Indiana - Landmarks and Points of Interest
The Indianapolis 500 has taken place nearly every year since 1911. The Speedway, a two and a half mile track that racecars must circle 200 times, is the largest stadium in the in the world, with more than 250,000 seats. Though the race itself is held once a year, auto buffs can check out the Speedway Hall of Fame Museum and take tours of the track year-round.
Abraham Lincoln lived in Indiana from age 7 to 21. Today, the site where his family farmed is the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, in Lincoln City. Visitors can check out a museum with exhibitions about Lincoln’s early life and visit the grave of his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, who died when the future president was 9. Nearby, historical re-enactors offer a glimpse into Lincoln’s childhood at the Lincoln Living Historical Farm.
The historic town of New Harmony, on the Wabash River at Indiana’s southwest tip, was the site of two utopian communities in the early 19th century. The Harmony Society and the Owenites were experiments in communal living, and though both ultimately failed they left behind fine examples of 19th-century architecture, including a former dormitory, log cabins, and other homes.