"Our first focus, the 'low-hanging' fruit, is to connect Kendallville to Rome City using, wherever possible, the former railroad corridor, the Grand Rapids and Indiana." That's how Noble Trails, Inc. still describes the project on its own Fishing Line Trail page. The group started in 2010. It took until this July for that easy first goal to be finished.
In July, as WANE reported on July 29, Noble Trails celebrated the opening of the last connector between Kendallville and Rome City. You can now walk, run or bike from the Grand Army of the Republic Trail at the Kendallville Walmart to Sylvan Cellars north of Rome City without any stretch along a busy road.
You might expect a trail that starts in Kendallville to be easiest to use from Kendallville. This one isn't, yet. Its oldest pavement, its clearest published parking directions and its whole fall event calendar are at the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site, between the two ends. The trail was built outward from there, and that's still where it works best.
How long the trail is depends on who measured it
None of the three published figures match. KPC News says "close to 11.5 miles" of continuous trail. WANE says "nearly 12 miles." Noble Trails' June 2025 map puts the Fishing Line Trail at 12.0 miles. Plan on roughly 11.5 to 12 miles one way, or close to 24 for an out-and-back. For most people on foot, that makes a full round trip a whole day, not an afternoon.
The map lists landmarks and access points along the route: Knights Court Plaza, Angling Road, Riley Road, CR 600 E, Gene Stratton-Porter, Gaff Park and Sylvan Cellars. The map also prints point-to-point distances, so check it before planning a shorter ride. The table below shows the route in order.
| Section | Where it sits | What's there |
|---|---|---|
| Kendallville start | GAR Trail at Walmart | The trail begins here and runs north |
| Road crossings and access | Knights Court Plaza, Angling Road, Riley Road, CR 600 E | Listed on the Noble Trails map as route landmarks |
| The original section | Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site and the Sower Farmhouse | The first section paved; prairie, an old barn and a swamp |
| The July 2026 connector | Sower Farmhouse to the former Limberlost Golf Course near Lions Drive | The new link that closed the gap |
| Rome City end | Former Limberlost course, Gaff Park, then Sylvan Cellars north of town | Lake access, food and drinks at the far end |
The surface changes along the way. A 2020 Noble Trails post called the route a "10-mile paved path." The group's current trail page still sends visitors to "the gravel section of the Fishing Line Trail." So expect some crushed stone, and bring tires that can handle it.
Why the middle came first
The name is older than the trail. About a hundred years ago, five rail lines crossed Noble County. The Grand Rapids & Indiana Railway ran a spur into Rome City, and people called it the "Fishing Line" because so many riders were headed to the lake. After the railroads pulled out, the old rail bed went back to nature, and neighboring landowners folded strips of it into their own property. Noble Trails had to buy the corridor back piece by piece, from several families and businesses. Where the rail bed couldn't be had, the group worked with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Kendallville and Rome City to route around it.
Building a trail that way means you build wherever you own land, which is how the middle got done before the ends. Noble Trails' own history of the trail describes the first section:
"The first section was paved near the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site. What better place to get people excited about getting outside than the home of Indiana's most famous female naturalist?"
The same account says that first mile alone passes a prairie, a barn more than 100 years old and a swamp. The July connector finished what that first section started. It runs north from the Sower Farmhouse beside the historic site to the trail through the former Limberlost Golf Course. That course closed in 2018. KPC News reported that the trail uses the west edge of the old course, and that Noble Trails owned the north end of the property, not the whole course.
Where to park
Noble Trails gives step-by-step parking directions for only one access point. Take CR 900 N east from State Road 9, follow the signs to the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site, and park in the site's lot on the north side of the road. From there, a grassy path on the south side of CR 850 N leads back to the gravel section of the Fishing Line Trail. The Indiana State Museum's visitor page lists free parking on Pleasant Point and ADA parking closest to the Carriage House Visitor Center.
The 2025 trail map marks other trailheads, but the current parking rules at the Walmart end, CR 600 E, Riley Road, Angling Road and Sylvan Cellars aren't spelled out anywhere we could confirm. If you want a parking spot nobody will question, the historic site is the safe choice.
Starting there also gives you options. Head north for a shorter ride to the Rome City end and the lake. Head south for the long ride back toward Kendallville. Or skip the Fishing Line entirely and stay on the site's 148 acres along Sylvan Lake, which have more than three miles of grass and mulch trails plus a paved trail on the west side.
The fall calendar is at the trailhead
The historic site is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It's closed Monday and Tuesday, so a weekday ride that starts there works best later in the week. Here's what's left of the season, in order:
- Guided nature walks, through October. They start at noon, weather permitting, and run May through October, so this month is the last chance this year.
- Owl-O-Ween, Saturday, October 10, 4 to 6:30 p.m. It needs its own ticket. Visit Noble County's fall roundup lists it on October 11 from 4 to 7 p.m., but the Indiana State Museum's event page is the official listing and says October 10.
- Cabin tours at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., through November. They run April through November, so November is your last chance until spring.
- "Foraging in the Forest: How the Land Feeds Us," Saturday, November 7, 4 to 6 p.m. RSVPs and donations are encouraged.
Both evening events start late enough for an afternoon ride. If you ride north from Kendallville on November 7, the 4 p.m. start gives you time to finish the ride first. At this time of year, though, a late-afternoon event means riding home after sunset, which matters on a route this long.
The Rome City end has dinner and a lake
North of the historic site, the trail runs through the former Limberlost property and on toward Sylvan Cellars. Sylvan Cellars' website lists these bar hours: Monday through Thursday, 2 to 9 p.m.; Friday, 2 p.m. to midnight; Saturday, noon to midnight. Sunday brunch runs 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The kitchen opens later than the bar. It serves Monday through Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m., Friday from 5 to 10 p.m., and Saturday from noon to 10 p.m. So a weekday ride that ends there around 3 p.m. will find drinks but no food yet. The Indiana State Museum's guide to the area specifically recommends the tasting room's smashburger and a cocktail. The winery's event page still showed its September 2026 lineup when we checked, so call before planning around an October or November event there.
Sylvan Lake, the lake that gave the rail spur its nickname, is close by. Visit Noble County lists public boat access on the lake, plus Lakeside Park at the south end of Kerr Island, which has lakefront benches, a playground and a basketball court.
What isn't connected yet
The connections a Kendallville rider might expect aren't there yet. We found no source showing a trail link from the Fishing Line to downtown Kendallville or to Bixler Lake. Bixler Lake Park is still its own outing, with a pedestrian and nature loop of more than three miles around the 117-acre lake.
Noble Trails' 2025 map shows a continuation north toward Wolcottville labeled "under development," with no date. In 2022, the group proposed a one-mile Avilla segment from SR 3 and CR 1000 E to West Wind Trail near Ley Street, with timing dependent on funding. That same year, it listed three projects for 2023: the Sower Farmhouse connector, the Avilla piece and a link to Gaff Park in Rome City. The connector on that list arrived in July 2026, about three years after that target. The Avilla and Wolcottville extensions are worth following, but nothing published gives either one a date.
Being close to a trailhead matters more to some buyers and sellers than to others, and the newly finished Fishing Line moved a few properties closer to one. If you'd like to know how that plays out around Kendallville and Rome City, Lion Heart Realty Group can walk you through it. Schedule Your Free Strategy Call.
