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 Lanier Mansion State
Historic Site by deecat
You'll see it all here: early Federal-style buildings next to Greek Revivals, Italianates, or even modest shotgun-style cottages. I especially liked the soda fountain & the operating movie theater. Plus, gardens seem to bloom on almost every patch of dirt, which only adds to the beauty of this delightful town.
You'll find stores in old mansions, century-old storefronts, & 1800's factories. Of real interest is a 145-year-old mill with walls 4-bricks thick that houses an antique mall. At some point in your visit, take a walk along the riverfront. May through October, the Mississippi Queen and other paddle wheelers dock here as they did more than a century ago.
I really enjoyed Lanthier Winery in a small, refurbished 19th-Century fort. You might prefer the Thomas Family Winery in a refurbished 1855 Carriage House and Stable.
A multitude of Bed and Breakfast establishments are available in this wonderful town that's protected by wooded bluffs.
I especially admired the extra-wide streets, imposing homes, & rows of lovely townhouses.
I made sure that I obtained a walking tour map at the Visitor's Center on Main Street. You are able to take walking tours. The walking tour of the town is divided into two 2-hour tours; west and east.
My two favorites on the tour were the J.F.D. Lanier State Historic Site & The Shrewbury House.
James F. D. Lanier was a financier & railroad tycoon, & his mansion has an imposing columned facade and a porticoed balcony. From the balcony, a wide view of the restored gardens and the Riverfront Parkway are quite impressive. It's an ocher-colored Greek Revival mansion built in the 1840s.
More subdued, but just as impressive, is the Shrewbury-Windle House. It has an incredible spiral staircase that seems to float upward without visible support! Built for a riverboat captain, it has massive 12-foot-tall doors!
Besides house tours and eating, you might like to do some shopping. In addition to antiques, Madison has a growing reputation as an arts and crafts colony Main Street has 20 specialty shops with items such as woodcarving & tinwear, as well as paintings & pottery.
This is one city not to miss. It's located 86 miles southeast of Indianapolis, & it's only 55 miles northeast of Louisville and 65 miles southwest of Cincinnati. Leave a Comment
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 Thall's Opera House in New
Harmony, Indiana by deecat
Owen gathered scholars, scientists, and educators, and in 1825, Owen's hand-selected community arrived by boat. They were known as the "boat load of Knowledge".
Soon, New Harmony became known as the "intellectual heart of the pioneer West." But, there were no factories and no industry, and these intellectuals did not have farming skills; thus, they had to buy whatever they needed. By 1827, the Utopian community had failed. But, the town lived on as a regular Indiana town, and in the 1940's, a female descendant of Robert Owen began a project to restore the town to preserve its history.
Today, visitors see the fruits of those efforts. New Harmony looks much the same as it did in the 1800s. There are museums and historic homes, and the famous Labyrinth (a maze of hedges). Those people who reach the end of the labyrinth will find a "temple" that the New Harmony community erected.
So, even though New Harmony did not become the Utopia that Owens dreamed of, it's a wonderful place to visit today in order to soak up the history, the architecture, and the 1800s ambience.
New Harmony HIstoric District is located in the far southwestern area of Indiana, and is really worth the effort to see.
This town is in a rural area and is surrounded by rich farmland.
Visit first the Atheneum Visitors' Center on North and Arthur Streets. All tours begin here, and tickets must be purchased here to view the sites.
1830 Owen House at Tavern and Brewery Streets. English architectural style and quite historic.
Harmonist Cemetery at Church, West, Arthur, and North streets. 230 members of the Harmony Society are buried here in unmarked graves dating from 1814-1824. There are also prehistoric Woodland Mounds.
Robert Henry Fauntleroy House at West & Church Streets. Harmonist family residence. House museum contains period furniture.
Solomon Wolf House at Granary and Brewery Streets. Electronic scale model of New Harmony in 1824 plus audiovisual program.
Thrall's Opera House at 612 E. Church St. Originally Harmonist Dormitory Number 4 & converted to a concert hall by Owen descendants.
Plus many, many more sites. Leave a Comment
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 The Capitol Building in
Indianapolis by deecat
This revitalized Capitol Building called the "State House" represents nineteenth-century grandeur with the inner workings of a twenty-first-century. It's a beautiful building, the historic treasure Indianapolis and the state of Indiana.
The building is shaped like a Greek cross with a central dome and rotunda. The main floor is built 14 feet above ground level. This is where the governor, the House of representatives (east side), and the Senate (west side) do business as well as the Indiana Supreme Court (north end).
The interior is in the Italian Renaissance style. Indiana materials such as Indiana oak, maple, and walnut are used here. Skylights bring in natural lighting. The Atrium skylights brighten the north and south wings. The Art Glass inner dome, in blue tones, is suspended below a skylight.
The exterior of the building is Corinthian style design. Indiana materials are used here, too. Oolitic limestone quarried from Monroe, Lawrence, & Owen counties; foundation limestone from Greensburg & North Vernon quarries; cornerstone limestone from Spencer. So, the building is certainly representative of INDIANA.
While taking the tour, I learned that many "blotched" changes happened in the first 100 years so in 1988, an eleven million dollar renovation and restoration took place to bring back its original elegance. The biggest project with the best results (I think) was removing 3 layers of paint and doing "four acres of plaster hand stenciling". The results are breathtaking!
The Indiana Supreme Court courtroom did NOT have to be restored because it has never changed.
I do hope that local citizens visit and marvel at The Indiana State Capitol just as the hordes of tourists do. It certainly deserves the respect of those it serves. Leave a Comment
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 Amoco refinery, Whiting by deecat
My husband Allan was born and raised in the "Region" in East Chicago, so I have a fondness for this sometimes "gritty" industrial area.
The "region" began when Standard Oil Company laid pipelines from Ohio to the little village of Whiting, Indiana. Right there (1889) Standard built one of the largest oil refineries in the world. Other companies saw how great the site was, so many heavy industries opened in Hammond and East Chicago; thus, their port grew into one of the nation's greatest shipping centers.
Then, steel became the state's fastest-growing and most important industries. Inland Steel opened a plant in East Chicago (Allan worked there one summer). Then United States Steel Corporation erected massive steel mills along miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, which gave birth to Gary, Indiana. US Steel built homes for 100,000 families and more than half of the citizens were born in Europe! Immigrants from Italy, Poland, Hungary, and other European countries moved to Gary to work in the mills.
Dupont, Sinclair, and Shell companies moved to the area along with Republic Steel.
In 1970, the Port of Indiana, a deepwater port, opened at Burns Harbor so Indiana industries could ship more products in and out directly.
Imported steel really hurt the "Region", and many steel mills had to cut production or close down altogether, which caused poor economic conditions in the region. The towns of East Chicago, Gary, and Hammond suffered greatly.
But, people who live in the area are loyal to it. As my husband says, "You can take the boy out of the "Region", but you can't take the "Region" out of the boy!" Leave a Comment
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 Old Indiana Theater, Terre
Haute, Indiana by deecat
Terre Haute became a railroad and coal mining center until about 1960. Because of the outlying shopping malls, the downtown area almost collapsed. It certainly is not the shopping mecca that I once knew.
There are still interesting places in Terre Haute:
Eugene V. Debs Home Debs was a leader of the American labor movement, a five-time presidential candidate, and founder of the Socialist Party of America. He organized & was president of the American Railway Union.
The home is a large Victorian (1890) and contains period furnishings, campaign memorabilia & exhibits on the socialist & labor movement.
Sheldon Swope Art Museum (25 South Seventh St) has a good collection of American regionalist paintings of the 19th and 20th centuries, including one of my favorites, Edward Hopper.
Paul Dresser Memorial Birthplace (First & Farrington Streets). Paul was a popular composer who wrote the state song of Indiana. His brother is the famous Theodore Dreiser (note different spelling) who wrote "Sister Carrie" and many other novels.
Historical Museum of Wabash Valley (1411 S. Sixth St.) is housed in an 1868 Italianate building, and it has costumes, textiles, and Victorian furniture. It also has Indian artifacts and military implements.
I grew up about an hour from Terre Haute, Indiana and thought that it was the greatest place. Of course, it's changed a great deal since then, but I have fond memories of shopping at "Davids", going to the "bib" movie theater, and going to the teen center where the kids were so "cool" that we imitated the way they danced and then called the dance, The Terre Haute!
Allan and I went to graduate school in Terre Haute, and I taught at Woodrow Wilson Jr. High School for one year. Besides Indiana State University, Terre Haute is also home to St. Mary-of-the Woods College, Poly Tech Institute. Leave a Comment
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 by traveldave
The downtown area comprises 11 blocks and boasts numerous restaurants, outdoor cafes, art galleries, specialty shops, and a majority of the city's night spots. Leave a Comment
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 LINCOLN CAMPGROUNDS by miner
The foliage in the fall.I have not been able to capture how beatiful it is on film.My best memory would be camping at lincoln with my wife and kids. Leave a Comment
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 CARDINAL,PEONY,AND STATE
FLAG by miner
it is hard to pinpoint one favorite memory of Indiana.From my boyhood days of romping through the woods all day to spending time with my grandkids on the holidays.
I am not away from Indiana enough to miss anything. Leave a Comment
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 Old National Road Welcome
Center by pabertra
5701 National Road (US 40) in Richmond, IN Leave a Comment
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 by traveldave
Indianapolis was not without its problems, however. Cutbacks in federal aid and an overdependence on the automobile industry turned Indianapolis into a rustbelt city with a stagnant economy. However, in the early 1980s, a partnership of government, business, and philanthropy caused a turn-around in the city's fortunes when new public-works projects and an influx of industry and business rejuvenated a once-dying city.
Nowadays, Indianapolis once again has a vibrant economy, and is the financial and cultural center of the State of Indiana. Leave a Comment
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