Our Impressions of Niles, New Buffalo and South Bend

These are three towns within a few miles of each other that could not be more different! All with a very different character and flavor. Niles is small town America with a quaint downtown running along the St. Joseph River. Within a 30-minute drive of Niles you could be relaxing on the shores of Lake Michigan in New Buffalo. Or drive 30 minutes in another direction and you are in a typical college town, South Bend, IN (Notre Dame)!

The words that come to mind when I think about this area are “calm” and “peaceful”. Downtown Niles is a wonderful walking area with many small businesses and restaurants. The sidewalks are wide with huge flower pots with colorful flowers overflowing. Niles Park Dam is a very long, wide park along the St. Joseph River at the foot of Main Street.

On a side note, perhaps “calm” and “peaceful” wouldn’t be the most accurate words to describe South Bend during homecoming at Notre Dame!!!

This is a nice area of Michigan/Indiana.

Food and Drink

Niles
In downtown Niles, there is a wonderful candy store called Veni’s. They make home-made truffles, creams, fudge and meltaways. I had never eaten chocolate covered bacon before! We went back twice during our stay and bought much more than was necessary! Their candy was very good!

South Bend
This area certainly appealed to our sweet tooth! In South Bend we visited Macri’s Italian Bakery and Restaurant. The pastries and cheesecakes were phenomenal!! We went back more than once! They make something called a “TV Bar”. It is the shape of a very large Twinkie. It has layers of dark and milk chocolate ganache and chocolate cake, with a dark chocolate icing on the outside. We have never had anything like this before. Words to not do it justice.

New Buffalo
We ate at Brewster’s Italian Restaurant. This is a local favorite just a short drive from the beach. There are many small, local restaurants in downtown New Buffalo, we chose this by recommendation of a family we met on the beach. It is off the main street, hidden by the many plants and shrubs that surround the outdoor seating. The waitstaff was very friendly and accommodating. The food was reasonably priced and plentiful!

Attractions

Niles
At the corner of 4th and Main Streets stands the Four Flags Hotel. It was a state-of-the- art thriving hotel for many years. Guests have included Al Capone, Eleanor Roosevelt and Truman Capote. Built in 1925 for a cost of $350,000, a lot of money in 1925!!

A place we visited and really enjoyed was the Niles Dam Park. It is very close to downtown, but seems miles away! It has a nice stream, a kayak launch and lots of picnic tables. Just beautiful!

Another must see is the Niles Rail Depot. It was built in 1892 for the passenger rail system, but is now only used for Amtrak. The sign out front says it was built to “create a lasting impression of Michigan for passengers traveling to the 1893 Columbian Exposition”. The train station is beautiful as are the flower gardens.

South Bend
One of the things we like to explore are college campuses. Notre Dame did not disappoint us! It was amazing! The old stone buildings were in excellent condition, the flower beds were colorful and the manicured lawns were impressive. We had never seen Legends Stadium in person!

New Buffalo
A “must” drive is to Lake Michigan and the beach at New Buffalo! There was plenty of parking when we were there (mid-week in the summer), but the beach was packed with people enjoying themselves. One of the things that impressed us were the number of multi-generational families (grandparents, parents and children). The water was refreshingly clear and cool!

Home Base: The Campground

For us, a campground is not our destination. Our RV is self-contained. Rarely do we use campground services or amenities. We are explorers, not campground reviewers!

We stayed at the Riverfront Park Campground in Niles, Michigan. The campground was clean and well maintained. The staff was friendly. Our full hook up (water-sewer-electric) site was on level packed gravel. Our back in site was long enough to accommodate the Jeep and the TV well off the road. 30 and 50 amp service was available. There was good cell phone coverage (Verizon) and a good open southern sky for our satellite; this would not be true for a lot of the sites.

Riverfront Park is within 2 miles of downtown. We would stay here again.

Fun Facts

• Michigan has more miles of freshwater shoreline than any other state in the nation.
• Niles is known as the “City of Four Flags” due to four nations occupying Fort St. Joseph, from 1691 to the present. The fort was held by the British, French, Spanish, and the United States.
• The University of Notre Dame has the oldest continuously existing college marching band in the nation.

	Niles, MI	New Buffalo, MI	South Bend, IN
Population	11,168	1,690	103,353
Founded	1827	1836	1835
Elevation	686ft.	640ft.	692ft.
Average income	$49,637	$35,851	$25,595
Ave. $ of Housing	$86,000	$580,784	$170,036
Ave. Population Age	36	48	34

Websites:
http://www.nilesmi.org/
https://cityofnewbuffalo.org/
https://www.southbendin.gov/

Summary

We didn’t get a chance to see everything we wanted to see, nor explore everywhere on “our list”. The towns we visited were small and quaint with very friendly people.

Just a word of warning, if you are traveling I-80 west through Indiana to Niles, be prepared to pay large tolls on not-so-great roads!

Altogether, there were lots of things to see and do in Niles. It is well worth the stop!

Since beginning our full-time journey to discover the country, we have found something to appreciate in every city and town we have passed through. We hope you enjoy reading about them as much as we have enjoyed discovering them!

No person, business or attraction has paid us for an endorsement.

Your partners in travel,
Kathryn, Dave and Lucky
RVing Nomads

It’s a lifestyle

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