Next winter, kids will be able to go sledding the whole season at the Strawtown Koteewi County Park. That’s because there will be snow whether Mother Nature provides it or not. A snow-making machine is in the process of being bid by the parks department following County Council approval of $250,000 for the equipment that includes a lift to the top of a newly created sledding hill.
Sledding will be the latest attraction added at the park which already offers a wide variety of recreational attractions. I firmly believe Koteewi is Hamilton County’s best kept secret. At nearly 800 acres, the park is an ever-expanding facility that must be considered the best county park in the state.
The park has a zip line (called an aerial adventure trail), a natural history center, horseback riding trails, fishing, hiking, bike trails, a canoe launch site, nature trail, archery range, and a prehistoric archaeological site. In addition there is easy access to the county campgrounds across White River via a historic reconstructed iron bridge.
Now, along with winter-long sledding, there is a lake and, in the longer term, a park lodge planned.
Koteewi, the former Daniel Taylor farm, is also one of the most historic properties in central Indiana. Ancient peoples lived there as early at 1200 AD, later Indians were still in the area when the first American settlers arrived. A brief skirmish between Indians and militia members occurred at Strawtown during the War of 1812.
In the 1820s hundreds of pioneer families, including some of my ancestors, used an early trail across the site to a ford on White River which wraps around the park. And, in 1823 in one of those close calls of history, Strawtown was briefly considered as the site for the state capital.
All in all Koteewi is a great public asset, a gem that could use a little more promotion so that more folks could enjoy it.