Lusk Home and Mill Site
About this property
The Lusk Home and Mill Site was the first development in present Turkey Run State Park, Indiana's second oldest state park. Vermonter Salmon Lusk was awarded this land for serving in the Battle of Tippecanoe under William Henry Harrison. The Lusks were largely self-sufficient. Captain Lusk built a log cabin in 1822 and lived there with his spouse and eight children until 1841. Then he and his sons made bricks, carved walnut woodwork, and built the brick house. He dug a coal mine to heat his house. Lusk built a gristmill in 1826 with a foundation of stone-cut stone. A horizontal waterwheel was powered by water diverted by a dam down a race. A settlement grew around Lusk's house and mill, until a Sugar Creek flood on New Year's Day, 1847, washed away every building except Lusk's brick house. Salmon Lusk's wife lived there until 1880, when John Lusk inherited the property. He was inactive managing the site except for preventing woodcutting. After John Lusk died in 1915, the property was put up for sale. A logging company, Hoosier Veneer, paid US$30,200.00 for the site. Richard Lieber and the State Parks Commission raised $40,000.00 to buy the land from the lumber company after last minute support from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on November 11, 1916. The Lusk parcel was the first land obtained for Turkey Run State Park. The Lusk Home is open for tours during the summer. There is a fee for parking vehicles within the state park. Visitors pay an entrance fee at the main gate of the park, then hike or drive to the Lusk Home. The coal mine is a bat habitat today.
Location
Categories
Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Lusk Home and Mill Site
This page lists Lusk Home and Mill Site. A full Aubrey report for an address near it pulls together this listing alongside battlefield records, land patents, and every other historical record within a chosen radius:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Questions about this property
When was Lusk Home and Mill Site listed on the National Register?
Lusk Home and Mill Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 29, 1974.
What type of historic resource is Lusk Home and Mill Site?
Lusk Home and Mill Site is classified as a site in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Lusk Home and Mill Site?
The period of significance for Lusk Home and Mill Site is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Lusk Home and Mill Site?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Lusk Home and Mill Site will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
More in Parke County
Historic places, battles, and census history across Parke County.
Explore ParkeCounty ›Research the history near this site
An Aubrey US report for an address near Lusk Home and Mill Site will include this listing alongside battlefield records and other historical sources within your chosen radius.