Floyd County: Experience History and Nature

Floyd County brings together architectural history, museums, and nature experiences. Historic homes tell stories of different eras, while parks and trails each offer their own distinct appeal. When planning your trip, you can choose among architecture and local history, walking trails, a pilgrimage route, and attractions in the wider Ohio River area.

Architectural History and Places of Remembrance

Construction of the Culbertson Mansion began in 1867 for William Stewart Culbertson. The mansion was built in the French Second Empire style. Tours explore the family, William Culbertson’s life, and his philanthropy. Alongside the architecture, the focus is on the story of the person for whom the house was built.

Town Clock Church was completed in 1852 and is the Second Baptist Church. On July 5, 2017, it was recognized as an official National Park Service Network to Freedom site. Built in 1881 in Floyd County between New Albany and Edwardsville, the Duncan Tunnel is the longest tunnel in Indiana. Both structures represent very different chapters of history.

New Albany also offers tangible ways to explore the past. Scribner House is considered the city’s first wood-frame house and was built by Joel Scribner in 1814. The New Albany Downtown Historic District reflects the city’s historic development and commercial growth. Its notable buildings include examples of 19th- and 20th-century commercial and institutional architecture, as well as several homes.

The Buffalo Trace offers another way to explore regional history. Indigenous peoples used this route; later, it became an important travel route for early settlers and the military. Its northern route became a federal post road in 1800, a regular stagecoach route in 1824, and the New Albany-Paoli Turnpike in 1836. This progression shows how use of the route changed over time.

Museums and Cultural Attractions

The Carnegie Center for Art and History is a museum of local history and a contemporary art gallery. At the Padgett Museum, the permanent exhibition “By the River’s Edge” focuses on the history of New Albany and Floyd County. The museum is housed in the William Young House, built in 1837. Its Federal-style architecture shows clear Greek Revival influences.

Another art gallery is the Floyd County Carnegie Library Cultural Arts Center. Its exhibitions change, and it also offers family workshops and permanent exhibitions on the Underground Railroad and Lucy Higgs Nichols. Together, these venues offer distinct focuses: contemporary art and local history, an exhibition on the region’s past, or changing art exhibitions alongside additional historical themes.

Harvest Homecoming is also part of New Albany’s local festival tradition. The festival has been held there since 1967 and has grown and evolved since then. If you want to plan your trip around it, check the event date in advance.

Parks, Trails, and River Landscapes

Sam Peden Community Park covers 104.5 acres and is the largest park in Floyd County. At Kiwanis Lake, visitors can fish and operate certain types of boats. The Campbell Woodland Nature Trails offer a different way to experience the landscape: the site covers 122 acres and features a paved trail, footbridges over streams, and a waterfall. The trails are open seven days a week from morning until evening.

Melvin and Vickie Jensen Nature Preserve and Trails combines hiking trails and a trailhead with a hilly landscape. More than 200 acres of woodland, streams, and farmland characterize the area. If you want to compare trail lengths, here are two examples of the same length: Greenville Park has a 0.75-mile walking trail, and Kevin Hammersmith Memorial Park has a 0.75-mile walking path.

Loop Island Wetlands is a 47-acre natural wetland on the Ohio River in New Albany. Its trails are for foot traffic only. This clearly distinguishes the area from the regional Ohio River Greenway: in the wider Floyd County area, this 7.5-mile multipurpose trail connects Jeffersonville, Clarksville, and New Albany. It is suitable for walking, biking, jogging, and picnicking. There is access to the Ohio River along the riverfront from each of the connected riverfront communities.

Plan a Trip Around Your Interests

The offerings at Mount Saint Francis also cater to different interests. The self-guided Self Guided Outdoor Pilgrimage highlights 19 outdoor visitor features. Owl Prowl, by contrast, is a guided nighttime hike on the trails at Mount Saint Francis, with a focus on owls and other nocturnal wildlife. As an annual event, it can provide a special reason to plan a trip.

When choosing a hotel in Floyd County, it helps to first decide what you want to focus on during your stay: historic buildings and exhibitions, trails and parks, or a particular cultural or nature experience. The attractions and activities offer different themes for trip planning, without requiring every stop to serve the same purpose.

Discover more destinations: New Albany, Fountain County, Jay County, Johnson, Hendricks, Lagrange County, St. Joseph, Marion.

For the broader travel overview: Indiana.