A New Chapter: Discovering Indy-The Ruins at Holliday Park

Races of Mankind sculpture at "The Ruins"

We discovered a great little gem in the city last week. Holliday Park. Last Thursday our friend John asked us to attend a free evening concert by at Holliday Park. The weather was fantastic, it was live music and it was free. Of course we said yes!

The story of "The Ruins" in Holliday Park starts in the late 1800's. International sculptor Karl Bitter designed the "Races of Mankind" sculpture in the late 1890's which was originally installed on a building in NY city. When the sculpture was later removed from the NY building, there was a competition among U.S. cities to design a home for the sculpture. Indianapolis won the competition with Artist Elmer Taflinger's design of "The Ruins", complete with columns, pillars, statues and fountains.

As Mike and I walked around the park, standing next to "The Ruins" transported me back to college days of exploring the Acropolis and other Greek ruins. Not only were there the requisite pillars and columns, but the area was overgrown with trees and bushes, and the fountains weren't working.

"The Ruins"

But come to find out, it isn't supposed to look that way Ironically "The Ruins" are now in a state of ruin due to neglect and lack of funding over the years.

So there is a capital campaign underway , and the Friends of Holliday Park are well on their way to funding an endowment to restore and maintain this area.

What an amazing gem tucked away in a little known city park. I can't wait to return as work progresses on this revitalization project. And the concert was awesome! The band Living Proof played a lot of cover tunes, and the crowd was moving and dancing to the tunes.

Removing the trees

And on the home front, part our own property has been a bit of a demolition site this past week. We removed three diseased and dying Austrian Pines that were located between our house and our neighbor's house to the South.

Don't know the name, but it was effective equipment

Sunlight between the houses!

Since Mike bought the house about seven years ago, this area has been "no man's land" of pine trees, volunteer trees, poison ivy and weeds.

But as we made the decision to remove the trees, we've been thinking about alternate uses of this land. First of all, it was always shady and dark. Now it is a bright sunny spot!

So visions of a raised garden are floating through our heads. It's too late for this year, but next year I envision a bumper crop of vegetables! And another benefit of the tree removal is that our neighbors are now cleaning up their side of the property which was also very overgrown. Major progress is underway!

Mike fixing the desk

And the next big project is Mike's study. He made some revisions to the desk top, and then we moved it out of the garage and into the house.

I'll save you from my ravings about how many times I cussed under my breath while trying to avoid denting my car door on that desk since last September... but suffice it to say I'm thrilled it's out of the garage.