Shakamak State Park is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is located southeast of

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...

. Shakamak's main attraction is its fishing. Shakamak has several outdoor recreational activities such as swimming, hiking, paddle boating, row boating, camping, fishing. The park offers rentals for cabins and campsites and is located just from

Jasonville, Indiana Jasonville is a city in Greene County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,966 as of the 2020 census. It is the westernmost community in the Bloomington, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area, approximately 15 miles closer to Terre Haut ...

. The park receives about 230,000 visitors annually. The park is 1 of 14 Indiana State Parks that are in the path of totality for the 2024 solar eclipse, with the park experiencing 3 minutes and 53 seconds of totality.

History

Shakamak State Park was dedicated on September 3, 1928. The land was donated for a state park from the counties of

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

Greene Greene may refer to: Places United States *Greene, Indiana, an unincorporated community *Greene, Iowa, a city *Greene, Maine, a town ** Greene (CDP), Maine, in the town of Greene *Greene (town), New York ** Greene (village), New York, in the town ...

and Sullivan. The name "Shakamak" was chosen by the park's founders. The word is said to mean "river of the long fish" in the language of either the Delaware (Lenape) or Kickapoo Indians, and was said to be used by them to describe the nearby Eel River. The park founders simply adopted the name for the park long after any Delaware departed the area—well over 100 years before in 1819. The first lake of Shakamak Park was created by the stopping up of a sewer and additional lakes were added in following years (30 years later in the case of Lake Kickapoo). There were no lakes in the area prior to that time. It was purposely stocked with bass by

Richard Lieber Richard Lieber (September 5, 1869 – April 15, 1944) was a German-American businessman who became the father of the Indiana state parks system. At his death, he could be considered the most powerful spokesman in the United States for the con ...

in May 1930, starting the park's fame for fishing in July 1932 after sufficient time had passed for the original bass to reproduce enough to populate the lake.Shakamak State Park Indiana Swimming Pier History
Further development of the park also occurred with the help of the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

(CCC). CCC Company 522 was located in the park from 1933 until 1942. ''Note:'' This includes and Accompanying photographs. It was 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 2000 as a national

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

. Image:CCC Kitchen Shakamak SP.jpg, Mess Hall Image:CCC Baracks now Youth camp.jpg, Barracks Shakamak hosted many Mid-States AAU Championship Swim Meets, drawing a huge attendance. A platform and a 5 and 10 meter diving platform (called the "16" and "32" by local swimmers preferring to measure the heights approximately in feet) was created for the meets and remained open and in use by the general swimming public until the 1990s when Shakamak Lake was closed to swimming and a swimming pool was constructed. The park is located approximately from Jasonville, Indiana, a town with the motto of "The Gateway to Shakamak".

References

External links

*
Indiana Department of Natural Resources' official Web page

Shakamak, In. Resources
{{authority control Civilian Conservation Corps in Indiana Historic districts in Clay County, Indiana Historic districts in Greene County, Indiana Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana National Register of Historic Places in Clay County, Indiana Nature centers in Indiana Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Protected areas established in 1929 Protected areas of Clay County, Indiana Protected areas of Greene County, Indiana Protected areas of Sullivan County, Indiana State parks of Indiana 1929 establishments in Indiana