How many times have you heard, or—be honest—even said, “That might the biggest in the state!”?

My husband sincerely believes that the biggest bass ever to swim his secret lake down south hangs on our living room wall. That’s silly. But now that I think of it, I once found the biggest dust bunny ever but lost the proof. I wasn’t about to make a similar mistake twice, so when my daughter found the biggest french fry, we saved it for weeks in a plastic bag. It’s probably still in the house somewhere.

Maybe every Hoosier claims the biggest, oldest or first of something sometime. More of these claims have been certified than you might think. Even some that haven’t are worth a look. Combine the two and you’ve got an excuse for a road trip or three. A word of warning: we’re taking the scenic route

Before we fill the tank, here’s some context. Indiana is the smallest of the four states bordering Lake Michigan, and the smallest mainland state west of the Appalachian Mountains. Our home state, the Crossroads of America, has the most miles of interstate highway per square mile and the most intersections of major highways.

Shawn Sparger of Greenwood shows off his big bass ( left). An aerial view over Mount Tom, Indiana’s tallest dune, includes
the pavilion at Dunes State Park and Lake Michigan, the only Great Lake completely contained within United States borders (center left).
The thousands of white pines planted at Bendix Woods in 1938 pay tribute to the Studebaker car (and airplane engine) manufacturing
facility that operatedin South Bend during aviation’s big boom (center right). Motorcycle enthusiasts Phil Wagner
and John Russell stop at Indiana’s biggest egg, located in Mentone (right).

U.S. 231 is a fitting road to hit first. It’s the longest in Indiana, covering the entire length of the state and crossing 14 counties. At its north end sits Gary, the largest city in the nation founded in the 20th century. Incorporated July 14, 1906 by U.S. Steel, Gary also has Indiana Dunes State Park, which extends to Michigan City. The park features Mount Tom, Indiana’s tallest sand dune, elevation 192 feet.

Traveling on to Saint Joseph County, we find South Bend’s Potawatomi Zoo, which opened in 1902, making it Indiana’s oldest. Speaking of living things, the world’s largest living sign still grows in New Carlisle. Best viewed from the air, its 8,259 white pines spell out defunct car-maker S-t-u-d-e-b-a-k-e-r, so the sign has outlasted its namesake.

Kosciusko County bulges with bigs. Warsaw’s Tippecanoe Lake, depth 120 feet, is Indiana’s deepest natural lake. R.R. Donnelly, the largest commercial printer in the United States, is also a Warsaw resident, as are, logically, the company’s printing presses, some of which are the largest in the world. As we swing over near Syracuse, there’s Lake Wawasee, Indiana’s largest natural lake in acres, spanning 3,000. Maple Leaf Farms, located in Milford, is the world’s largest duck producer. On we go to Mentone, the self-proclaimed egg basket of the Midwest—chicken variety, not duck—which has Indiana’s largest egg. Man-made, of course, the oval stands 10 feet and weighs 3,000 pounds. If you get the urge to eat that whole thing, or a whole anything, we can go to Elkhart, birthplace of Alka-Seltzer.

We need a pit stop. At least I do.

Feels like the first time

In Delphi in Carroll County sits the oldest surviving bowstring truss bridge in Indiana, also the oldest iron bridge of any type in the state. By the way, a bowstring bridge has a unique pattern of triangle shapes in its form and looks like a bow or the letter D on its side. The Wabash River, which runs under many other bridges, is considered the state’s longest river, not counting the Ohio, which runs through many states. The Wabash has the longest section of free-flowing river east of the Mississippi. The city of the same name was the first in the nation to be lit by electricity.

On to Kokomo, a whole city of firsts. You name it, automobile, pneumatic rubber tire, aluminum casting, carburetor, stainless steel, American Howitzer shell, aerial bomb with fins, mechanical corn picker, Dirilyte golden-hued tableware, canned tomato juice, push-button car radio, all-metal lifeboat, signal-seeking car radio, and transistor car radio, this city produced one before anyone else, anywhere.

Wait ... there’s something about a politician’s stump speech on the radio. They can’t be giving it here in Highland Park, our next stop, which claims the world’s largest sycamore stump, can they? The stump is from an 800-year-old tree that fell from the banks of Wildcat Creek. It must’ve made quite a splash. The stump alone stands 12 feet high and has a 57 foot circumference. It used to be a phone booth. There’s no phone anymore but the stump’s not moving. While we’re here, look at Old Ben, once the world’s largest steer, now he’s now the largest stuffed steer.

The oldest iron bridge in Indiana, formerly near Camden, was moved to Delphi. It now spans a restored section of the Wabash and
Erie Canal, the longest canal in the United States (left). The Wabash River is the longest to flow through our state (center left).
The first woman driver in the United States, Mrs. John S. Landon, drove an 1897 Haynes-Apperson to work in Kokomo in 1899 (center).
Elwood Haynes claims rights to the first American car, an 1894 Haynes Pioneer, which resides in the collections of the Smithsonian Institute
(center right). Valuable golden-hued Dirilyte tableware is another Kokomo “first” (right).

We’re not going to pull anything funny in this next place. It’s got the oldest and only known working rotary jail in the United States. Built in 1882, the Montgomery County jail used the rotating cell block until 1972. The structure consists of 16 pie-shaped wedges, the cells, on two levels. The whole shooting match is housed in a steel cage, one opening per level. Now it’s a museum here in Crawfordsville.

Before we leave this county, note that the Calvert-Porter Nature Preserve contains the richest known tree diversity of any forest of its size in the state. The National Parks Service lists it as a National Natural Landmark because of its special habitats and a great blue heron rookery, or breeding area.

City Folk

Indianapolis has our most people and, logically, the largest cemetery. Crown Hill is also the third-largest non-military cemetery in the country. The oldest Indiana government agency, the Indiana State Library and Historical Building, also resides in the Circle City. It houses the largest collection of Indiana newspapers anywhere.

Downtown, at the Indiana Statehouse, we can learn about Henry S. Lane, who served the shortest term as governor. He started Jan. 14, 1861. Two days later, he was named a U.S. senator by the Republican Party.

Kokomo Parks superintendent Dan Smith provides the author with an up-close-and-personal view of Kokomo’s amazing
sycamore stump (left), located conveniently next to Old Ben, the famous steer (left center). Montgomery County’s
Calvert and Porter Nature Preserve has the greatest tree diversity of any forest its size in Indiana (middle). It also features an outstanding
great blue heron rookery (right center).DNR archaeologist Ron Richards reveals some of the oldest mammal bones in the state at the
Indiana State Museum (right).

Let’s leave the car in the garage and walk over to the Indiana State Museum. We’ve got to see the oldest-known mammal bones found in the state and possibly the Midwest.

Rock on

Time for some quality rock music on the radio. What’s a road trip without that?

In Monroe County we find the richest deposit of high-quality limestone anywhere in the world. The resource is located along the belt from the northwest part of the county into Lawrence County. Indiana limestone has been used to build at least 14 state capitol buildings, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, the Pentagon, the U.S. Treasury and numerous other federal government buildings. At the courthouse in Lebanon, we see eight of the largest one-piece limestone columns in the world, 36 feet high, 30 tons apiece.

The work of Indiana limestone sculptor Mark Wallis stands along S.R. 46 at the west side of Spencer (left).
Visitors to Vincennes State Historic Site experience the history and flavor of Indiana’s oldest town (center).Humongous limestone pillars
at the Boone County courthouse in Lebanon were made of single blocks of Indiana limestone quarried from ancient sea beds (right).

The state’s original capitol building sat in Vincennes, Indiana’s oldest town. The Indiana Territory Capitol was built in 1805 and served as the hub of political activity until 1813, when the capital city label was placed on Corydon. Vincennes also served as the capital of the Louisiana Purchase for nine months in 1804-05. More land has been governed out of Vincennes than any other capital except Washington, the one in D.C.

Oldies and goodies

Let’s get some oldies on the radio for our next destination, Evansville, to set the mood for its old buildings. The Museum of Arts, History and Science houses Koch Planetarium, the oldest in the state at 54 years. That’s less than half the age of the state’s oldest public library building, which we can also see while in town. Willard librarians have been shh-ing people since 1885.

While in Evansville, let’s address the mighty Ohio River, which skirts 302 miles of Indiana’s southern border. The nation’s second-largest river hits Indiana’s lowest point in Posey County, 320 feet above sea level.

We’re going underground to find a record-setting Indiana river. The Lost is the longest underground river in the nation. It begins in Washington County, disappears for 23 miles, and surprise—reappears in Martin County. Divers have measured the river at 165 feet deep, a state record.

A semi truck appears tiny in relation to the bridge crossing the Ohio River, the nation’s second longest bridge (left). Steve Polston,
of Indianapolis, stands at Indiana’s lowest point, 320 feet above sea level, in Posey County (center). A massive raft of logs
at Stein Swallowhole indicates its proximity to the Lost River during its mostly underground run through
southern Indiana (right).

Speaking of underground...

The highest underground mountain and stalagmite pillar in the world are at O’Bannon Woods State Park in Wyandotte Caves. Monument Mountain and Pillar of the Constitution are both part of the 23 miles listed as a National Natural Landmark. This Harrison County cave system is the largest hibernacula for the endangered Indiana bats in the state. That gurgling you hear nearby is Harrison Spring, our state’s largest. Another National Natural Landmark, the spring produces nearly 3 million gallons of water per day, enough to serve 12,000 people.

My car radio clock never seems to work but that won’t matter much since this trip’s to Jeffersonville. The Colgate-Palmolive plant has the largest clock in Indiana, and the second-largest clock in the world. It’s 40 feet in diameter. The hour hand is 16 feet long and weighs 500 pounds. Even though the clock has been ticking since 1924, its time may be running out. The plant is scheduled to close in 2008. The fate of the clock is unknown.

Does the big clock say 10 a.m. yet? If so, we can head over to nearby Starlight and visit the Forest Discovery Center, which claims to have the only indoor forest in the United States. All are welcome, except Indiana’s largest rodent. I’d hate to see the damage a 70-pound beaver could inflict to such a creation.

An underground mountain at Wyandotte Cave may be the largest of its kind in the world (left). The indoor forest at the Forest Discovery Center
near Starlight in southern Clark County is the largest indoor forest in the country (center left). Beavers are the largest rodents found in
Indiana (center right). Kenny Karem helps a student measure himself on a giant fossil at Falls of the Ohio State Park, featuring the
largest exposed Devonian fossil beds in the world (right).

Falls of the Ohio State Park, our next stop, is located near Jeffersonville, in Clarksville. Even though it’s the smallest of our Parks and Reservoirs properties, it contains some of the largest exposed Devonian fossil beds in the world, dating back 386 million years. If it’s our largest property you want, we can go to Patoka. The reservoir property contains 25,800 acres, and Patoka Lake is the second-largest reservoir in Indiana behind Monroe Lake, at 10,750 acres.

If we had a horse, we should have ridden in on it. Clark State Forest has the most horse trails in an Indiana state forest, 100 miles of them. Spring Mill State Park claims to have the state’s largest Eastern red cedar tree. If we had time, we could hike the Knobstone, Indiana’s longest hiking trail, at 58 miles. Let’s save that for another time.

Plants and animals

On a much shorter hike, as we pass some water, squint and you might see the world’s smallest flowering plant, watermeal. Keep looking in the water, and you could see the lightest Indiana fish, a 3.5-ounce flier. Indiana’s largest fish is a 106-pound paddlefish.

Indiana’s plant with the largest leaves is the devil’s walking stick, or Hercules Club. A single leaf can span up to 5 feet long and 3 feet wide. Deam’s foxglove is a true Hoosier plant, the only vascular one that occurs solely within our state’s friendly confines.

If your neck is tired from looking down at all those plants, look to the sky. Indiana’s got whooping cranes, the tallest birds in North America. Adult males stand 5 feet tall, and weigh 14 to 16 pounds. Their wingspan can stretch to 7 feet.

The fastest living creatures on Earth live in Indiana and I’m not talking about my driving. It’s the peregrine falcon, which can reach 168 miles per hour while swooping for prey.

Hold on tight while I punch it to pass this truck and head to Santa Claus, home of Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari, the world’s first theme park. There, the Voyage hits 67.4 mph down the steepest drop of any wooden roller coaster in the nation. It claims to give riders 24.2 seconds of air time, more than any other wooden coaster.

A paddlefish is Indiana’s biggest fish ( left). Sisters Cheryl Moke and Daryl Smith backpack the Knobstone Trail, longest in the
state (center left). The lightest Indiana record fish is a 3.5-ounce flier. Fliers are tiny sunfish found in a few southern Indiana rivers and swamps.
Flier record-holder Harold Otte of Greenwood boasts, “It’s not the biggest, but it’s the smallest” (center right).Holiday World in
Santa Claus is the world’s first theme park (right).

The Voyage stands 173 feet tall, just a little taller than the Greene County viaduct, which stands 157 feet high and is 2,295 feet long, making it the third-largest train trestle in the United States. Completed in 1906, “Tulip Trestle” is beautiful but hard to find. We might have to ask the locals for directions.

Metamora has no viaduct, but an aqueduct. Its Duck Creek aqueduct is the last surviving covered bridge for canal boats in the nation. Constructed in 1843, the 71-foot span carries Whitewater Canal 16 feet over the creek. You can see it and get a ride on the Ben Franklin III if you visit Whitewater Canal State Historic Site in Franklin County.

In Jackson County we find the Medora covered bridge, the last standing triple span in Indiana, and, at 458 feet, the longest still standing in these United States.

We wind up our travels in Madison County, a red county. That’s not like a red state but red as in color, as in tomatoes and paint. Indiana’s largest food processor, Red Gold, Inc., is headquartered in Orestes and has its distribution center in Alexandria. At least part of Orestes has been painted red, one time or another. We might just do that later on, figuratively, but now I’m talking about layer No. 942 of the world’s largest ball of paint, the color of which is tomato red. The ball weighs more than 2,000 pounds because of the more than 20,100 layers of paint. Certified by the Guinness Book of World Records, it’s a nationally known roadside attraction, but that term’s old hat to us now. We’ve been there, done that, finally.

If you are interested in more Indiana superlatives, search the Internet or check out several books: Dick Wolfsie’s “Indiana Curiosities,” “Oddball Indiana” by Jerome Pohlen, and “Indiana’s Believe It or Not” by Fred Cavinder.

A stunning railroad viaduct in rural Greene County, Tulip Tree Trestle, is the third-largest train trestle in the country (left). Any account
of Indiana superlatives must mention corn or tomatoes. Indiana’s largest food processor, Red Gold, is headquartered in Orestes and processes
mind-boggling quantities of tomatoes. Kokomo claims the first canned tomato juice (center left). Naturally occurring populations of
Deam’s foxglove are found only in Indiana (center right). A bridge for canal boats is located at Whitewater Canal State Historic Site,
the only one of its kind in the United States (right). Finally, the number of photos used in this article may be the most ever for a single
story in Outdoor Indiana, setting another record. Happy travels.