Clifty Falls is one of the most beautiful sites in Indiana, the falls sit atop the Clifty Canyon gorge that runs south into the Ohio River. Big Clifty is sixty feet and there are three other falls that top sixty feet as well. There are many other cascades and rivulets that grace the park making it an amazing place to visit after a hard rain.
The spring brings out an incredible display of wildflowers followed by fall colors that paint the canyon walls and hillsides with such a broad brush of color that many people leave the park with a sense amazement.
Try visiting Clifty Falls one weekend it’s a wonderful place for hiking and has a great campground. Madison Indiana is just a couple miles away and is a wonderful place to stay and visit as well.
It is time to take a step into a New Year. I know 2020 was a rough time for everyone many of us lost loved ones and have suffered from not only Covid but other circumstances as well.
I lost my brother this past year not to Covid, but I do know many who have had family pass from it. Financial hardships have also been a major problem as well.
It is real easy to simply blame a number but with everything that has happened maybe a new number is what we all really need to begin to move on to better time and place.
I wish you and your loved ones a Happy New Year and may this New Year but much better than the old one !!
Spent a cold morning hiking to Little Clifty Falls in the Clifty Falls Sate Park near Madison Indiana. Most of the leafs have fallen and we finally received some substantial rainfall the night before so there was good flow in the water.
This has not been one of the better fall seasons for color or water flow for the many waterfalls that we have here in Jefferson County. But there was still enough fall scenes to salvage this season and find I did still find some very beautiful scenes to capture.
Little Clifty falls resides in Clifty Falls Park, the park boasts many smaller falls and cascades along Clifty creek. There are five big falls located in the park with Little Clifty being the smallest of the five.
I was hoping to catch high water flow surrounded by colorful fall leafs but the dry fall put a halt to that. But the park is still beautiful and any day walking the canyons and trails here makes it worth the visit.
Hope you enjoy the pics and if you are looking for a great place to visit in Southern Indiana try spending a day in Clifty Falls State Park.
It hasn’t been the best or worst fall I have witnessed but no matter how bad the colors are, Clifty Falls State Park near Madison Indiana always puts on a show.
Even though the park is famous for it’s waterfalls every fall all of the beautiful hardwood trees that line the gorges of this special place put on a magical display of color that rarely disappoints.
Maple, Hickory, Popular and Oak are just a few of the many varieties of trees that change with the season. There are many wonderful trails that lead you in and out of the Clifty Canyon and give you a up close and personal view of the splendor of this special place.
And if hiking is not your thing the road thru the park gives you fabulous views of the canyon and of all the great trees as well.
But you better hurry if you want to view the colors because they are peaking now and won’t be around much longer !!
Fall is one of the most beautiful times to visit Madison Indiana. With all of the wonderful hardwood trees that line our streets and the wooded hillsides of the Ohio River valley that surround our town, it’s no wonder Madison has become such a wonderful place to come visit and enjoy all of the amazing sites.
One of the most beautiful sites is the Broadway Fountain a wonderful spot where many community activities take place. The Farmers Market, Music in the Park, Weddings and a host of many other things happen here.
These images were not all taken this year they have come from the last few years during the fall season.
One of Madison’s landmarks, the original Broadway Fountain stood in the middle of Broadway for almost 100 years before it was dismantled and replaced with the 1981 bronze copy or reproduction. The original Janes, Kirtland, and Company cast iron fountain was displayed at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. After the Exposition closed, the Madison Lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows purchased the fountain and presented it to the city in 1884.
French sculptor J.P.Victor Andre modeled the fountain’s design (Model #5 in the Janes, Kirtland catalog) after either one of the Place-de-la-Concord fountains in Paris or one at London’s Crystal Palace. It consists of three decorated tiered basins approximately 26 feet high and 35 feet across. Cartouches featuring the Odd Fellows symbol of three interconnected links adorn each side of the fountain’s octagonal base. Four tritons surround the base, with each creature holding a shell horn that spouts water. A classically robed female figure holding a rod sits atop the highest basin.
As part of the 1976 American bicentennial celebrations held across the country, the City of Madison spearheaded a major restoration effort, hiring Cincinnati sculpture Eleftherios Karkadoulias to reconstruct the entire fountain in bronze. The process took nearly three years as Karkadoulias disassembled the fountain and shipped each piece to his Cincinnati studio. There he created wax molds and reconstructed the fountain in bronze, a longer-lasting and sturdier metal. The reproduction fountain was dedicated in 1981. The only part of the original fountain that is still present in Fountain Park is a stone plinth that supported one of the original triton figures; it is set into the concrete at the south end of the central path as a base for a tablet that commemorates the replacement fountain.
The Broadway Fountain is one of four similarly designed fountains that Janes, Kirtland, and Company created. The others can be found in Savannah, Georgia (seen in the movies Forrest Gump and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil); Poughkeepsie, New York; and Cusco, Peru.
The Broadway Fountain Park contributes to the historic significance of the Madison Historic District, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark. The info on the fountain is from the National Park Service hopefully I didn’t mess it up or make a mistake copying it, I am not a writer and it is starting to get late.
When you plan your fall travels make sure you make a trip to Madison and a great place to start would be here at the fountain.
Bernie Kasper Photography 