same route again on Sunday, maybe I'll try to find it again. And you'll be really interested in why I was poking around your area, so stay tuned!:)
Francis Kimm
You need to change the sign that says "its worth the drive" We drove 65 miles each way on Monday October 3rd, 2016 to find out they were closed on Monday. The online menu says you are open on Mondays.
Kevin
Oh wow, Francis, I am sorry to hear about that. Did you hear about the restaurant from this site? To be clear, I am in no way connected to the restaurant,but I did just go to their menu online and saw that they do have hours for Monday...so you are correct, they should change that info!