Best Things to Do in Vincennes

15/03/2023

Fort Knox II
Three miles up the Wabash, close to Ouabache Trails Park is the site of another early outpost for Vincennes. Built in 1803, Fort Knox II replaced the earlier fort of the same name from 1787.

The second fort was set at a river landing with commanding views of the Wabash. In late 1811 this was the place where Governor Harrison rallied his troops before the march to Prophetstown and the Battle of Tippecanoe, and was the place they returned to, with several mortally wounded.

Later, as the War of 1812 unfolded, Fort Knox II was deemed too far from Vincennes to protect the settlement, and was floated downriver and rebuilt near the site of Fort Knox I.

Today the original location for Fort Knox II is a national and state historic site, marked out with short posts and interpretive boards.

15/03/2023

Kimmell Park

Named for the mayor at the time, this park on the Wabash River opened in 1938 and is ideal for passive recreation within shouting distance of downtown Vincennes.

Kimmell Park was a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, and there are a few holdovers from this time, in the form of a limestone shelterhouse and a walled circular seating area with built-in ovens.

The park has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2013 and caters to peaceful picnics and fishing, with a riverside trail linking this space with the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park two miles away.

15/03/2023

11/03/2023

St. Francis Xavier Cathedral and Library

Dating back to 1826, this Greek Revival basilica is in fact the third church to be built on this site. The oldest was a primitive log structure with a bark roof, raised around 1732.

The present building is the oldest Catholic church in Indiana, with a magnificent arched ceiling supported by tall Doric columns.

Look for the murals painted by Wilhelm Lamprecht (1838 –1922), above the high altar, Blessed Mother altar and the Saint Joseph Altar.

The cathedral is the centerpiece of a complex that includes a cemetery for some 4,000 early Vincennes citizens, as well as a rectory (1841) and a library (1840).

The latter is the oldest in the state, holding some 10,000 rare volumes and documents going back to the 14th century.

The museum here has a host of intriguing artifacts, some highlights being Lincoln’s campaign banner, a peace pipe smoked by Governor William Henry Harrison, maps from the 18th and 19th century, Shawnee chief Tecumseh’s war club and prehistoric stone tools unearthed in the area

09/03/2023

George Rogers Clark National Historical Park

On the riverside, at the site of the 18th-century Fort Sackville, is a spectacular granite rotunda erected to commemorate the extraordinary feats of George Rogers Clark (1752-1818) in the winter of 1778-79.

During the Illinois Campaign, he led 170 frontiersmen and Frenchmen on a heroic march north from Kaskaskia on the Mississippi, braving freezing floodwaters on the way.

When he captured Fort Sackville on the morning of February 25, 1779, the newly formed United States was able to take control of a vast area, comprising modern Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Clark’s march and victory is remembered as one of the great achievements during the American Revolution.

The rotunda is surrounded by 16 fluted Doric columns. Under the dome inside is a bronze statue of Clark, and the walls are adorned with seven murals depicting the 18-day trek.

07/03/2023

Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy

One of America’s most beloved 20th-century entertainers was born in Vincennes in 1913.

Starting out on showboats in the 1920s to help support a family that had lost its father before he was born, Skelton would go on to have a glittering 70-year career, also making a name as an accomplished painter of clowns.

Skelton’s widow donated a huge collection of memorabilia and personal effects to Vincennes University, and this became the basis for a wonderful interactive museum that opened in 2013 on what would have been his 100th birthday.

The main exhibit is Red Skelton: A Legacy of Laughter. This features a hands-on chronology of his life and career, an introduction to physical comedy, a theater showing highlights from his TV and movie career and a trove of memorabilia including costumes for famous characters like Freddie the Freeloader and Clem Kadiddlehopper.