One of the first things you learn about Archbold is that most of the downtown stores are shut tight by 5:30 in the evening (3 p.m. on Saturdays) and not open at all on Sundays—if they keep regular hours in the first place. Archbold is not a Northwest Ohio town that feels the pressure to keep up with the go-go pace of modern life. Archbold is a place where you can find restaurants with names like “Mom’s Diner,” where the decor never left the 1950s, and The Home Restaurant which has been serving since 1912.
Planning a visit? Stay at Sauder Village RV Park.
You can learn where those values sprouted outside of town in Sauder Village, where costumed pioneers inhabit Ohio’s largest living history village. Craftspeople work with historically accurate tools and rural farm activities are accomplished with heritage equipment. Original owner Erie Sauder invented a knock-down table in 1951 that launched the ready-to-assemble furniture industry.
The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad Depot a few miles away in Wauseon shelters the Fulton County Historical Museum and remembers the days when eight railroads ran through town. Several lines have been re-purposed as well-used trails across the flat landscape around Archbold, leading away from Wauseon Rotary Park.
