Porter County sits in the middle of the three Hoosier counties touching Lake Michigan. This unique geographical location gives the county its amazing “otherworldly” landscape and ecosystem that is the Indiana Dunes. The lakeshore offers some of the most unspoiled natural areas in the state and is home to Indiana’s only “National Park.” Indiana Dunes… Continue reading.

Recreation and the celebration of history and culture make Franklin County in southeastern Indiana come alive. County seat Brookville sits at the southern edge of Brookville Lake. Brookville’s earthen dam was constructed in 1974 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers and impounds the East Fork of the Whitewater River for flood control and… Continue reading.

Wonderful contrasts — between the past and future; between the defined bedrock of Earth and the deep blue-sky weightless vastness of space — are celebrated in Lawrence County. Situated in the heart of Indiana’s famed limestone belt, the county is known worldwide for the stone quarried from beneath its soil. Bedford, the county seat, is… Continue reading.

Cass County might be famous for cats (as in “Felix the” … the Logansport Community High School mascot which was also the state’s first mascot) and beautiful hand-carved horses on its nationally historic carousel, but come June 18 the county will be high on the hog … as in pork. The first “Squeal on the… Continue reading.

Pike County is named after Zebulon Pike, the Western explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado also was named. But the person from Pike County to scale the loftiest heights was baseball star Gil Hodges. Hodges, the former Brooklyn Dodger and manager of the New York Mets who died suddenly 50 years ago April 2,… Continue reading.

Jay County, which sits along on Indiana’s eastern edge with Ohio, is a portal into significant passages of Indiana geography, history, and culture. To name three: The Wabash River. Indiana’s official state river enters Indiana through Jay County. The river’s origin is just over the state line, and the Wabash meekly flows in along Jay… Continue reading.

Named for our first president, Washington County shares the nation’s most popular county name with those in 30 other states. Many stories about George Washington have been fabricated. One of the most enduring and endearing myths has to do with a cherry tree to illustrate his honesty. When he was 6 years old, the story… Continue reading.

Newton County has the dubious distinction of being the only Indiana county that was penciled in and actually appeared on maps, erased in a merger into its neighboring county, then pulled back out from that county and reappear. This close kinship with its neighbor, Jasper County, began with the two men for whom the counties… Continue reading.

“Tippecanoe” is easily the most poetic and fun-to-say county in the state. But its meaning has nothing to do with capsizing a boat. Tippecanoe is the anglicized word for a Miami Indian term meaning “place of the succor fish people” — because succor (also known as buffalo fish) were abundant in the waters in the… Continue reading.

Most towns have a mural or two depicting aspects of the town’s history or famous residents. But Jasper County has turned itself into a giant art gallery for murals — painted on buildings throughout the county seat of Rensselaer.  Beginning with just one mural a half dozen years ago, Rensselaer now hosts an annual mural… Continue reading.

Muzzleloaders and bumbershoots make Ripley County burst with the curious combo of clouds of black powder and showers of color this month. The county, in the southeast pocket of the state, has long been known for hosting the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association in Friendship with its spring and fall competitions. The NMLRA was established… Continue reading.

Bartholomew County celebrates its bicentennial this year. Parts of the county’s yearlong celebration will focus on looking forward to what’s next. But in celebrating the county, the story of county seat Columbus cannot be emphasized enough. For a city of its size, Columbus, population around 46,000, has a unique place in the nation for its… Continue reading.