A Day In Holiday Park, Indianapolis, Indiana

This week's travel post is part two of a series of our visit to see our grandchildren in Carmel, Indiana.  If you want to start at the beginning, go HERE. Other posts in chronological order are HERE!

While visiting my children and grandchildren in Indiana this past summer, we went to lots of parks.  One of the parks we visited was Holiday Park in Indianapolis.  This is such a beautiful, unique 94 acre park with a lush forest and a river that it's hard to believe it is located in a big city.

The most unique attraction of the park is "The Ruins".  In the 1950's, the St. Paul Building in New York City was torn down.  The building had three massive sculptures called "The Races of Man".  The owner held a competition among U.S. cities to submit plans for their display and preservation.  Indiana won the competition and was awarded "The Ruins".  

Here you can read more about the architect of the "The Ruins" and the history of the building.

In 2016 a children's water table, shimmer fountain, trees, and new gardens were added.  My grandchildren loved getting their feet wet in the water table while the older "kids" rested on the benches in the background.

Here are the three sculptures "The Races of Man".  To get a perspective of their size, my three year old granddaughter is walking in the children's water table in front.

I really thought this was a brilliant idea to preserve our architectural history.  I understand why old buildings may need to be torn down, but it always makes me so sad because we lose our history.  Keeping a piece of an old building alive in such a beautiful and creative way is amazing!

On the other side of "The Races of Man" is the shimmer fountain and gardens.

The flower beds surrounding the ruins are gorgeous.  There are also prairie and wildflower gardens on the grounds and over 1200 trees.

There are beautiful sculptures and other pieces of ancient architectural elements in the park too.

There is the"Rock Garden" near "The Ruins".  They are large tablets of stone with engravings on them.

After viewing the gardens and "The Ruins" we decided to go into the forest for a hike.  There are 3.5 miles of trails in the park.  They are densely wooded with natural springs and wetlands.  Hikers can also get a great view of the White River on the trails.

Our youngest grandchild wasn't walking yet when we visited Holiday Park, but the trails were good enough for a jogging stroller.  My husband did have to carry the stroller up the stairs at the end of our hike as all the trails lead down into a ravine.

The trail has some boardwalk in the wetter areas.

When we arrived at the base of the White River I could not believe I was in the middle of a city.  I felt I was back home in Wisconsin.  It was so quiet and peaceful.

The next two pictures show some of the stairs we had to encounter with a stroller .  It's not too bad if there are plenty around to give you a hand lifting.

After our hike we had a picnic lunch and then let the kids play on the playground.  I didn't get any pictures of the playground, but it is quite large and extensive.  The park also has a Nature Center, but it was closed when we were there due to Covid.  

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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