Minnetrista, is the home of the Ball Jar and a Gathering Place located in

Muncie, Indiana Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the county seat, seat of Delaware County, Indiana, Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs ...

with exhibits and programs that focus on nature, local history, gardens, and art. The campus includes a museum with changing exhibits, the historic home called Oakhurst, many themed gardens, outdoor sculptures and a portion of the White River Greenway. It is located in the Minnetrista Boulevard Historic District, added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2012. Located on the grounds, visitors can tour George Alexander Ball's house, known as Oakhurst, which was built in 1895 and designed by architect Louis Gibson. The first floor is furnished to appear as it did in the 1920s. Visitors can also tour the grounds that feature many outdoor sculptures purchased by members of the Ball family. There are many themed gardens, which include: * Nature Area - three representations of Indiana native habitat, a pond, woodland and prairie * Oakhurst Gardens - located by the Oakhust house, features a formal garden, sunken gardens,

woodland garden A woodland garden is a garden or section of a garden that includes large trees and is laid out so as to appear as more or less natural woodland, though it is often actually an artificial creation. Typically it includes plantings of flowering shrub ...

s and courtyard garden * Wishing Well Garden - designed in 2000 by the Delaware Master Gardeners, features themes of Four Seasons, Moon and Bird & Butterfly gardens * Rose Garden * Backyard Garden, formerly the Children's Gardens which was renovated in 2012 * Colonnade Garden * Orchard Courtyard - a seasonal container garden display

Background

A marker stone on the Minnetrista campus (see image) details that Minnetrista was the site of the "White River town of the

Munsee The Munsee (or Minsi or Muncee) or mə́n'si·w ( del, Monsiyok)Online Lenape Talking Dictionary, "Munsee Indians"Link/ref> are a subtribe of the Lenape, originally constituting one of the three great divisions of that nation and dwelling along t ...

clan of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

Indians" known as "Wah-Pe-Kah-Me-Kunk". On what is now Minnetrista, these native inhabitants "cultivated their maize and corn". The marker also tells of a Munsee local named Joshua who converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

and became "a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

to his faith." After its native inhabitants were driven out by white settlers, what is now Minnetrista became the site of what was called "May Ground" where "the villagers of Munsee town gathered for their spring-time frolics." The marker stone was donated in 1917 by the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

. In 1887, the Ball family moved their glass manufacturing company from

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

Ball Brothers The Ball brothers (Lucius, William, Edmund, Frank, and George) were five American industrialists and philanthropists who established a manufacturing business in New York and Indiana in the 1880s that was renamed the Ball Corporation in 1969. Th ...

Glass Company became one of America's best-known manufacturers of canning jars. The family purchased most of the land along the north bank of the White River in 1893. They committed themselves to community projects that would improve the quality of life for East Central Indiana residents. An unfortunate event, the burning of one of the Ball family homes in the late 1960s served as an inspiration for the second generation of the Ball family. That inspiration would eventually blossom into more than they ever imagined: A place for lifelong learning. The word "Minnetrista" means "a gathering place by the water", and was the name of the original home built by Frank Clayton Ball in 1894, which burned in 1967. The Ball family created the word from the

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...

word "mna" which means "water" combined with the English word "tryst". The Minnetrista Cultural Center was built on the same site in 1988.

Collections

More than 10,000 square feet of behind-the-scenes space at the Minnetrista is devoted to the preservation of the artifacts and archival material that documents the history of East Central Indiana. There are more than 15,000 objects within the museum's collection that include artifacts and archival materials such as photographs, diaries, clothing, quilts, furniture, locally manufactured products, and more. A selection of the objects and archival records are now available online. Currently, the records accessible include: postcards, photographs, objects, and over 2,300 book catalog records. Some of the topics included are Muncie Pottery, the Ball Corporation, Ball family, business, clubs and organizations, gardening, collectibles, and artwork. The library and archives are open to the public.

Family Fun

The Minnetrista has events for the whole family that includes the Imagination Playground, Explorer Bags that allows visitors to explore and great their own adventure, step into the past and play in Betty's Doll House and Cabin, and special Saturday events. The Minnetrista has four annual events: Garden Fair in the spring, Faeries, Sprites, and Lights in July; Summer Stage Fest at various times throughout the summer, and Enchanted Luminaria Walk the first weekend of December. In addition, Minnetrista hosts a Farmers Market that draws 45,000 visitors each year. Throughout the year, the Minnetrista holds various workshops such as a glass workshop and a canning workshop.

Adult Programs

Minnetrista also has specific adult programing such as Tea and Talk where specific topics are covered like Women's Suffrage, and adult workshops. In 2020 two rooms in the historic Lucius L. Ball home were transformed into the

Bob Ross Robert Norman Ross (October 29, 1942 – July 4, 1995) was an American painter, art instructor, and television host. He was the creator and host of '' The Joy of Painting'', an instructional television program that aired from 1983 to 1994 on ...

Experience, adding new life to the space that was once the iconic painter's studio where he filmed "

The Joy of Painting ''The Joy of Painting'' is an American half-hour instructional television show created and hosted by painter Bob Ross which ran from January 11, 1983 to May 17, 1994. In most episodes, Ross taught techniques for landscape oil painting, completi ...

." Ross filmed at the home from 1983 to 1988 when the home was owned by

WIPB WIPB, virtual channel 49 ( UHF digital channel 19), is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Muncie, Indiana, United States. Owned by Ball State University, it is a sister station to National Public Radi ...

, the local

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

affiliate in Muncie. The Minnetrista exhibit was opened on October 31, 2020, and will be open Wednesday through Sunday.

Natural beauty

Minnetrista has acres of formal and natural gardens, an expansive restored natural area that includes interpretive signs, ponds, and hiking trails. Minnetrista is currently working to create a comprehensive

GIS A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing Geographic data and information, geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with Geographic information system software, sof ...

-based map of the entire campus, including a detailed database of the plants available. This project is a partnership between the Horticulture Department at Minnetrista, the Delaware County Office of Geographic Information, and Ball State University (providing internship positions through the Landscape Architecture, Natural Resources, Geography, or Biology Departments).

References

{{authority control Buildings and structures in Muncie, Indiana

Botanical gardens in Indiana {{Commons category, Botanical gardens in Indiana Indiana Botanical gardens A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word '' ...