...I visited the NPS sites and “tried” to visit another! And a place I just realized was on my route!

Oh, by the way. Here’s the link to the preview post about this trip.

Santa Claus, IN

The settlement was originally known as Santa Fe (or Santa Fee). The U.S. Postal Service rejected "Santa Fe" because another town in Indiana already had the name. Townspeople gathered on Christmas Eve in 1854 to choose a new name; various legends suggest a child or a sudden gust of wind opening a door inspired the suggestion of "Santa Claus".

Now there are many Christmas stores and Christmas-themed locations around town. There’s a theme park named Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari Water Park.

The theme park is open from May to early November. Check this calendar if you plan to go.

Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial

This park is currently short-staffed, apparently more than many parks, due to the federal cutbacks. The lawn is in poor shape, the sidewalk is accumulating the black mold you sometimes see outside, and they only have staff at the farmstead occasionally.

The park ranger there is also due to retire, and she doesn’t want to leave because she’s been there for over 20 years and thinks they won’t replace her.

They do run the video about Lincoln’s years here from age 7 to age 21. At age 21, the family moved to Springfield, IL.

George Rogers Clark National Historic Park

He started the war as a Lt. Colonel and was tasked with a very secret plan to go to what was then the frontier in present-day Kentucky and Indiana. With a very small army, working in winter with heavy rains, marching in mud and freezing rivers, they overpowered the fort at Vincennes, IN. During the Revolutionary War, his place in history was lost until after the Civil War. He eventually received recognition with the memorial erected in the 1930s. The blog post will say more about this place when I get to it!

Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument

This place received designation as part of the NPS in 2024 as one of the last acts of the Biden administration. As a result, it’s currently in a construction zone in the middle of a hospital campus. (If you are wondering, it’s across the street from a children’s hospital.)

The National Park website says it’s still being developed.

New Philadelphia National Historic Site

The site marks the spot of the first town in America to be legally registered by a Black man. Free Frank McWorter, the legal registrar, purchased his own freedom, as he was in a unique position to earn money outside his slave duties. He first purchased his wife’s freedom and then his own. Later, his children also.

In 1835, he purchased an eighty-acre parcel of land for $100. He platted the land into 144 lots and sold them to freed black former slaves and to white settlers. When reaching it largest size, it’s estimated that 35% of the residents were Black.

By the end of World War II, when the railroad bypassed it, most residents eventually left. The land reverted to farming. In the late 1990s, interest grew about it’s history and several universities included it in studies of former integrated communities. It became part of the National Park Service in 2022, with eventual plans to develop a visitor and interpretive center.

Hannibal, Missouri – Hometown of Mark Twain

Mark Twain’s work, Tom Sawyer, is drawn from his own experiences growing up in Hannibal. The Mark Twain experience includes a visitor center, a tour of several homes from the time, a drug store from the time, and a gallery/museum several blocks away. It’s a really great visit, and Hannibal is on the Great River Road!

Again, that's a pilot wheel in the last picture because piloting on the Mississippi River was such an influence on his life. And that's the Mississippi in the background.

So, the day ends with snow. And it’s been “blizzarding” at home for me. It’s about 380 miles from here to get home. I’ll have a wrap-up when I do get home.

More tomorrow. (Or the next day.)

Thanks for following…

The Driveby Tourist “Team”

Note: These will be quick notes at the end of the day. I’ll send them “regularly.” Please excuse grammatical errors as I’m doing these on the fly!