Wednesday, February 3, 2021

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

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

22 comments:

  1. What a beautiful park! I love the ruins and that hiking trail really does not look like it is anywhere near a city.

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    1. I know! I couldn't believe I was in the city of Indianapolis!

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  2. What a great idea to preserve some history in this way. They did an amazing job and it looks like a great park to visit! Would make a nice weekend trip for us someday!

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    1. Isn't it creative? I can see why he won the competition.

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  3. This is such a fabulous way to keep part of history alive. I can't believe they don't do this with all historic buildings that need to be torn down. Did you know that the London Bridge is in a city in AZ?? We have yet to go but it's on our list.
    XOOX
    jodie
    www.jtouchofstyle.com

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    1. It is a great idea, and no, I had no idea that the London Bridge is in AZ. I would love to see that.

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  4. It's a shame there was so many stairs making it not very stroller friendly but it looks like a nice time otherwise! How fun they could move the building parts to the park to preserve them too, interesting thing to do when knocking a building down!

    Hope that you are having a good week :)

    Away From Blue

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    1. Oh, we managed just fine with the stroller but I thought it'd mention it in case anyone else takes the hike. And yes, I love the idea of preserving pieces of old buildings this way.

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  5. Looks like a great place to visit! Thanks for sharing your adventure!

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  6. A fabulous adventure!

    ❤️carmen

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    1. It was a fun adventure for sure. Thanks for stopping by,

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  7. Suh a fabulous place! How wonderful that the kids can play there and have so much fun :)

    Thank you for being a part of 'My Corner of the World' this week!

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  8. That is such a cool park. Wow, I would love to visit there.

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    1. It sure is. I hope you can get there some day.

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  9. Beautiful park . The idea of preserving the ruins of history is commendable. It would be my pleasure if you share you post on my link up party Garden Affair where you can share pertaining to gardening, nature and wildlife http://jaipurgardening.blogspot.com/2021/02/garden-affair-visiting-nursery-in-spring.html

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  10. What a beautiful park! The Ruins are cool and such a great way to preserve the history. It looks you you and your family had a fun day!

    Jill - Doused in Pink

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    1. It is such a great idea, isn't it? I'd like to see more of this everywhere!

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