Turkey Run State Park
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| Turkey Run | |
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| Designation | State Park |
| Location | Indiana USA |
| Nearest City | Marshall, Indiana |
| Coordinates | |
| Area | 2,382 acres |
| Date of Establishment | 1916 |
| Governing Body | Indiana DNR |
Turkey Run State Park is located in Parke County, Indiana, in the west-central part of the state on State Road 47 two miles east of U.S. 41. It was Indiana's second state park, with the first parcel of land being purchased in 1916 at the cost of $40,200 when the State Park system was first established on the Indiana state centennial.[1] It hosts the Turkey Run Inn, built in 1919. The origin of the name "Turkey Run" is unknown but the most accepted theory is that wild turkeys would congregate in the gorges (or "runs") for warmth where early settlers in the area would trap them in dead end gorges and hunt them with ease.
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[edit] History
The heart of Turkey Run was owned by the Lusk family until 1915. The State Park Commission, run by Richard Lieber, had acquired $20,000 for the purchase of the area, but the lumber company Hoosier Veneer had $30,000 for it. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway gave the commission enough money to buy the land from the lumber company for over $40,000.[2]
[edit] Locale
Turkey Run State Park is located close to Shades State Park. Both parks are located along Sugar Creek, and both feature the gorge system formed by the drainage of the creek as it cuts down through sandstone bedrock. Mansfield sandstone is the specific type seen at Turkey Run, named after Mansfield, Indiana. This makes the two parks all the more interesting, since travel to them crosses a flat glacial till plain, and suddenly the traveler enters the gorge system.
[edit] Trails
A system of trails offers hikers plenty of outing opportunities during the summer months when the drainage is relatively free of water, and the suspension footbridge across Sugar Creek, the main drainage for both parks, provides access to trails on the far side. Trail 3 is particularly noted for its ruggedness, including ladders and narrow but deep gorges. Floating down Sugar Creek through the park in either inner tubes or canoes is very popular in the summer months. Also, in the spring when heavy rains and snow melt flood the narrow gorges many more adventurous hikers will go "creek stomping" through the narrow gorges. However, the fast moving current, steep gorge walls, and unpredictable contours of the creek beds, make this activity dangerous if the water level is high.
[edit] Park Geology
The major features of the park are formed from erosion in Mansfield sandstone from the Mansfield formation. This formation was deposited during the Carboniferous period at the mouth of the ancient where sediments collected and compacted. This swampy environment formed many coal deposits which were mined in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The collapsed entrance to a coal mine is still a major feature of the park.
During the Pleistocene Epoch the Mansfield sandstone bedrock was carved into the current distinct formations by glacial meltwaters and their associated erosion. Turkey Run features many common features of glaciation, including glacial erratics, till, and scoured canyons from erosion by melting glacial waters.
[edit] Lusk Home and Mill Site
While the state park itself isn't on the National Register of Historic Places, two sites within it are. The first was the Lusk Home and Mill Site. Around this home was the initial area for Turkey Run
[edit] Lieber Log Cabin
| Lieber, Richard, Log Cabin | |
|---|---|
| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
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| Location: | Marshall, Indiana |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Architect: | Gay, Daniel; Lieber, Richard |
| Architectural style(s): | Other |
| Added to NRHP: | May 4, 2001 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 01000403[3] |
| Governing body: | State |
The second Turkey Run locale on the National Register is the Lieber Log Cabin. It was built in 1848 from the native tulip trees, the oldest of its kind in Indiana.[4] It is named in honor of Colonel Richard Lieber, the first director of the Indiana State Parks system and the man who instigated Indiana's creation of its park system. During a thunderstorm in 1918 he discovered the house. He liked it immediately, and convinced the owner to have it moved three miles so it could serve as the administration building for the state park. All but the chimney was salvageable. Fortunately, an elderly man familiar with the chimney's "cat and clay" style gave directions for making a new one, using stone from an old bridge. The supports were originally of butternut, but are now of sassafras. The cabin is now used as a museum honoring Lieber and the entire Indiana state park system.[5] Lieber died in 1944 and his ashes were buried within the park.
[edit] Gallery
 Covered Bridge at Turkey Run |
 Rock Formations along Turkey Run |
 Rocky Hollow, a gorge at Turkey Run |
[edit] See also
- Arch in the Town of Marshall
- Beeson Covered Bridge
- Parke County Covered Bridges
- List of Registered Historic Places in Indiana
- Parke County Covered Bridge Festival
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.in.gov/dnr/history/ Official (Indiana) DNR Historical Timeline
- ^ Indiana and Indianans: A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Indiana and the Century of Statehood By Jacob Piatt Dunn pg.51.
- ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
- ^ http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/properties/maps/turkey_run_info_side.pdf
- ^ My Indiana:101 Places to See, by Earl L. Conn (Indiana Historical Society Press, 2006). pg.124-5.
- Official Turkey Run State Park Site
- Turkey Run State Park by The Technological Edge, Inc.
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