| 
Three Spring-Inspired Getaways
Small Town Indiana
.focus())
A park edges the Ohio at Rising Sun
Indiana in bloom: Redbuds and dogwoods flower into cotton-candy puffs of pink and white on the forested bluffs along the Ohio River, where a string of pretty, southeast Indiana towns awaits. Lawrenceburg, Aurora, Rising Sun and Vevay (pronounced VEE-vee) form a procession along the Ohio from Cincinnati to Madison, the grand dame of the area’s riverside communities.
These old steamboat ports (now enclaves of shops, historic sites and fledgling wineries) are at their most appealing when snow still blankets the North. Lovingly tended gardens are blooming, and majestic old trees have leafed out in canopies of green.
In Madison, the lawns and courtyard gardens of 19th-century neighborhoods fan out from downtown. Tidy regiments of azaleas and beds of spring annuals and perennials bloom under towering, white-blooming magnolias. Their branches brush against restored homes, painted-brick Federals, as well as clapboard Victorians with wide front porches.
In all, 133 blocks of this river town, founded in 1809, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In mid- to late May, several of the prettiest private gardens open for tours during the Madison in Bloom festival.
The English-style beds sloping down the back lawn of Whitehall Bed and Breakfast were in last year’s festival. "They’re my obsession," owner Bill Murphy admits, revealing a common sentiment in this town of garden lovers. "If someone likes exceptional color and design, Madison is the place to come."
Some of the area’s best views open from Clifty Falls State Park, atop neighboring bluffs. With jackets tied around their waists as the afternoon warms, hikers explore wooded trails leading to the lacy cascades that give the park its name. Cyclists ride park roads.
Spring is the time to visit, park Manager Darrell Skinner says: "The lime-green colors are bursting out with the new foliage on the trees. And there are lots of wildflowers; larkspur, wild phlox and Virginia bluebells." Written by George Hendrix Photographs by Randall Lee Schieber
