Spring Mill State Park is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

in the state of

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. The park is located south of Bloomington, about east of the city of Mitchell on Indiana State Road 60. Established in 1927, it contains a settler's village, the

Gus Grissom Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom (April 3, 1926 – January 27, 1967) was an American engineer and pilot in the United States Air Force, as well as one of the original Mercury Seven selected by the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration fo ...

Memorial (with the accompanying

Gemini 3 Gemini 3 was the first crewed mission in NASA's Project Gemini and was the first time two American astronauts flew together into space. On March 23, 1965, astronauts Gus Grissom and John Young flew three low Earth orbits in their spacecraft, ...

space capsule), a nature center, and campgrounds. The park is located on the Mitchell

Karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

Plain, which allowed the park's

caves Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance underground (such as rock ...

and

sinkholes A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are also known as shakeholes, and to openings where surface water ...

to form in the limestone. The caves include Bronson Cave, Twin Caves, Shawnee Cave (also known as Donaldson Cave), Hamer Cave, and others. A boat tour of Twin Caves is run by the

Indiana Department of Natural Resources The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the agency of the U.S. state of Indiana. There are many divisions within the DNR and each has a specific role. The DNR is not only responsible for maintaining resource areas but also manages ...

, which travels about into the cave. A portion of the park is virgin timber, protected in the Donaldson Woods Nature Preserve. The Mitchell Karst Plain Nature Preserve is notable for its large number of sinkholes, more than 1000 per square mile. Many of the park's features were constructed by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

in the 1930s, including the Spring Mill Inn, Spring Mill Lake, and most of the trails. The park attracts about 675,000 visitors annually. The park is one of 14 Indiana State Parks that were in the path of totality for the 2024 solar eclipse, with the park experiencing 3 minutes and 21 seconds of totality.

Pioneer village

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a person who is among the first at something that is new to a community. A pioneer as a settler is among the first settling at a place that is new to the settler community. A historic example are American pioneers, perso ...

village can also be found in a valley in the park, featuring a historic

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

and 19 other structures. A stream runs through the village, which is fed by a spring in Hamer Cave and powers the watermill. Heritage interpreters demonstrate crafts and skills from the 1860s. The Hamer Cemetery is located south of the village. This area was purchased from a cement company for a single dollar in 1923. Constantly-flowing water allowed watermills to be erected anywhere. Restoration of the village was spearheaded by

Richard Lieber Richard Lieber (September 5, 1869 – April 15, 1944) was a German-American businessman who became the father of the Indiana state parks system. At his death, he could be considered the most powerful spokesman in the United States for the ...

and E. Y. Guernsey (employed by Indiana's Department of Conservation) in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Gus Grissom Memorial

Also of interest is a memorial to Mitchell, Indiana-native,

, one of the original

Mercury Seven The Mercury Seven were the group of seven astronauts selected to fly spacecraft for Project Mercury. They are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1. Their names were publicly announced by NASA on April 9, 1959: Scott ...

astronauts, who died in the

Apollo 1 Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was planned to be the first crewed mission of the Apollo program, the American undertaking to land the first man on the Moon. It was planned to launch on February 21, 1967, as the first low Earth orbital ...

accident. The memorial features the spacecraft from Grissom's

space flight, nicknamed by Grissom the ''

Molly Brown Margaret Brown (née Tobin; July 18, 1867 – October 26, 1932), posthumously known as the "Unsinkable Molly Brown", was an American socialite and philanthropist. She was a survivor of the RMS ''Titanic'', which sank in 1912, and she unsuccess ...

'' (after the play '' The Unsinkable Molly Brown''), as well as a short video about the life of Grissom, and artifacts such as a spacesuit, helmet, and many personal effects.

Other

A nature center is open from spring through fall and features live

snakes Snakes are elongated Limbless vertebrate, limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales much like other members of ...

, a bird-watching window, natural history displays, and a children's area. During the winter, a small "nature nook" is available instead the Spring Mill Inn. The campground features 188 Class A campsites with 30 amp electric service, a fire ring, and a picnic table for each site. Thirty-five primitive campsites and youth camping are also available. Four "comfort stations" are located in the campground, which includes modern plumbing, restrooms, and showers. A camp store is accessible from both inside and outside the campground.

In popular culture

The park was the subject of a ''

Rescue 911 ''Rescue 911'' is an informational docudrama television series that premiered on CBS on April 18, 1989, and ended on August 27, 1996. The series was hosted by William Shatner and featured reenactments (and occasionally real footage) of emergenc ...

'' segment that aired on October 17, 1989, about a man that became trapped and was later rescued in Donaldson Cave.

Gallery

Image:Spring Mill Inn.jpg, Spring Mill Inn Image:Spring Mill Gristmill.jpg, Water Mill at Spring Mill State Park Image:CabinSpringMill.jpg, Small village house overlooking north village garden in summer 2004 Image:Twincave.jpg, Twin Caves boat tour Image:AmishSpringMill.jpg, Amish family members walking through Spring Mill village Image:LeatherShopSpringMill.jpg, Village leather shop Image:Gemini3 Capsule.jpg, Gus Grissom and John Young's

capsule, nicknamed ''Molly Brown''

References

Indiana Department of Natural Resource's official Web page
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External links

Spring Mill State Park collection
Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library {{Authority control Canyons and gorges of Indiana Civilian Conservation Corps in Indiana Grinding mills in Indiana State parks of Indiana Living museums in Indiana Mill museums in Indiana Museums in Lawrence County, Indiana Protected areas of Lawrence County, Indiana Nature centers in Indiana Bodies of water of Lawrence County, Indiana