I went to McCormick’s Creek State Park, and took a ton of photos of a nice little waterfall.

I stayed until 9am, which was when the Nature Center opened. The gals in the office had some genealogy info on the John McCormick which founded the state park. Unfortunately, he was a different John McCormick than the one who married Aunt Bethia Case. Oh well… it was a nice state park anyway!

I then went to the Plainfield Public Library, where I found a whole folder full of information on John & Bethia (Case) McCormick’s family. [Unfortunately, I later found out that I hadn’t copied the MOST important part of the Bethia story…. the ending!! Argh! Now I have to go back there and see if there is more of the story.]

I then headed downtown Indianapolis to go to White River State Park to see the memorial rock were John McCormick built the first cabin in Indianapolis. What a place! In the picture below, you can see that McCormick’s Rock is behind the black railing at the top of the waterfall. Can you imagine what John and Bethia must think of Indianapolis now if they were alive today? I’m sure they’d be blown away. It’s a very nice, clean, and well-maintained park. I’m sure they would’ve never thought the place where they first built their cabin would look like this 187 years later! The lawn is nicely kept, there’s walkways all over, and a canal where it ends at this waterfall. People were having picnics or just sunning themselves on the lawn, or taking their dogs for walks, or taking a ride in the unique cycles like in the picture below. Those type of bikes were everywhere — they’re called “Surreys” — they can be rented from a kiosk between the Indiana State Museum and the NCAA Hall of Champions. They’re very unique, and a cool way to tour the park!