The World's Most Beautiful Places
Fall color along the hiking trail to Strahl Lake. Located in Brown County State Park outside of Nashville, Indiana. The park, which is heavily wooded, is the state’s largest protected natural area, comprising more than 15,000 acres. It was founded in 1929, and was comprised largely of former farm holdings that had been abandoned by settlers because of the area’s relatively poor soils.
An abandoned homestead in Brown County State Park near Nashville, Indiana. With poor, thin soils on hilly terrain, Brown County was one of the last places in Indiana to be settled. Farmers tried for years to make the area productive, but ultimately the vast majority began leaving the area during the Great Depression. At the same time a movement began to turn the area into a nature park. Today, Brown County, at more than 15,000 acres, is Indiana’s largest state park.
The Story Inn has a long history dating back to 1882. It lies at the center of the town of Story, Indiana, which was founded by farmers trying make a living from the marginal soils of the hilly area that is Brown County, Indiana. The town and the inn went through various phases of growth and decline, and the surrounding countryside saw much of its original farming population leave and the land they left behind turned into Indiana’s largest state park.