Location Taken: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana
Time Taken: October 2006
It can be somewhat difficult to remember that Indiana has a coastline. I mean, the stereotype of the state tends to be a mix of the mid-country corn farmers of Iowa and the back-country rednecks of Kentucky. And well, most of the state is like that, flat and farmed, with not much citification going on. Above all, the state is thought of as “boring”, well, when it’s thought of at all.
But it’s not entirely like that. Indianapolis is the 12th largest city in the country, the southern area around the Ohio River is rather hilly (which, admittedly, is where the “Kentucky redneck” part of the stereotype comes in), and the northwest corner is full of Chicago’s suburbs.
And that corner is also where the coastline is, along Lake Michigan. And the area around it is solidly dune-lands and the rough terrain of a glacial moriane. There’s a long line of beautiful beaches and bogs there, that they’ve set aside as Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
It’s a good thing, too, since there are factories right up to the edge of the park. It’s right next to Gary, which used to be one of the most industrial cities ever, the king of steel mills. And then the Steel Belt turned into the Rust Belt as manufacturing collapsed in the area. Gary fell apart, both socially and literally, with high levels of crime and abandoned buildings. It seems to be picking itself back up again, and it still has a strong industrial base, at least. Even if that includes large factories on the shoreline.
Which was part of why Indiana Dunes was set apart. It’s not that special of a place. You can find dunelands like it all around the Great Lakes. But it does have a long history of being the place to get away from Chicago for the weekend. And if it hadn’t become what it is, it probably would have disappeared, the land bought up for even more factories.
But it did become a National Lakeshore, and it’s still a place to get away from the big city. And while it’s not unique, it is beautiful.
