BY NICOLE THOMAS

Bordered by the Ohio River and Blue River, Crawford County offers abundant opportunities for outdoor recreation. Visitors can camp at Patoka Lake State Park, one of Indiana’s largest campgrounds with more than 500 campsites. They can also hike to waterfalls at Hemlock Cliffs in Hoosier National Forest or explore deep valleys and rocky cliffs at Yellow Birch Ravine Nature Reserve.

Cave country

Crawford County is home to two of Indiana’s best-known tourist caves: Marengo Cave and Wyandotte Caves. Siblings Blanche and Ollis Hiestand discovered Marengo Cave in 1883 after they crawled into a sinkhole with two candles, hoping to explore it before their classmates. After learning about the discovery, landowner Samuel Stewart opened the cave for tours just days later, charging 25 cents per visitor. Today, Marengo Cave offers guided tours year-round and has about five miles of passageways, making it one of Indiana’s longest caves. Nearby, Wyandotte Caves features a pair of limestone caves with evidence of Native American mining dating back to about 8000 B.C. The cave system is also home to nearly 30,000 bats.

Among the stars

Crawford County’s low levels of light pollution make it a popular location for stargazing in Indiana. Cave Country Canoes hosts the Milky Way Festival at Sycamore Springs Park, where volunteers from the Louisville Astronomical Society set up high-powered telescopes for views of the Milky Way, planets, and other celestial objects. Visitors are encouraged to bring lawn chairs, picnic blankets, binoculars, and red-light flashlights to preserve their night vision. Visitors can also bring or rent a boat and drift onto Mill Pond to take in the starry night from the water. 

Flowing adventure

Each summer, Cave Country Canoes also hosts the Paddle Festival, where participants can kayak or canoe up to 48 miles across four days with routes extending to the confluence of the Blue River and the Ohio River. Before heading out on the water, participants can grab a coffee at Out of the Blue Coffee and Ice Cream Shop. After a day of paddling, they can relax with food trucks, live music, and overnight primitive camping before returning to the river the next day. 

County facts

FOUNDED: 1818

NAMED FOR: William H. Crawford, the U.S. Secretary of Treasury from 1816 to 1825

POPULATION: 10,526

COUNTY SEAT: English

INDIANA COUNTY NUMBER: 13