Spring Mill State Park: A Trip Back in Time

WARNING: This post contains a LOT of photos. If you don’t like picture posts, you may want to skip this one. I get a little picture happy sometimes, but in this case I wanted you all to see the full effect of this field trip. You have been warned! 🙂

Most of you know that back in April our family moved 600+ miles from Oklahoma to southern Indiana. After we moved, we decided to take our kids on as many field trips as possible. While we don’t plan on moving anytime soon, the Lord is in charge and we don’t know just how long we’ll be here. So we want to take every opportunity we have to see the history and sights in this area.

Our first field trip was back in July (after we had moved into our new house and were semi-settled). We drove the 30 minutes from our house, through Mitchell, IN and on the outskirts was Spring Mill State Park. Inside this beautiful state park is very nice Inn with a fabulous restaurant (based on the reviews, we did not dine there – although I would love to go back just the Hubster and I to try it out) and a village that transports you back in time to the 1800’s.

This village is laid out with now paved walks that show you the routes people might have taken to walk around this mill town. Several of the buildings are original to the site, while others are period buildings transported when this project began. Some of them have been renovated for safety, but overall they did a wonderful job of keeping things authentic.

Most of the houses had little plaques to show when they were built. Moving from a state that is 200 years newer in it’s history, I found this trip very fascinating. I have a new appreciation for history, as I have aged. Seeing the rich history and thinking about how life really was more “simple” back then is very intriguing to me.

Many of the homes were decorated with period pieces and furniture that would have been found in homes during that time. Some of the homes even had artisans dressed in period costumes and “conducting business” as if they really lived in the 1800’s. Above you can see the leather maker and women tatting. Traditionally this was done by men because it was a way to make a living (therefore, women were not allowed to tatter). To watch these two women work was amazing. The technique is almost a lost art today with the machinery taking over the lace making. However, there is still one or two types of tatting done by hand.

The carpenter was absolutely amazing to watch. The coordination it must take to spin the rope with your foot while carving the wood. I was thoroughly fascinated – as was Mister Bull. Mister Bull also liked the rope climbing bear toy.

The tavern was not really a place we would normally frequent, but we did find a beautiful harpsichord hiding in the corner. It was not original to the park, but was donated by a nearby family who just wanted it gone! *GASP!* Can you imagine? The tavern owners would have lived upstairs, which are the other two pictures you see above. I never knew how beds could be made harder and softer – by tightening the ropes under the mattress – until this trip. I guess even Mommi’s can learn something new!!

I was super sad there was no potter on duty the day we visited. I would have loved seeing this old potter’s wheel in action. I fondly remember watching a favorite college professor throwing pots. So wish I had that kind of coordination.

The top three pictures (in the right photo above) are just of various plaques from around the park. The bottom three pictures are of the wood carver/bowl maker on site that day. He is working on a bowl in the middle picture, but the other two show some of the wooden spoons, rolling pins and other items he’s made. Beautiful handiwork!

The school house was one of the original buildings from this historical town. The yellow arrow in the middle picture is pointing to the secret door, which led down some stairs that went to the “common” area in the bottom picture. The “common” area would  have been between two buildings (as above) where the teacher could eat and dine with the family. The teacher lived in one half of the school house while the actual school room was on the other half.

The garden house above was a transplant to the park. However, as seen in the pictures below, it was also a home. This home once housed a family of 12!! The children would pile into the beds and squeeze together as tight as they could, to help stay warm. What luxury we live in today! The garden outside the house is one of two on the grounds. The herbs seen drying outside the house are from this garden.

The large fireplaces were very common in the larger homes. Not only did they heat the house, but they were used for some cooking as well. The period furniture is absolutely beautiful. The industrial spinning wheel in the top picture (2nd from the right), is one of only 3 in the country.

The recently hired a broom-maker for the park, but unfortunately he was gone the day we visited. The blacksmith, however, was there and working hard. He was very nice and careful to explain what he was doing. He was working on one of the tripod’s that holds pots over an open fire.

The Spring House is another original building to this site. This is where all the townspeople would come and draw water for their houses. My how far we’ve come to purified and bottled water.

These two blue buildings (I know you can’t see the second one very well, but it’s there – trust me!) are also original to the site. They are now the Apothecary Shop (left) and General Store (right) where you can buy souvenirs, period-style candy and books about the park.

The last original building on the site is the Mill House itself.

Inside the Mill House they had some of the old grindstones on display as well as a printing press. There were two other floors that you could tour in this building, but I opted to stay with the stroller so I have no pictures of them. The Mill is still an active, working mill. In fact, they still grind corn into cornmeal every hour for the tourists. It was quite fascinating to see it in action.

The meeting house is one of the newer buildings on site. It was donated to the park by a ministerial committee for use on Sunday mornings. They do conduct “church” services in it on Sunday mornings. Even though it was built in the 1980’s, they built it to look similar to churches and meeting houses from the 1800’s. Can you imagine sitting on those backless, wooden pews for hours? We certainly are spoiled, aren’t we?

The wagon house was another stop on the tour. This picture reminds me of my Dad. He would have loved this park and been so intrigued by all the history. Consequently, this is one of my favorite pictures from the trip.

This is the other garden on site. You can walk through this one, sit on the bench and just enjoy a little piece of tranquility.

Off to the side of one of the houses was a trail. Of course we had to follow it! It led to the above (and following) pictures. The little hike was a great way to see and explore a little bit of God’s creation. If you look closely, towards the top of the picture just under the tree branch, you can see the wooden water system still in place.

This is the beginning of the water system, which now has a pipe running through it. But this is exactly how the town would have moved water from this spring to the mill house. Below you can see another view of the water system as it heads into town and you can see the water system high atop the rock pillars as it makes it’s way down the hill to the mill house (below right).

At the very top of the wheel you can see where the water system meets the mill. They flip a switch inside during demonstrations that allow the water to come flowing through and turn the wheel outside. But, BEWARE…that water is COLD!!!

Here are some other pictures I took on our tour of the park. Enjoy!!! I warned you there were a LOT of pictures! I don’t know why, but I loved the tree in front of this house. The other two are my attempt at being artistic. I mean, how could you not like this picture? The walkway through the rock gate with the rustic house – just beautiful.

My favorite picture of the kids as they walked back on the path from our little jaunt upstream. Daddy took the opportunity to teach Mister Bull why moss only grows on one side of a tree and why it only grows on the north – because that’s where the sun never reaches. Needless to say, Mister Bull now thinks his Daddy is quite possibly the smartest Dad in the whole world!

Thanks for tagging along on our historic tour of southern Indiana!!