Corydon Capitol

Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, 1230 N. Delaware Street, Indianapolis

Contact: 317.631.1888

Website: https://bhpsite.org/learn/education/school-programs/

The home of Indiana’s only president offers an educational program called “Settlers and Surveyors” for grades 3 & 4. Using a colorful floor map, students learn how settlers chose properties for businesses, schools, and homes during the era of William Henry Harrison. Harrison was grandfather of President Benjamin Harrison, first Governor of the Indiana Territory, and U.S. president in 1841.

 

Buckley Homestead, 3606 Belshaw Road, Lowell

Contact: 219.769.7275

Website: https://www.lakecountyparks.com/427/Groups-at-Buckley

This 575-acre living history farm, operated by Lake County Parks, features live animals, an old-fashioned school house, and the 100+ year-old Buckley Barn. On the National Register of Historic Places, the homestead offers hands-on pioneer experiences to school groups in spring.

 

Conner Prairie, 13400 Allisonville Road, Fishers

Contact: 317.776.6000 or 800.966.1836

Website: https://www.connerprairie.org/educate/

Features historic William Conner House and 1836 Prairietown, a fictional village representative of a newly-founded Indiana town in the 1830s.

 

Corydon Capitol, 202 E. Walnut Street, Corydon

Contact: 812.738.4890

Website: https://www.indianamuseum.org/historic-sites/corydon-capitol/

In November 1816, the first General Assembly of 29 representatives, 10 senators, and the lieutenant governor met here. On Dec. 11, 1816, Indiana was formally admitted as the 19th state. Corydon remained the state capital until the government moved to Indianapolis in 1825.

 

Eiteljorg Museum, corner of West Street and Washington Street, Indianapolis

Contact: 317.275.1350

Website: https://eiteljorg.org/visit/

The Eiteljorg conserves and displays Western art and Native American art and cultural objects. Its collection includes items from Great Lakes tribal groups present during the pioneer period.

Freetown Village, Indianapolis

Contact: 317.631.1870

Website: https://www.freetown.org/

This living history museum takes its programs into schools to educate the public about African American lives, arts, and culture in Indiana. Residents of Freetown Village are composite characters of the 3,000 men, women and children identified on the 1870 Indianapolis census. Freetown Village Singers perform traditional folk songs and spirituals.

 

George Rogers Clark Home Site, 1102 W. Harrison Ave., Clarksville

Contact: 812.280.9970

Website: https://www.fallsoftheohio.org/portfolio/outdoor-activities/george-rogers-clark-home-site/

American Revolutionary war commander George Rogers Clark lived here from 1803 to 1809. A replica cabin with the same dimensions of Clark’s original home recently was destroyed by fire, and future plans for the site are uncertain. The McGee Cabin, modeled after a typical early 19th century slave cabin, tells the story of Venus and Ben McGee, indentured servants of Clark. Their period cabin is open for viewing.

 

Historic New Harmony, Athenaeum Visitors Center, 401 N. Arthur St., New Harmony

Contact:  Paul Goodman, 812-682-4488

Website: https://www.usi.edu/outreach/historic-new-harmony/

Numerous buildings represent the two Harmonist utopian periods, the 1814-1824 Pietists and the Owen-McClure experiment of 1825-27.

 

Historic Old Fort, 1201 Spy Run Ave, Fort Wayne

Contact: (260) 437-2836

Website: http://www.fortwayneparks.org/facilities/historic-old-fort.html

Replica of fort constructed by Major John Whistler and his men during 1815-1816. This was the last of three American forts to stand at the junction of the St. Mary’s, St. Joseph, and Maumee Rivers.

 

Indiana State Museum, 650 W. Washington Street, Indianapolis

Contact:  317.509.7679

Website: https://www.indianamuseum.org/field-trips/

Three levels of interactive galleries, special exhibits, and hands-on activities, including the “Contested Territory” exhibit, which follows Indiana history from early relationships between Native Americans and French traders through the Northwest Indian War, American Revolution and War of 1812.

 

Levi Coffin State Historic Site, 201 US 27 North, Fountain City

Contact: 765.847.1691

Website: https://www.indianamuseum.org/historic-sites/levi-catharine-coffin-house/

This federal-style brick home built in 1839 served as safe haven for more than 1,000 freedom seekers on their journey to Canada. Levi and Catharine Coffin’s home became known as “The Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad.”

Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, mailing address (not GPS address) is 3027 East South Street, Lincoln City

Contact: 812.937.4541

Website: https://www.nps.gov/libo/planyourvisit/basicinfo.htm

The Lincoln Boyhood Trail connects the Pioneer Cemetery to the Living Historical Farm. The Trail of Twelve Stones begins at the Living Historical Farm and ends near the Pioneer Cemetery. The two trails form a loop of about one mile. The Boyhood Nature Trail loops one mile through the woods north of the Living Historical Farm.

Lyles Station, 953 N. County Road, 500 West, PO Box 1193, Princeton

Contact: 812.385.2534

Website: http://lylesstation.org/

Lyles Station is one of the last remaining African-American settlements in the state, dating to the early 1800s. Features a renovated Lyles Station Heritage Classroom that gives students the opportunity to experience a day in the life of a 1900s era schoolhouse.

 

Pioneer Village, Spring Mill State Park, 3333 State Road 60 E., Mitchell

Contact: 812.849.3534

Website: https://www.in.gov/dnr/state-parks/parks-lakes/spring-mill-state-park/

Open daily from May thru mid-October, the restored Pioneer Village, founded in 1814, features 20 historic buildings. The centerpiece is a 3-story limestone gristmill, built in 1817, that still grinds cornmeal today. Interpreters portray the year 1863 and demonstrate period crafts.

 

Vincennes State Historic Site, 1 West Harrison Street, Vincennes

Contact: 812.882.7422

Website: https://www.indianamuseum.org/historic-sites/vincennes/

Students can walk through Indiana’s oldest city, where territory officials made decisions that changed the future of the entire Midwest. Features original Territory Capitol building, which was built in 1805, the Jefferson Academy – the first school of higher learning in the state – the Elihu Stout Print Shop, Fort Knox II, the Old French House and more.

 

Wabash and Erie Canal, 1030 N. Washington Street, Delphi

Contact: 765.564.2870

Website: https://wabashanderiecanal.org/wabash-erie-canal-visitor-info-delphi-in/

This vestige of the Indiana canal era features an interactive museum, canal boat, and pioneer village. Canal construction began in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1832. Upon completion in 1853, the Canal spanned 468 miles from Toledo, Ohio on Lake Erie to Evansville, Indiana on the Ohio River.