Mark R. Hunter

Named after Indiana's first US senator, Noble County was formed in 1836, just eight years after the first recorded white settlers arrived and 20 years after Indiana's formation. Settlements grew with transportation: a trail from Fort Wayne became the now-historic Lincoln Highway; the Sylvan Lake dam, built to supply a proposed canal, attracted author Gene Stratton Porter; and railroads arrived. Each time the population grew and shifted until the citizens voted to place the county seat in The Center, the geographic center of Noble County. Soon, Albion occupied the space, making it the smallest township in America. With 117 lakes, the Elkhart River, a state park, and numerous historic sites, Noble County became a destination for tourists, while Albion's historical downtown area, centered on a century-old courthouse in a town carved from wilderness, stands in the center of it all.

Noble County boasts small-town charm and attractions all year long.

And ghosts. The county’s only movie theater is patrolled by the well-known manager, who died in 1995. Two of the highest hills in the state are haunted, one after a hanging and another because of a murder immortalized by Indiana’s poet laureate. The sprawling Kneipp Sanitarium received a visit from the Virgin Mary herself and became a battleground of good versus evil. Former residents of the county poor farm still roam the building. Then there’s the “Thing in the Basement.”

Join authors and historians Mark and Emily Hunter as they tour the dark and spooky corners of Noble County.