Springtime in Southern Indiana

As we had not seen Anne since Christmas holidays, our first trip since returning from New Zealand had to be to Indiana. I had heard of a town with a strange name, “French Lick,” located in southern Indiana. We used some of our time share points to book a week in that town and after that, spent 5 days with Anne at her place.



While French Lick has a large hotel and casino complex, the real attraction is in the bordering town of West Baden Springs, originally known as Mile Lick, as it is 1 mile from French Lick. A health resort was established there in 1855. It was a custom in the 1800s to “take the waters” and get mud baths; as there were mineral springs, West Baden Springs housed a health resort, as it still does. The old hotel burned down in 1901 and was rebuilt in the tradition of Europe’s finest spas of the time. It was dubbed the “8th wonder of the World” for good reason. Over the years the resort changed owners and was a Jesuit seminary for over 30 years. Maintenance was neglected to the point that one of the walls collapsed. The Cook family came to the rescue and completely restored the structure to its original opulence. Since 2006, West Baden Springs Hotel has functioned as a Hotel/spa, with over 700 rooms. I’m not sure they ever rent them all out, but they do have 700 rooms available.
Here are some views of the grounds and exterior of the hotel.





Now the inside









Yes, that dome is 6 stories up and the 700 rooms make up the outside of the structure, with the large area under the dome devoted mainly to airspace.
The time share ran very reasonably-priced tours Mon-Thurs and we joined in on Tuesday for the Amish culture tour and on Wednesday for the Caverns and lake tour.
Southern Indiana has a large Amish community near the town of Montgomery. They are the Anabaptist sect that forswears modern inventions such as automobiles, motorized farm equipment, belts, zippers, electricity for the simple Christian life of hard work and more hard work.
The tour took us by many neat Germanic farmsteads.



Horses are everywhere, as they provide the “horsepower” to run their machinery and transportation.





Our tour took us to a typical home, where the lady of the house was making mulberry jam in large pots over a Coleman camp stove. Many Amish communities view photos of people as “graven images” so you don’t take up close photos of them out of respect for their customs.





In 2007, this area was struck by a tornado which destroyed many Amish homes and farm buildings, fortunately there was no loss of life or serious injury. Amish communities from as far away as Canada came to their aid within a day or two. They donated the time and materials to rebuild the damaged and destroyed buildings at no cost to the victims. The community was completely restored within 3 months, all without a dime of government aid.

The tour stopped at a few Amish stores, where you could purchase their crafts or the items they use at home. Elaine picked up a heavy duty pastry cutter and some jams and cheeses. After all this touring, it was time to enjoy an all-you-can-eat lunch at The Amish village Gasthof. www.gasthofamishvillahe.com I think it is run by the Mennonite community, as they have electricity. From what we learned Amish is just a stricter form of Mennonite. After lunch, we waddled through a very large flea market – but resisted the temptation to make any purchases.
Wednesday took us to the karst region of southern Indiana. I remember hearing the word “karst” for the first time in High School in reference to this part of the USA. Karsts are basically an area with extensive limestone caverns and with many sinkholes, that is, where the roof of a cavern collapses and leaves a visible depression in the ground above. Marengo Cave was our first stop. www.marengocave.com As we had actually gone here with Anne (who came down and stayed a couple nights) on Sunday, we just relaxed above ground as most of the rest of the party explored Crystal Palace Cavern. Two local schoolchildren first discovered the cave in 1883. When the property owner heard about it, he promptly fenced it off and began charging admission. In 1984 it was designated as a national landmark by the Dept. of the Interior as “””.the mostly profusely decorated cavern ‘ ‘ ‘ with speleothems of the highest quality.” Whatever a speleothem is.







As Caverns go, I’d say this one is definitely worth a look.
After another large lunch (BTW: I only gained 2 pounds during our stay and have already lost them), we again went underground into a limestone cave. One big difference, this one is a man-made cave. Originally, the Marengo Warehouse and Distribution Center was a limestone quarry.



However, as the bed of limestone got deeper under the soil, the overburden was too expensive to remove, so the owner started digging it from the face of the quarry. Eventually, the dugout parts came to about 250 acres of 1,100 rooms with 30 foot high ceilings, at a constant year round temperature of 56 degrees Fahrenheit. The owners decided that this would make a great warehouse or something like that. They added a cooling unit for products that need refrigeration at 45 degrees and a freezing unit for things that should be frozen (A 14 acre freezer area). For my overseas readers, 14 acres is just less than 6 hectares.
Our tour bus drove us around on some of the 33 miles of subterranean roads.





And we saw lots of materials, like MREs (that’s meals ready-to-eat for you non-military types)





Large barrels of such things as raspberry pulp and mashed bananas



It also provides an ideal environment for growing mushrooms and for storing automotive tires. All of the tires from the recall of Firestone tires several years ago were stored here until they could be destroyed. They continue to store an unbelievable amount of tires in this facility.
The day of touring finished with a 2-hour boat ride on a large pontoon boat on beautiful Patoka Lake, an 8,800 acre lake created by the US Army’s Corps of Engineers in the 1980s. www.patokalakeindiana.com



One of the nicest features of the lake is that the State owns all of the surrounding land, so there are no houses on the lake (other than 3 that were there before the lake was created. Forest surrounds the lake, with a few recreational areas cleared for a marina or beach. Enjoyed viewing an eagle nest and an osprey nest.







While in the area, we discovered that Abraham Lincoln spent much of his adolescence (1816-1830) on a farm near what is now called Lincoln City, Indiana. As we have visited Springfield, Illinois, where he practiced law and Washington D.C., where he served as our 16th President, this was a must see.
There is a very good Visitor Center that has artifacts from his life. www.nps.gov/libo



The grave of his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln is somewhere on the grounds, the stone in the cemetery is not where she is buried (no one knows where the actual burial site is).





The foundation to their 1829 cabin (there were a few earlier cabins, all since dismantled) has been cast in bronze; however, the actual cabin has long rotted away.



A reconstructed historical living farm, with a couple of period actors also graces this National Monument.



During our week at French Lick, we revisited Spring Mill State Park in Mitchell, Indiana (See slutigram from June 2007). And enjoyed a delicious brunch in their lodge. Took a few more photos and bought another bag of fresh ground corn meal ground by the water-powered grist mill.





Then our week was up and we were off to Anne’s home in Bloomington. There are so many more things to see and do in Southern Indiana that another trip will have to be made.
Had a great time with Anne. Much of the time was spent just enjoying one another’s company.
Anne did tell us of the existence of an Exotic Feline Rescue Center near Center Point, Indiana. www.exoticfelinerescuecenter.org Their mission is” to provide permanent homes for exotic felines that have been abused, abandoned or for some reason have nowhere to live out their lives …” It is one of 41 such centers in the USA (how many big cats are there here?), founded in 1991. It has 211 big cats in residence on 108 acres of land. All animals are neutered or spayed and once here, they will not leave. Guided tours are given – but you have to know how to get here, as there are no signs on the main road, and they are, understandably located on an unpaved road. Directions and hours are given on their website.
Here’s a sample of what we saw:









It was quite interesting to find out that the lions all start roaring when they hear a Harley-Davidson engine; nothing happens for a Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda or any other cycle, just Harley. They’d be a bit hit at the Sturgis, South Dakota motorcycle rally.


One final view for my Sluti family. It's an inside joke for the rest of you.