Americana is alive and well and living in Parke County, Indiana. A drive there takes you back about a hundred years. You arrive in Rockville, Parke County's seat, and you're back in the same sort of setting Meredith Willson used in his wonderful musical "The Music Man." Though there aren't 76 trombones playing, all the other features of small town America are present.

Parke County, Indiana is home to 32 covered bridges, many more than Iowa's well-known Madison County. (Photo by Lois A. Lowe)
Besides portraying the best in Americana, Parke County hosts a series of special events throughout the year. The principal fest is in the springtime when the area celebrates tapping the hundreds of sugar maple trees and distilling the sap into delicious syrup. In addition, driving to maple syrup camps takes visitors over Parke County's 32 covered bridges. They represent the largest collection in America‹ many more than in Iowa's well-known Madison County. This year's Maple Syrup Festival will take place during the two weekends that the sap will be running‹on Feb. 26-27 and on Mar. 4-5.

As spring approaches, the townspeople gather to organize the annual Festival around the sweet syrup. At the Parke County Fairgrounds, they use the local 4-H barn to feature a pancake and sausage breakfast. It's a community happening with the bank president flipping flapjacks on the griddle and the local high school principal making sure the sausages are done to perfection.

By making advance reservations through Parke County, by phone or email, you'll be able to tour some of the sugar camps scattered throughout the area. There is a charge for the tour. Leaving the 4-H building, visitors with reservations hop aboard school buses for a ride through the county and learn about the process that's used in evaporating the 60 gallons of "sweet water" used to make a gallon of the prized pure syrup. It's done by boiling the sap in open evaporating vats that are heated by wood fires. Driving up to a camp, there's a plume of hickory scented smoke mingled with steam billowing above the sugar shack. The steam comes from water being boiled away and slowly passed through successive tanks until it's tested to find that it's ready to filter and bottle. Some of that same syrup is distributed to the crowds at the pancake extravaganza.

On your tour of the County, you might wind up at the farm owned by 89-year-old, 6 foot, 5 inch tall Archie Foxworthy. Archie explained the syrup making process. He farms a total of 280 acres of which only 80 are "tillable." The other 200 are heavily timbered and there are several hundred sugar maple trees growing on them. Archie, together with his son and grandson, place 2,500 taps into the trees and hang three-gallon buckets from them. It takes at least 24 hours to fill the buckets. The sap is then collected and brought to the evaporating station. In a good year, Archie's trees provide him with 300 gallons of syrup. Archie has the syrup for sale in the antique schoolhouse he uses for a store.

Later, in spring, there is a Covered Bridge bike tour for the more athletic among us. Remembering the movie "Breaking Away," the bike trails traverse some of the same countryside you might remember from the movie.

Also located in the far reaches of Parke County are mills ‹ the old fashioned kind that actually used water power to grind wheat and corn.

Flour being made at one of these mills ‹ the one at Bridgeton ‹ was used in the breakfast pancakes. The Bridgeton Mill is now owned and operated by Mike Roe and his family. They bought the derelict facility and have been reconstructing it since 1995. It's the oldest continuously operating mill west of the Allegheny Mountains. Originally built in 1823, it's survived a couple of explosions, floods and rebuildings. The adjacent covered bridge that gives the town its name dates from 1868.

Covered bridges, maple syrup, and down home charm aren't the only things in Parke County. Other events scheduled throughout the spring, summer and fall are designed to attract visitors. On Apr. 23-24, there'll be a Mountain Man Rendezvous in Bridgeton, an event that commemorates the times when men hiked down from their mountain cabins to buy supplies and trade for needed goods for their survival. The costumed Mountain Men will be on hand to demonstrate pre-1840 life styles and to sing the songs and tell the stories that have made them a part of American folklore.

That same April weekend will celebrate a Mushroom Festival in Mansfield. Daily competition in finding the largest wild mushroom, a mushroom auction and home cooked food will mark the event. One of the county's most important happenings takes place on June 11 and 12. It's the largest Civil War reenactment in Indiana and one of the biggest in the country. More than 3,000 people participate in authentic uniforms and costumes. There are parades, a medical camp, infantry drills, cavalry and artillery demonstrations, merchant camps and pioneer foods. Mock battles are held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. On Saturday night, there's a ball and competition for the best costumes, both civilian and military. Ball gowns are much in evidence. Scarlet O'Hara never had it so good.

A major attraction in Parke County is Billie Creek Village where the Civil War Days reenactment is held. This is a living history museum that receives modest grants from the State, but is primarily self supporting through admission fees and through the operation of a sparkling 31 unit Inn adjacent to the Village. The Inn is unique. Complementary breakfast is served and innkeepers are dressed in period costumes. Regular evening player piano concerts are held in the breakfast room that's more home-like than you'll usually find in most commercial establishments.

The Village consists of more than 30 structures, all of which were moved from other parts of the county beginning in 1968. As buildings were rehabilitated, craft people were brought in to flesh out the stores. There's a broom maker, a potter, a craft shop, a fudge shop and a general store. The village includes a log cabin, a bank, schoolhouse and a group of farm buildings housing some livestock. There's a house once owned by an early Governor of Indiana. The Village's three covered bridges and two working churches are often used for local weddings and Sunday church services during many special events.

There's also a Covered Bridge Festival in fall between Oct. 14 and Oct. 23. Marked trails along back country roads permit drivers to view the changing colors of the forested area and drive (cautiously) across the bridges, If you have a camera handy and the weatherman cooperates, there's an opportunity to take pictures for your Christmas cards in colorful woodlands with turning leaves and the bridges as a background. In Rockville, the red brick county jail, dating from 1879, located on the southeast corner of the town square is serving as a visitors' center.

Tours of the antique jail and a craft center for locally made handicrafts are now part of the Parke County experience.

Rockville is only 10 miles south of one of Indiana's best known State Parks, Turkey Run. The park boasts 14 miles of hiking trails and is a scenic wonderland of virgin wood, sandstone gorges and the stream bed carved by Sugar Creek.

Turkey Run Inn serves a full range of meals and contains 82 rooms ‹ some in cabins ‹ as well as facilities for conventions. The venerable Inn has both an indoor and outdoor pool, and there's horseback riding available. You'll certainly enjoy sitting by a fireplace in the lodge's great room that's comfortably furnished and equipped with games, a library and a large screen TV. In addition, there's a campground section in the Park as well as a Nature Center.

Besides the Turkey Run Inn dining room, there are several restaurants in town. You might want to stop at Weber's Family Restaurant or at Baker's Table which features casual fine dining. Another spot for a good sandwich is at the 36 Saloon named for the highway at its front door.

The ambiance of Parke County is one that shows off the best of rural America. It's a great place to show kids what happened before computers and jet planes. And as adults, you might just want to sit back and enjoy what is truly a kinder, gentler America - something that would have made Norman Rockwell bring his easel, paints and canvass to capture a scene from life the way it once was.

If You Go

For more information or a full schedule of the events planned for the year, contact the office manager of the Parke County, Incorporated, Cathy Harkrider. Her e-mail address is PCI@TICZ.COM and there's a website at www.coveredbridges.com. Cathy's office phone is 765- 569 5226.

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