Historic Southern Indiana

Building The Story: Foundations of Interpretation
Abe Martin Lodge
Brown County State Park
Nashville, Indiana

Historic Southern Indiana's Awards for Excellence in Interpretation

The Hoosier National Forest won the award for Best Informational Media for its Teaching With Historic Places curriculum featuring the James Rickenbaugh House. Teaching With Historic Places is a program of the National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation that encourages teachers to expand the classroom into their community by involving local landmarks. The curriculum included lesson plans focusing on various subjects including history, literature, science, math, and social studies. The Rickenbaugh House is located in Perry County.

Our Heritage Inc., the Jennings County Historical Society, received the award for Best Program/Event for their annual Sassafras Tea Festival and Civil War Living History Program. Jennings County was one of the stops of Confederate General John Hunt Morgan in his swing through Indiana during the Civil War. This historical event includes Civil War re-enactors, performing arts, and old time arts and crafts demonstrations.

The award for Best Overall Services went to the Tippecanoe Battlefield Museum in Battle Ground, Indiana. The museum is a National Historic Landmark that interprets the conflict between Native American Indians and white settlers. It has been featured on C-SPAN’s “American Presidents: Life Portraits” series.

Linda Limer, an interpreter at the Lanier Mansion State Historic Site in Madison received the Interpreter of the Year Award for 2000. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of State Historic Sites also named her the Historic Sites Intermittent Employee of the Year for 2000.

Award-winning sites received cash prizes and framed certificates. Limer received a framed certificate and will have the opportunity to attend a professional development workshop in 2001.

The “Excellence in Interpretation” Awards are presented annually by Historic Southern Indiana, a community outreach program of the University of Southern Indiana, as a way to strengthen and recognize interpretive services in the state.

8600 University Boulevard - Evansville, IN 47712-3596 - 812/464-8600