Indiana Photo Gallery – Fort Vallonia

Local lore states that the earliest settlement was by the French in the late 1700’s. There has been no evidence to support, or refute, this tradition. By 1810 there were around ninety settlers in the area of Vallonia. The name derives from the site being located in a valley. John McAfee, Thomas Ewing, and J. B. Durham laid the town of Vallonia out in 1810. Continue reading Indiana Photo Gallery – Fort Vallonia

Podcast – Visiting the Shiojiri Niwa Garden

Greetings, in this episode we visit the Shiojiri Niwa Garden in Mishawaka, Indiana which is in St. Joseph County in north central Indiana.

My wife and I strolled through the Shiojiri Niwa Garden in Mishawaka, Indiana during a camping trip to Potato Creek State Park. This 1 1/3 acre garden includes over 20 varieties of shrubs and trees and many more smaller flowering plants. Over 200 boulders are scattered over the garden. Continue reading Podcast – Visiting the Shiojiri Niwa Garden

Podcast – Tulip Trestle Bridge

First, the raw statistics. The bridge is 2,307 feet long and 157 feet off the ground, at its highest point. It has 17 – 75-foot deck plate girder spans. These alternate with 18 – 40-foot deck plate girder spans. The west end of the bridge has 2 – 50-foot spans and 2 60-foot spans on the east end. The bridge, if placed on a gigantic bathroom scale, would weigh 2,895 tons. The cost to build the bridge was $246,504, which would be $212,000,000.00 in 2024 dollars. Continue reading Podcast – Tulip Trestle Bridge

Indiana Photo Gallery – Jackson-Washington State Forest

Jackson is a multi-use property. Hunting, fishing and trapping is permitted. The State of Indiana conducts periodic timber sales in the State Forests. The monies obtained by the sale of licenses, fees and timber go into the Heritage Trust fund that the State uses to procure more property. The State began acquiring the land that now encompasses Jackson-Washington in the 1930’s. The other activities offered at Jackson-Washington are camping, hiking, boating, fishing and horse trails. Continue reading Indiana Photo Gallery – Jackson-Washington State Forest

Corydon – First Indiana Capitol Building

The Indiana Territory Legislature contracted with Dennis Pennington to build the new Territorial capitol at Corydon. Pennington was a builder and prominent citizen of Corydon and served as Speaker of the House. He began construction of the building in either 1811 or 1812. The building would serve as the Harrison County Court House at first, then as the territorial capitol when it moved to Corydon. When the legislature did move in 1813, they met in the building. Continue reading Corydon – First Indiana Capitol Building

Sample Chapter – Adams County Courthouse

First Courthouse
Adams County officials contracted to construct the first courthouse in May 1839. The contract stipulated that the courthouse would be,
“…shall be a framed house built of good material, thirty by forty feet in size and two stories high; the lower story or room to be left without any partitions, and the upper story or room divided into rooms to accommodate the grand and petit juries…The weather boarding on the two sides next to the streets shall be planed.” This building served as courthouse until 1873, when it was sold and moved to another site on Front Street in Decatur. Continue reading Sample Chapter – Adams County Courthouse