A new nature experience for the wild child in everyone opened Tuesday at Conner Prairie, the first day of the museum’s 2018 outdoor season.
Fort Hoosier is a 1,000-square-foot addition to Treetop Outpost, a four-story treehouse filled with interactive, hands-on activities and surrounded by experience areas in which visitors of all ages to build, dig, make music and explore. Fort Hoosier features climbing walls, a climbing cargo net, passageways, tunnels, balance beams and more.
Photo provided
Treetop Outpost, which opened in 2016, is located in the middle of a Nature Walk that leads visitors through the woods and along the White River to an observation deck that overlooks the prairie. It is part of the Bicentennial Nature Center Network, a statewide coalition created two years ago to ensure that all Hoosier youth have access to environmental education and creative outdoor experiences within 60 miles of where they live.
Other features of Fort Hoosier, made possible in part by support from Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent, include a signal lamp, which allows visitors to communicate by Morse code to visitors in Treetop Outpost, and a pulley and bucket for transporting items.
Also new and coming soon to Conner Prairie this season:
White River Overlook
Conner Prairie borders the White River and in many ways, the museum’s history is closely linked with the river. Its seasonal floods created fertile land that drew people to the area for thousands of years before William Conner built his brick home to face the river. The museum’s forests and land have hidden the White River from view but the new White River Overlook will offer an unprecedented view of the river as it bends around the prairie. Interpretive signage will highlight the history and ecology of the river, telling how it has been and will continue to be a lifeline to the community.
Nature Amphitheater Stage
Visitors will experience new areas and activities that emphasize one of Conner Prairie’s greatest assets, its land. Nestled in the trees beside Treetop Outpost will be the new Nature Amphitheater Stage. This 50-seat outdoor amphitheater will feature a covered, raised stage for nature chats, performances and storytelling that highlight the richness of nature.
Conner Prairie is now open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday through April 8. From April 12 to April 29, the museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. From May 1 to Oct. 28, Conner Prairie will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
Admission is $18 for adults, $17 for seniors ages 65 and older, $13 for youth ages 2-12 and free for children under age 2.
For more, visit connerprairie.org.
About Conner Prairie
Spanning more than 1,000 wooded acres in central Indiana, Conner Prairie welcomes nearly 430,000 visitors of all ages annually. As Indiana’s first Smithsonian Institute affiliate, Conner Prairie offers various outdoor, historically themed destinations and indoor experiential learning spaces that combine history and art with science, technology, engineering and math to offer an authentic look into history that shapes society today.