We’re at this brewery and restaurant in downtown Franklin, Indiana. We are enjoying a 5 sample flight while waiting for our meals to arrive. This is a great place.
Indiana attractions
Yes, that’s a big pink elephant
Saw him, appropriately, in a liquor store parking lot. That’s quite the martini glass and olive.
Our new Tin Man wind chimes
One of the vendors set up at the same place as us last week had these for sale. He had made many different colors and we went for this cute pink and white.
Getting ready for the sale
This shows the beginning of our set up for the Highway 40 yard coming this week. The sale is an annual event and it follows old US 40. Hundreds of folks set up and thousands shop along the route.
We’ll keep you posted as the week goes on. Sher and I always enjoy this event. We missed it last year due to Covid-19.
Ready for an afternoon of bird watching
It is a beautiful day partly sunny pretty warm but nice in the shade with a slight breeze. Lots and lots of birds today should be a wonderful afternoon of birdwatching.
Holy hydrant
Sher and I saw this fire hydrant across the street from the Immaculate Conception Convent of the Third Order of the Sisters of St. Francis in Oldenburg, Indiana. See pictures and history of the convent at our post here.
We found an old growth forest and trail
Every once in a while you stumble upon a new to you attraction. While researching central Indiana trails and forests I came across a small but delightful gem in Shelby County, which is south east of Indianapolis. The gem is a nearly 50 acre nature preserve called Meltzer Woods Nature Preserve.
The unique quality of this property is found in its description: The forest is considered an original old-growth stand that was placed in Indiana’s Classified Forest Program in 1928. In 2014 it was protected forever when it was acquired by the Central Indiana Land Trust. An old-growth forest is one that has trees that are at least 150 years old and has not been cleared for a century or longer.
The trail
National Natural Treasure designation
Meltzer Woods is a wonderful place to spend time in nature, and to get a sense of what Indiana forests were like when the first European settlers arrived. Many of the trees are older than Indiana’s Statehood in 1816. Some have even been dated back to the 1600s. There is an easy and nearly level 1.3 mile trail that wanders through the forest. Magnificent trees, wildflowers galore, and interesting understory make for an inspiring walk through the forest and go back in time to when 80% of Indiana was covered in forests like this.
Dense understory
The Meltzer family first bought this ground in 1857. The family still owns adjacent farm ground and still farms today. Rain was threatening yesterday, and we decided to return another day when we could take the trail and really enjoy this historic and natural corner of Indiana. There is ample parking across the road, and Google Maps knows where it is if you are in the area.
Rose Hill Cemetery in Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a vibrant college town in south central Indiana. Originally platted in 1818, the city father’s realized that a cemetery was a need, thus in 1819 a small piece of ground west of the village was laid out. To identify the grave yard the initials “G” and “Y” were carved into a large oak tree at the entrance.
Entrance marker to Rose Hill
A unique brick and stone monument. Note the entrance gate in the background
Note the Hand pointing up: symbol for deceased going to heaven
Monument to Civil War Vets
There were no burial records until 1897 after the eight woman Ladies Cemetery Association took over the running of the property in 1892. This civic minded group renamed the cemetery Rose Hill after the wild rose bushes scattered around the property.
Infantryman on CW monument. Note that vandals have knocked off the musket
Ornate multi-level family monument, has Greek and Latin lettering for Jesus
Other improvements and additions have taken place through the years. A nice fountain was moved to another park in Bloomington in 1991 after vandalism in the cemetery. A storm destroyed some planted trees in 2000. But the main reason we find this and other cemeteries interesting is the headstones. There are marvelous examples of symbolism on many of the stones in Rose Hill. Also named iconography, there are a host of symbols carved into many stones, mostly older limestone ones.
Sentimental inscription on a mother’s stone
Bloomington is about an hour south of Indianapolis. The cemetery is east of the I-69 interstate, take the 3rd Street exit. This is a 28 acre historic cemetery with origins in the early 1800’s. History buffs, take notice. This is a great old grave yard.
Metamora, Indiana shops, mill and Whitewater canal
Metamora is a quaint little historic village located about halfway between Indianapolis and Cincinnati on US Highway 52. In the mid 1800’s it was a thriving town on the then busy Whitewater Canal. Horse drawn barges carried goods, the grist mill ground flour and a railroad serviced the village.
The grist mill
We visited on a Friday afternoon during what they call Christmas Walk. There are quite a few shops and places to eat in the village. It used to be a thriving tourist attraction. However on our visit there were very few people. The folks we saw appeared to be resident shop owners.
Canal boat grounded until the canal is repaired and full. It does make a good platform for Christmas decor
The canal aqueduct that runs over another creek. This is the only one in existence
The canal usually offers horse drawn boat rides, however there is some kind of construction underway and the canal is about empty. There will be no boat rides until sometime in 2018.
A one ton granite ball floats on water
I had to try moving the ball! It rotates with a tiny touch.
The 28 inch diameter, 2000 pound granite sphere floats on a cushion of water pumped up from a fountain below. The socket of the granite base is precision carved to allow an 8/1000th inch thick layer of water that the ball rests on. Even a child can rotate the ball!
This marvelous floating granite ball fountain is in front of the Nature Center at Holliday Park in Indianapolis.
Roadtirement 