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Indiana's John James Audubon State Park
John James Audubon came to the frontier town of Henderson, Kentucky (10 miles south of Evansville, Indiana), to make his fortune as owner of a dry-goods store. But he spent a lot of time prowling the dense forest along the Ohio River to study the region's many birds.
Too much time, it turned out: Audubon went bankrupt in 1819 and was jailed briefly for failure to pay debts. While incarcerated, he decided to devote his energy to his real passions - studying and painting birds. Audubon's realistic renditions of winged creatures eventually made his name synonymous with the study of, and love for, birds.
Many of his original drawings and paintings are housed in the John James Audubon Memorial Museum at Henderson. The museum is the centerpiece of nearly 700-acre John James Audubon State Park, just across the Ohio River from Evansville, Indiana. There's also a nature center with a binocular-equipped observatory where you can get a close-up view of the park's many winged residents in a native plant garden and around a woodland pond.
A nine-hole golf course, tennis courts and a swimming lake will keep you busy when you're not bird-watching. You might want to stay longer than a day to hike the six miles of woodland trails and look at the changing fall colors. You can overnight in one of five cottages, or pitch a tent at the campground.
Reviewed April 2004.
