As one who has deep family roots in Indiana, but hasn’t really lived there until a couple of years ago, Madison is everything an outsider might expect to find in small town America. But Madison is closer to a rarity, than the rule these days. Sadly, in my travels through Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, I see a lot of the history of small town America disappearing rapidly, whether its an old barn collapsing in a farm field, or a once beautiful mansion left to rot on a forgotten side street. Fortunately, Madison has managed to protect and embrace its history, as well as the natural beauty that surrounds it. This offers visitors a lot to see and explore in Jefferson County. Being relatively close to where I live, I have been drawn back numerous times, and there is still plenty left to see.
Madison Historic District
With more than 130 blocks of historic buildings, Madison boasts one of the largest historic districts of any city in the United States. Buildings within its historic downtown cover every era of its history, from its founding in 1809, through 1939. Its architecture includes shotgun houses, Federal style and Greek Revival mansions, and various industrial buildings and commercial storefronts along Main Street.
What impressed me most, was just how large the historic district really is. In many small towns you drive through, you are lucky to see anything beyond the main street through town. But in Madison, you can go 4-5 streets on either side easily and find beautifully kept buildings. And for those who are really into history, you can spend several hours, or even longer walking to all the different sections of it.
Clifty Falls State Park
Clifty Falls State Park is a 570 acre nature park that resides on the Northwest side of Madison Indiana. Created in 1920 from land donated by the people of Madison, the park is a gem, and I say that as someone who has closest to many of America’s great national parks. I have visited the park on several different occasions, from spring through fall. In part, as photographer, this was to get my bearings, particularly with how the waterfalls in the park behave at different times of year. I more use to falls that fairly predictable throughout the year, regardless of the rail fall. Of course it helps that most of the falls I have encountered are in mountains where they are fed continuously from higher elevation run off, which is relative gradual. Where as in Indiana, most of what seems to feed rivers, and indeed falls here is storm run off, and when it storms the falls are bursting at the seams, and when its not raining for extended stretches during the summer, water is nowhere to be seen. So I have spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out the right time to come to the park, among a variety of other considerations, including when other aspects of the park at their best, like leaf out in spring, and the best weekends to come for fall color. Through in the mix, a near historic summer drought in 2019, and Covid in 2020, visiting the park and how it changes with the seasons has been an interesting experience.
I should note that the reasons to come to Clifty, are not just the waterfalls, because frankly they aren’t always predictable. Fortunately there is nature in general to enjoy, wildflowers that change over the course of the spring and summer, wildlife, a historic train tunnel (filled in the winter with bats), and numerous trails that run along the tops and bottoms of several gorges that run from north to south.
Railroads and more
Historically, Madison has served as both a crossroads and a jumping off point from other parts of the Ohio River. Its from the latter where my relatives first entered Indiana prior to the Civil War. And its history as a river town and a railroad town are evident on the landscape. This is particularly true of the railroad. As noted previously in the section on Clifty, numerous pathways were considered to bring the railroad through Madison, including an abandoned attempt using tunnels within the park, and another pathway in a gorge just east of the park. This second pathway, which has been called as the steepest grade of wheeled railroad in the United States, is no longer a functioning line, but remains a track open to the public that still has sections of track along it. What I found remarkable about this hike, was not only the beauty of the area, but just how quickly an unmaintained track, particularly one with a steep grade, will return to nature if its not maintained. Whether its vegetative overgrowth, or deeply eroded sections of track, both are completely understandable in a climate that gets more than 40 inches of rain a year.
For more information google the Madison Rail Trail, and the Heritage Trail (they share the same trail head parking lot.)
So if you find yourself in the southwest part of Indiana, and want to get outdoors to explore nature or some of the history of the state, consider a drive to Madison and Clifty Falls State Park.