State Awards $1.2M for Historic Sites

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources will distribute more than $1.2 million to twelve preservation projects across the state. The funding will support repairs to historic buildings and archaeological studies, including work on a Civil War-era shipwreck in the Ohio River. The state is contributing $656,000 to these efforts, while federal matching funds cover the remainder of the total.

The Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology announced the awards last week. Projects receiving grants span from South Bend to Plymouth. Specific work includes masonry repairs in Cannelton and Terre Haute. One grant in New Harmony will fund a study, while another in Fort Wayne will help request federal recognition for a local site.

A central focus of the funding is the remains of the Alice Dean. The vessel sits in the Ohio River near the border of Indiana and Kentucky. In July 1863, Confederate soldiers led by Gen. John Hunt Morgan captured a postal boat. They used the vessel and the Alice Dean to move troops from Kentucky into Indiana during Morgan’s Raid. Before the raiders moved on to Corydon, Salem, and Vienna, they burned the Alice Dean and sank it.

Charles Beeker, director of Indiana University's Center of Underwater Science, is leading the effort to preserve the site. Beeker stated that the team views the wreck as part of the underwater cultural heritage and maritime landscape. He aims to turn the location into a living museum to gather more information. Beeker noted that such historic shipwrecks are rare, saying, "They don't make many more historic shipwrecks."

The department is accepting public comments on all funded projects until the end of the calendar year. The grants represent a combined effort between state and federal resources to maintain local history. The Alice Dean remains a site of interest more than 150 years after it was sunk. Parts of the ship still straddle the state border between Indiana and Kentucky.

The funding allocation allows for immediate repairs on masonry structures and continued research on archaeological sites. The public can review the specific details of each project in the department's published documents. This initiative ensures that physical evidence of the state's past remains intact for future examination.