Did you know the father of Kentucky Fried Chicken was born in SoIN? Born and raised on his family farm in Henryville, Indiana, entrepreneur Harland Sanders entered the restaurant business in the 1930s, serving food at his Corbin, Kentucky service station. By 1952, Sanders developed his patented method of cooking chicken and franchised his “Kentucky Fried Chicken” recipe.

 In the 1950s, he traveled the nation convincing restaurants to sell his product. Sanders adopted his signature look in the 1950s after being commissioned a Kentucky Colonel. As interest in his product expanded, he struggled to maintain the fast-growing business and sold it in 1964. Sanders’ relationship with KFC became strained over time, but he worked as a brand ambassador into his eighties and remained the face of the company even after his death in 1980.

American Bison, migrating in great herds, created a cluster of paths along the natural topography between Illinois prairies and salt licks in Kentucky. Known as the Buffalo Trace, these routes were later used by Native Americans, early settlers, and the military, becoming one of the region’s earliest travel corridors. Over time, portions of the trace were developed into early roads and eventually became part of today’s State Road 150.

While the original paths have disappeared, Buffalo Art Park in New Albany marks this historic route with two striking limestone bison sculptures near 50 Daisy Summit. The larger-than-life pieces were created by longtime friends and local artists David Ruckman and Pat Kelley, who hand-carved the bison from limestone to reflect the strength and movement of the animals that once shaped the land. The sculptures were installed as part of the Summit Springs development. They serve as both a tribute to the area’s natural history and a symbol of the enduring friendship and collaboration between the artists.

We can do it! The Rosie the Riveter statue calls attention to Clarksville’s can-do spirit while honoring Rose Will Monroe, one of four “official” Rosie the Riveters during World War II. Monroe was a single mother who worked as a riveter in a Michigan aircraft factory.

After the war, Monroe settled in Clarksville where she remarried, gained an aircraft pilot’s license and ran her own construction company while raising her children. Make sure you snap a selfie with Rosie on your next excursion on the Ohio River Greenway or while you picnic and play at Ashland Park.

Big Four Station Park in downtown Jeffersonville provides access to the Big Four Bridge, a 1-mile pedestrian and cyclist bridge spanning the Ohio River and connecting Jeffersonville, Indiana to Louisville, Kentucky. Named after its former Big Four Railroad days (tracks connecting Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Chicago), the bridge offers spectacular views and averages more than 1.5 million visits per year.

The park is home to Abbey Road on the River, which is the world's largest Beatles-inspired music festival, the Jeffersonville Farmers Market, and other local events. The obelisks at the base of Big Four Bridge symbolize the historic flood levels of 1937. The park has signs throughout, featuring historical images focusing on topics like the 1937 flood, the U.S. Quartermaster Depot, construction of the Second Street Bridge, and more. 

During the 1920s, Rose Island was a lively resort that Louisville and Southern Indiana residents flocked to for an escape from the city.  Its extensive amenities included a small zoo, Ferris wheel, shooting gallery, swimming pool, cafeteria, and more.

Unfortunately, the 1937 Ohio River flood destroyed the park beyond repair, but some of the park’s remains can still be seen along a 1-mile hiking loop inside Charlestown State Park. The landmarks give you a glimpse of the nostalgic history of the park, and much of the path parallels the Ohio River. Stop by the park's nature center for a video covering the history of Rose Island.

Those needing ADA assistance can call the park office to arrange transportation to the Rose Island Loop Trail.

Experience sweet history with a stop inside Schimpff's Confectionery. Founded in 1891, this shop has been making delicious candies for over 130 years. Passing through five generations of the Schimpff's family, this beloved candy store has survived many tests throughout the years, including the 1937 flood, the marks of which are noted by red bricks at the shop's 2nd story windows. Grandmother Schimpff had to be evacuated via row boat!

Enjoy lunch at the diner, indulge in a soda fountain treat, spectate a candy demonstration, tour the mini candy museum, and more. Peruse treats, as well as pictures and autographs on the shop's walls featuring famous  visitors.

The Howard Steamboat Museum is housed in the 1890s Richardsonian Romanesque mansion of Edmonds J. Howard, second-generation owner of the renowned Howard Shipyard. Built by shipyard workers, the 22-room home showcases Victorian-era life, featuring original furnishings from the 1893 Columbian Exposition, early indoor plumbing, and intricate woodwork using 15 types of lumber. Steamboat details are subtly incorporated throughout the house, reflecting the Howard legacy.

The second floor serves as a comprehensive museum of the American river steamboat, highlighting the Howard Shipyard and its vessels, from early crude crafts to modern commercial boats, illustrating how steamboats shaped commerce, settlement, and culture in the U.S. The museum offers partially guided and self-guided tours, group visits, and a unique rental venue in the Carriage House, making it a historic gem in Southern Indiana.

The Jeffersonville Quartermaster Depot was built during the Civil War and opened in 1874. The structure has played a key role in American military history by supplying textiles to U.S. troops across five wars, including the Spanish-American, Mexican-American, World Wars I and II, and the Korean War. At its peak, it was the largest shirt factory in America, producing over 700,000 shirts during World War I.

Designed by Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs and Frederick Law Olmsted, the depot sat on four acres donated by the city and was funded by Congress. After retiring as a military warehouse post-Korean War, the facility was repurposed as "The Quadrangle," a low-rent shopping center, but fell into decay and suffered a major fire in 1993. The city later renovated it, preserving historic elements like an octagonal building originally used as a segregated restroom. The building now houses Big Ben’s D&M Restaurant, which is also the Indiana African American Heritage Trail welcome center. Posters on the walls of the restaurant highlight African American history, local heritage, and community entrepreneurship. Pull up a seat for delicious smoked BBQ and stories from the owners.

This three-story 25,000-square-foot Victorian era mansion was built shortly after the Civil War by William S. Culbertson, a man who began as a humble dry goods clerk in Pennsylvania before moving west to New Albany. He ultimately made his fortune as a businessman and banker. At one point, he became the richest man in Indiana.

The mansion is known for its intricate, hand-painted ceilings, annual haunted house, and more. Additionally, the famous Kentucky Derby traditions we know today are tied to Samuel Culbertson, son of William, who was raised in the mansion. Learn more about the family and their historic home on a guided tour of the mansion.

Located in front of the Second Baptist Church, you'll find a historical marker for Lucy Higgs Nichols, an African American Civil War hero who escaped slavery. Lucy, born April 10, 1838, was enslaved by the Higgs family that by 1850 lived near Bolivar, Tennessee. She escaped to freedom in 1862 and then joined the 23rd Regiment of Indiana Volunteers camped nearby. She worked as a nurse for the soldiers as they fought in many major battles of the Civil War. She mustered out with them in Louisville in 1865.

Lucy came to New Albany with veterans of the 23rd Regiment returning home to Indiana. In 1870, she married John Nichols, a Tennessee Civil War veteran of the 8th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery that enlisted in Paducah, Kentucky. Lucy applied for pension after Congress passed the 1892 act for Civil War nurses and was denied.

In 1895, Lucy and 55 veterans of the 23rd petitioned Congress; in 1898, a Special Act of Congress awarded her the pension. She became one of the first African American women in history to win such a case. Lucy was an honorary member of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.), a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. She died in 1915.

Behind Town Clock Church, you'll find a garden featuring a statue of Lucy and her daughter Mona. Learn more about Lucy's story at the Floyd County Carnegie Library Cultural Arts Center.

Completed in 1852, this church served as a beacon of hope to freedom seekers across the river in Kentucky. It was a connecting point between cities, one in a slave state (Kentucky) and one in a free state (Indiana). Members of the congregation were pivotal in continuing the Underground Railroad activities in New Albany through financial donations and other subversive activities to assist in the movement of escaped slaves further north to eventual freedom in Canada. 

The historical "Town Clock Church" is now called Second Baptist Church. It was designated an official Network to Freedom site on July 5, 2017, by the National Park Service. Friends of the Town Clock Church serves as the charitable organization that helps maintain the church. The group, which includes Second Baptist congregants, hosts guided tours of the church a few times a year or by requested appointment. Join one of the tours and stop by the Floyd County Carnegie Library Cultural Arts Center to view "Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage: Men and Women of the Underground Railroad," an exhibit tracing the courageous acts of Floyd County residents, both free and enslaved, on the journey to freedom.

The Scribner House, the first frame house in New Albany, was built in 1814 by Joel Scribner, one of the three brothers who founded the city. The Scribner brothers named the city "New Albany" after their original hometown of Albany, New York.

In 1917, the home was purchased from Miss Hattie Scribner by the Piankeshaw Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution for use as a chapter house. The property was purchased for $1,500, which is $41,404.13 in today's money! On Flag Day 1928, the debt was fully paid and the mortgage was burned. Mortgage burning was a 20th-century tradition in the U.S. where homeowners burned their mortgage papers after paying off their home. It celebrated being free from debt and often included a party with family and friends.

The Piankeshaw Chapter is devoted to the preservation of this important part of SoIN's local history. The house is open to the public for the spring Main Street Walking Tour, Harvest Homecoming, the chapter's annual Christmas Tea on the first Sunday of December, and by appointment.

The George Rogers Clark Home Site, part of the Falls of the Ohio State Park, marks where Revolutionary War General and Clarksville town founder George Rogers Clark built his home in 1803. He was a skilled surveyor and used those skills to take forts at Kaskaskia, Illinois, Prairie du Roche and Cahokia during the Revolutionary War. He also convinced several Native American tribes to stop allying with the British.

Clark lived at the original cabin on the site until 1809, when an injury forced him to relocate to his Locust Grove home in Louisville, Kentucky. Although the replica cabin burned in 2021, the site remains open as part of the state park.

Still standing at the site is a replica of the McGee Cabin. This structure isn’t in its original location, as the McGees lived in Guinea Bottoms, one of the first African-American communities in the Northwest Territory. It was erected here to tell the story of Venus and Ben McGee, who were George Clark’s indentured servants. 

The Falls of the Ohio State Park marks the site of Lewis and Clark’s first meeting and the launch of the Corps of Discovery. This statue at the park’s entrance commemorates their famous handshake.

During the American Revolution, George Rogers Clark (brother of William Clark) and his men utilized the Falls of the Ohio as a strategic command post on the frontier that developed into the city of Louisville. The Corps of Discovery departed from Clarksville on October 26, 1803, to explore the Louisiana Purchase. The original Corps of Discovery were "9 young men from Kentucky." All were recruited from the surrounding region. They trained for what they believed they would experience in the West by riding the rapids created by the fossil beds at the Falls of the Ohio. Only one member of the original Corps of Discovery would perish on the journey. Sgt. Charles Floyd succumbed to appendicitis outside of what is today Sioux City, Iowa.
 
York, a frontiersman, hunter, and likely the first African American to cross the continent, was an American explorer who made important contributions to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He was enslaved by Captain William Clark, and, after the expedition's return, he was denied his payment and his freedom.

Include a stop at the Interpretive Center to learn more about the history of the region. View a statue of York just across the river on the Belvedere in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Falls of the Ohio State Park is a one-of-a-kind attraction. The park's exposed Devonian fossil beds are among the largest in the world. These fossilized sea creatures lived 390 million years ago (before dinosaurs) when this area was actually the floor of a shallow tropical sea.

Located along the Ohio River in Clarksville, Indiana, the fossil beds are part of a 1,404-acre National Wildlife Conservation Area.  Sitting on a small bluff, the park also includes a state-of-the-art interpretive center that overlooks the fossil beds and the river. Its panoramic view helps bring the 390-million-year-old story to life. Include a stop at the Interpretive Center to learn more about the history of the region.