Thanksgiving Detour! (2)

So, after Covid struck its ugly head at our son’s family home in Omaha, we’d turned around in mid-Illinois and spent the night in Effingham.  The next day…the day before Thanksgiving…we headed south and east along back roads on our quest to return to our home in East Tennessee.

Why the back roads route?  Why not?!  We took advantage of the bad luck and negative situation to look explore a little more of the USA.  It wasn’t like it really mattered when we got home…

From Effingham, we followed IL Hwy 33 southeast to IL Hwy 130 south, turning east on IL Hwy 15 and crossing the Wabash River into Indiana at Mt. Carmel Illinois.  Once in Indiana, we followed IN Hwy 64 to Princeton.

As we drove through Princeton Indiana, one of the first structures we spotted was the old Princeton Railway Depot.  It was built in 1875 for the Evansville, Terre Haute and Chicago Railway.  That railway was absorbed into the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad…and eventually it was incorporated into the Louisville and Nashville Railway.  Passenger service to Princeton ended in late 1960.

The first rail line, The Evansville and Terre Haute railway, actually came to Princeton in 1852.  Vital to the town’s economy, the Southern Railway’s maintenance shops were constructed on the edge of town in 1892.  The restored depot at 702 West Broadway now serves as the home of the Gibson County Visitors Center and it features a railway museum along with a restored caboose.

Princeton is the county seat for Gibson County Indiana.  The town was established in 1814.  By 1840 the population had reached 573.  Today the town has about 8,300 residents.  In 1925, the ‘Tri-State Tornado’ crushed the south side of town, killing 44 people, injuring 146 and leaving many more homeless.  In 1926, 29 miners were killed in a coal mine explosion near the city.

Beginning in 1815, 3 different structures have served as the Gibson County Courthouse in Princeton.  The current courthouse is eye-catching or perhaps even mind boggling.  It was built in 1884.  Several labels describing its architectural are found on-line.  They include Romanesque Revival, Italianate and Second Empire…

Information for collectors: This structure is a model for Department 56’s Original Snow Village Courthouse.  For the uninitiated, Department 56 is an American manufacturer of holiday collectables, ornaments and giftware, known for its lit Christmas Village collection.  The company is owned by Enesco and it’s based in Eden Prairie Minnesota.

Of note, this courthouse was where the trial of Leslie “Joe Goebbels” Irvin took place.  He was an American serial killer who was arrested and and then prosecuted in Gibson County.  Irvin went on a killing spree in the early 1950s in southwestern Indiana.  He was arrested in connection with 6 murders that were committed in 4 separate incidents.  During the trial Irvin was led into the courtroom on what resembled a chain dog leash.  The press picked up on this and from then on, they referred to him as “Mad Dog”. 

Irvin was convicted but then he escaped from the Gibson County jail in January 1956.  He managed his escape by making keys from paperback novel covers, tin foil and glue.  He fled west but he didn’t taste freedom for long.  In early February he was arrested in San Francisco California, 20 days after his escape as he attempted to pawn some rings he’d stolen in a Los Angeles burglary.

From Princeton Indiana, we continued east on IN Hwy 64 to US Hwy 231 south.  Our next stop, after we crossed over the Ohio River, was for a late lunch in Owensboro Kentucky.

This is Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn, a buffet style restaurant in Owensboro, Kentucky.  Laurie and I had dinner here a couple of times over a 10 year span of time from the mid-1990s into the early 2000s.  We loved it!  It was one of the few places we have ever found that served BBQ lamb and mutton as well as a broad variety of other dishes…and we loved it!

The restaurant began as a barbeque joint with 30 seats in the late 1950s.  The Bosley family purchased the place in early 1963 due to Pappy Bosley’s layoff from a local distillery.  Neither he nor his wife Catherine had any restaurant experience or much formal education.  They were in their 40s and they had 5 children.

Over the next 50+ years, Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn grew significantly.  The restaurant now seats 350 diners and has a staff of 120 workers.  They even have their own U.S.D.A. inspected processing plant, a large catering department, and a wholesale division that serves a 4-state area.

As I mentioned above, Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn now seats 350 guests at a time.  The photo above shows just a tiny fraction of the dining area.  The parking lot was jammed and they had a couple of folks directing traffic and guiding customers to available parking spots.  As it was the day before Thanksgiving, the take-out business was booming and the pick-up line was out the door.  The good news is that we were able to be seated without a problem…

When we arrived, the luncheon buffet was still in operation. (11 AM until 2 PM) If diners want to order from the menu, that option is available.  We chose the buffet for 2 reasons.  First of all, our previous dining experiences at Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn were buffet driven.  Secondly, we didn’t have time to waste as we were still a long way from our home in East Tennessee. 

So we cruised the buffet lines to sample the items that caught our fancy.  I skipped the salad line and even the dessert line as too much food would make me sleepy, not a good thing when one is driving.  I focused on that third line pictured above…mostly protein.

The lunch buffet, Monday – Saturday cost $15.69.  Dinner Monday – Thursday cost $20.59.  Dinner on Friday and Saturday cost $24.89.

Laurie’s plate was healthier than mine, that’s for sure.  She had some coleslaw, fruit and potato salad, then coupled it with fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, some chicken infused stuffing and a corn muffin.

I went all in for protein with fried chicken and some of that stuffing, paired with BBQ mutton, beef and pork.  The luncheon buffet selection isn’t as broad as the dinner offerings, at least based on our memories.

So…unfortunately we weren’t overly pleased with our buffet luncheons.  Perhaps part of it was the limited luncheon items.  The chicken was OK but I really didn’t care for any of the BBQ meat items and I thought that the mutton…which I usually enjoy…was the worst of those protein choices.  Sadly nothing stood out as a real positive for us.  

Too many of the recent reviews on TripAdvisor agree with our findings.  Has Moonlite Bar-B-Q lost its mojo?  There is no doubt that the locals love this place.  It was packed with customers.  The question is, are they just loyal to tradition or what they’re used to…?

If you have a chance to dine at the Moonlite Bar-B-Que Inn, let me know what you thought.  We want this restaurant to be good…not just so-so.  Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn is located at 2840 West Parrish Avenue in Owensboro Kentucky.  They are open daily but the hours vary.  Phone: 270-684-8143.  Website: Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn - Kentucky BBQ Restaurant.  Facebook: Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn | Owensboro KY | Facebook. 

From Owensboro we headed directly home, stopping only for a break and gas while trying to, but failing to, avoid Thanksgiving eve traffic around Nashville.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave