Location: About 10 miles northeast of New Albany (the Indiana side of Louisville) on SR 62.

Description: Charlestown is Indiana's newest state park, and facilities are still an ongoing project. The campground has been put in now, but no visitor center. It's located on grounds formerly part of the military-industrial complex, but apparently contains no unexploded ordnance (!). The place is large, though, and shows a great deal of potential if not overdeveloped. It is bordered by the Ohio River on the south, and the rather pretty Fourteen Mile Creek flows through the center. In 1997 there were only two marked trails; Trail 2 was very woodsy and a good workout as well; the ascent from Fourteen Mile Creek seems to go up forever. On a hill on the other side of the creek right where it enters the Ohio, a stone fort or watchtower was discovered in the early 1800's; no one knew who built it (it was not a Native American structure) and one of the stones had a date of 1187 carved on it. The state geologist of the time even visited it and confirmed its existence. Whether or not this has any connection with the legends of Welsh presence in Indiana (noted in the Visitor's Center at Falls of the Ohio State Park ) is not known or likely to be figured out; but it is interesting to speculate if you're not irretrievably wedded to the notion that our ancestors were too stupid to get across the ocean until Columbus came along. There has never been any archaeological exploration at the site.

Nearby Points of Interest: Falls of the Ohio State Park, Clifty Falls State Park

Cautions: Nothing much.

Ownership: Indiana DNR

 

Map