A huge thanks to my friend and co-op cohort, Heidi Rider, for contributing her gigantic list of Indiana field trips; she spent hours and hours compiling the trips around our great state. Another thanks to the Interest Led Homeschooling Facebook group as well as the IAHE Facebook group for sharing more great field trip ideas. Feel free to thank these people in the comments below!
Historic Sites, Landmarks, and Monuments
9/11 Memorial (Indianapolis)
Established in 2010 to honor those killed in 9/11 attack, the memorial consists of two 11,000-pound beams from the Twin Towers. Behind the beams stand a pair of six-foot tall black granite walls inscribed with remembrances of the events in New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Adam’s Mill (Cutler)
A grist mill built in 1845 by John Adams. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and includes a museum of early rural America.
Angel Mounds State Historic Site (Evansville)
Angel Mounds State Historic Site is one of the best-preserved, pre-contact Native American sites in North America.
Barker Mansion (Michigan City)
A national landmark, the Barker Mansion is the center of research and learning on the life and times of 19th Century industrialist, entrepreneur and philanthropist, John H Barker who, along with his father, helped shape the westward growth of America
Beck’s Mill (Salem)
Benton House (Indianapolis)
Built in 1873, the home housed Allen R. Benton, a former president of Butler University in Irvington; you can tour the home and the gardens.
Bonneyville Mill (Bristol)
Established in the mid-1830's, Bonneyville Mill has produced quality, stone ground flour for over 150 years. Each year the mill's historical interpreters lead over 30,000 visitors through the "daily grind" while the massive grist stones vibrate under their feet.
Cass County Carousel (Logansport)
The Logansport Cass County Dentzel Carousel is a one-hundred-plus-year-old hand-carved masterpiece.
City Market Catacombs Tour (Indianapolis)
Indianapolis City Market and Indiana Landmarks stage tours of an unusual site usually hidden from public view. Our guided tour of the Catacombs shows you a Roman-looking expanse of brick arches beneath the outdoor Whistler Plaza of City Market.
Colonel William Jones State Historic Site (Gentryville)
Corydon Capitol State Historic Sites (Corydon)
The Corydon Historic District of Corydon, Indiana, United States, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also known as Indiana's First State Capital. Historic sites include: The Old Capitol Building, Posey House, Governor's Headquarters, Grand Masonic Lodge, Leora Brown School, and more.
Dr. Ford Home (Wabash)
The Dr. James Ford Historic Home, a restored 19th Century physician’s home and surgery invites you to experience the daily lives, personalities, and activities of the Dr. James Ford family in the years before, during and just after the Civil War.
Fall Creek Massacre Monument (Pendleton)
Fort Ouiatenon (West Lafayette)
Four Freedoms Monument (Evansville)
Evansville's most recognizable landmark, the Four Freedoms Monument, is a numerical testament to the United States' most treasured freedoms.
Gene Stratton Porter Cabin at Wildflower Woods (Rome City)
Gene Stratton-Porter is Indiana's most widely read female author. Nearly 100 years ago, her best-selling novels and nature studies were translated into multiple languages and later transformed into movies. Gene's Cabin at Wildflower Woods was her beloved home for several years.
George Rogers Clark National Historic Park & Memorial (Vincennes)
George Rogers Clark National Historical Park offers lessons about 18th century frontier life as experienced by pioneers along the western fringe of the American Revolution.
Lake Manito (Rochester)
Created by Potowatomi Indians in 1767.
Hillforest Mansion (Aurora)
Hillforest, overlooking the Ohio River, was the home of industrialist and financier Thomas Gaff and his family between 1855 and 1891. Shipping and riverboats were significant elements of the Gaff business and are reflected in the architecture of the home.
Forks of the Wabash Historic Park (Huntington)
Located on the Wabash River, at the southern end of the Great Portage, Historic Forks of the Wabash has witnessed much of Indiana’s rich heritage. Here you’ll tour the home of a Miami Indian chief, visit an authentic recreation of a Miami wigwam, and stop for a visit at the log home of the Nuck family. You’ll walk the grounds where treaties were signed between the Miami and the U.S. Government and see remnants of the Wabash and Erie Canal. Your students will visit our one-room school and discover first-hand the rich history of Indiana’s past.
Historic Madison (Madison)
Find out more about programs here.
Historic Mansfield Roller Mill (Mansfield)
Historic Metamora (Metamora)
Metamora is Indiana's only functioning canal town. At historic Metamora you'll escape to the past and experience what it was like in the 1800's. Wednesday through Sunday you can visit the gristmill and pick up a bag of their freshly stone-ground cornmeal or flour. Take a ride in the canal boat through the only existing wooden aqueduct in the United States. On the weekends you can Board the train for a short trip on the Whitewater Railroad.
Historic New Harmony (New Harmony)
Tour New Harmony–the site of two early American utopian communities.
Huddleston Farmhouse (Cambridge City)
Weary travelers making the difficult trek westward on the National Road in the early 1800s stopped at the Huddleston family’s farm in Cambridge City for meals, provisions, shelter, and to feed and rest their horses.
James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home (Indianapolis)
Learn more about the famous Hoosier poet by touring his adult home.
James Whitcomb Riley Boyhood Home and Museum (Greenfield)
Levi Coffin House (Fountain City)
As conductors for the Underground Railroad, Levi Coffin and his wife, Catharine, helped over 2,000 freedom seekers to safety while living in Newport (now Fountain City) Indiana.
Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial (Lincoln City)
Explore Lincoln's boyhood and learn about the boy, who would one day, became the leader of our nation. Children can complete some activities for the Jr. Ranger program at this national park.
Lincoln Pioneer Village (Rockport)
Madonna of the Trail (Richmond)
In commemoration of pioneer mothers of the covered wagon days, this statue is the ninth link in the Great National Shrine erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution along the National Road Trail.
Medal of Honor Memorial (Indianapolis)
Miami Indian Cemetery (Grant County)
Tlargest Indian cemetery in Indiana. Few graves are marked. The Indians buried here are largely descendants of Chief Metocinya and include Meshingomesia and his family
Oliver Mansion and Gardens (South Bend)
The elegant 38-room Oliver Mansion, once home to the J.D. Oliver family, is one of three historic houses owned by The History Museum. The Worker’s Home, decorated to reflect how a Polish working-class family might have lived in the 1930s, is another of the museum’s historic houses.
Pigeon Roost Massacre State Historic Site (Henryville and Scottsburg) *landmark
President Benjamin Harrison Home (Indianapolis)
Exhbits and tours on the 23rd president's home.
Seiberling Mansion (Kokomo)
Simmon’s School (Hope)
A step through the door of Simmons School will take you back in time one hundred years to a simpler life
Soliders and Sailors Monument (Indianapolis)
The monument is located on Monument Circle in the center of downtown and has come to symbolize the city of Indianapolis and the state of Indiana. The Col. Eli Lilly Civil War Museum is housed in the lower level. Observation level is 330 steps up or take the elevator to step 290.
Squire Boone Caverns & Village (Mauckport)
Squire Boone and his brother, Daniel, discovered these caverns in 1790. Squire later escaped a band of hostile Indians by hiding in the caverns. Upon his death in 1815, Squire Boone was laid to rest within his beloved cave, as he had requested
State House (Indianapolis)
Each year the State House hosts a "Homeschool Day at the Capitol."
T.C. Steele State Historic Site (Nashville)
T.C. Steele State Historic Site is a favorite of both school groups and homeschoolers learning about Indiana history, early Hoosier art and the natural world.
Tippecanoe Battlefield Park (Lafayette)
Explore the site of The Battle of Tippecanoe. Explore the grounds where the conflict occurred. Visit vivid museum displays and discover the history of a time when two Shawnee brothers, Tecumseh and The Prophet, had a dream of uniting many tribes into an organized defense against the white settlers. Walk the battle ground where Native Americans and settlers clashed and a conflict of cultures was resolved.
Underground Railroad Marker (Pennville)
USS Indianapolis Memorial
This National Memorial is the climax of a 50 year dream by the crew members who survived the sinking of the cruiser USS Indianapolis in 1945.
USS LST Ship Memorial (Evansville)
The USS LST 325 has been in operation since 1943. This ship served during the North African operations, the Invasion of Sicily, the Invasion of Salerno, Italy. The USS LST 325 also participated in the landings at Omaha Beach, Normandy France for D-Day June 6th, 1944 and made the landing on June 7th. On December 28th, 1944, the LST 325 rescued 700 men from the torpedoed troop transport ship the Empire Javelin, earning Comdr. Mosier a Bronze Star.
Fully operational ship and all tours are guided.
Veteran's Memorial Plaza (Indianapolis)
Veteran's Memorial Plaza, once known as Obelisk Square, was completed in 1930. Centrally located in the Plaza are the Obelisk and Fountain that honor all Indiana veterans.
Vietnam and Korean War Memorials (Indianapolis)
A feature of the American Legion Mall, the half-cylinder Korean and Vietnam memorials were dedicated in 1996.
William Henry Harrison’s Grouseland Mansion (Vincennes)
Grouseland is the elegant Georgian/Federal home completed in 1804, which served as the home of William Henry Harrison and his family when he was Governor of the Indiana Territory (1800-1812).
Wolcott House (Wolcott)
Come and take a look at the historic home of Anson Wolcott, the founder of Wolcott, Indiana. The house has been standing for over 140 years. It still has the same beauty as it did when it was completed in the late 1800's.
World War I Memorial and Museum (Indianapolis)
This memorial honors the Indiana men killed in World War I. The Military Museum inside also lists all of the Hoosiers killed or missing in action through the Vietnam War.
World War II Memorial
Designed with the intent to be similar to the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials, this monument is on the east side of the American Legion Mall.
Find a complete list of historic markers here.
Looking for more Indiana Field Trip ideas?
Check out The Ultimate List of Indiana Field Trips
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