EDUCATION & HISTORY ATTRACTIONS

• Hangar 5 Restaurant, right next door

The Prisoner of War chapel, also called the “Chapel in the Meadow,” is a reminder of the rich history of Camp Atterbury and the men from Italy and Germany who were Prisoners of War at Atterbury during World War II.

The Muscatatuck Museum displays memorabilia from throughout the history of the hospital and includes historical programs to present to the community for ages 5 and up, educating the local populace on the past and future of the facility.

• Atterbury-Bakalar Air Museum

And all that history was changed by a man who would later settle near Hartsville in Bartholomew County. His name was Barton Mitchell, and he is the undisputed finder of Lee’s “Lost Orders,” which revealed the strategic plans and location of General Lee’s army. Because of Mitchell’s discovery, the Union was able to overcome Lee’s army in what became the Battle of Antietam – the bloodiest day in American history. Winning this battle gave President Lincoln the confidence to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, and Barton Mitchell’s role became a legendary stroke of good fortune in the history of the Civil War.

• View photos of the site
• Details posted on History.com
• Learn more about Barton Mitchell

Free and open to the public, the Cummins Museum, in the lobby of the Cummins Headquarters, demonstrates Cummins’ dedication to design by taking industrial equipment out of the shop and proudly displaying it as inspiring product design. Step inside the public lobby of Cummins global headquarters to view displays that tell the story of Cummins and its diesel engines with imaginative and creative displays. The centerpiece of the museum is a large engine that has been disassembled into its four hundred parts and suspended by steel cables over a two-story space. The one-of-a-kind “Exploded Engine” installation, designed by prominent graphic designer Rudolph de Harak, is sure to make an impression – reviewer J.C. from California commented on Yelp, “It looks like an exploded drawing of the engine in three dimensions.”

You also can a diesel-powered 1930s Auburn Cord Duesenberg, a collection of restored engines, cranks and camshafts, hands-on displays of current engines, a film history of the company, and a graphic timeline of company history, with tributes to the genius engineer Clessie Cummins, who was behind so many of the company’s innovations. There’s also a unique fifteen-foot tall tube that becomes a kind of 3D infograph, in that all of the materials (such as steel and aluminum and rubber) that can be found in a Cummins engine are represented proportionally, by the actual materials! And then there are the popular Indy 500 race cars on display. Two of them raced in the 1935 Indy 500, the No. 6 white car with a Duesenberg chassis and a four-stroke engine, and next to it is the engine for the No 5 car – which had been experimentally converted to a two-stroke design and ended up finishing the 1935 race in 12th place. You can also see the first diesel-powered race car in the Indianapolis 500, along with a 1952 film showing the race car in action. The 1952 Indy 500 car was so revolutionary for its time some thought Cummins was sandbagging the competition because the Cummins team, headed by Clessie’s brother Don, had created a turbocharged diesel engine mounted on its side in a dramatically lower chassis which resulted in an unusually low center of gravity. Renowned chassis builder Frank Kurtis reportedly said, “We’ve got a rocket ship here.” The car not only won the pole position that year, but also clocked in nearly four miles per hour faster than Ferrari’s 12-cylinder race car.

The beautiful #25 Cummins Holset Indy 500 car on display has its own compelling story. Two weeks before the 1987 race, Cummins and Penske Racing made the fateful decision to enter, and drafted three-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser Sr. to get behind the wheel one more time. But the car had not only been retired from racing, it was in on display at a Sheraton hotel in Reading, Pennsylvania! With only two weeks to prepare, the teams pulled the car from the display and quickly prepared it for its return to racing. Unser’s three Indy 500 wins helped him make strategic pit decisions during the race, and managed to move into first place on the final lap for the dramatic win, now considered one of the biggest upsets in Indy 500 lore. The win put Unser, still the oldest driver to win at Indy, in an elite group who have won the race four times – the car that helped him get his fourth can be enjoyed by Indy 500 fans in the Cummins Museum.

The museum is located in the public lobby of the corporate headquarters in downtown Columbus. The museum is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

There is no fee to enter the museum.

• View the museum brochure
• Go inside the museum with a Cummins fan on YouTube

• Video of kidscommons (2:53)

• View the informational brochure on the cemetery
• Learn more about a town called Hope

• View the Simmons School brochure
• Learn about a town called Hope

• See more on Maryann Thompson’s website

This unique, country museum explains the history of Hope, Indiana, a Moravian community founded in 1830. Nearly every artifact in the museum has been loaned or donated to the museum by present or past residents of the community.

Open Sat 11-2 and Sunday 1-4, May – November (off season by appointment only).

For private appointments to see the museum call 812-546-8020 or 812-343-3798

• See photos of the Yellow Trail Museum
• Learn about a town called Hope