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Porter is a small town in Indiana adjacent to Chesterton. It has some of the most important historic sites in Northwest Indiana.
Augsburg Swedish School
Porter has remnants of the area’s Swedish roots. The Augsburg Swedish School (Augsburg Svenska Skola) is a small building that served as a school for Swedish immigrant children from the 1840s to 1885. All classes were in Swedish. The current building was built in 1880.
Burstrom Swedish Cemetery
Behind the school is the Burstrom Swedish Cemetery, which was founded in 1870 to serve the Swedish community. Many of the headstones are written in Swedish.
Downtown
If you like watching trains, Porter is a great place to do it. There are several sets of tracks running through the small downtown.
Restaurants
You can find a couple of good choices for food in Porter. Try Santiago’s downtown for very good Mexican food. Just outside of downtown is Wagner’s, which has some amazing ribs.
Indiana Dunes National Park
Porter is also the home of the Bailly Homestead, the oldest settlement in Northwest Indiana, and Chellberg Farm, a Swedish immigrant settlement. Both are part of Indiana Dunes National Park. You can also take a pleasant hike through the forest and a prairie on the Little Calumet River Trail.
