Memorials in the Park

Various memorials and plaques can be found in the park. While not usually the highlight of visits to the park, they are part of the history of the park and serve as reminders of the past and can help us look to the future.

Each of the following are described in the panels below.

Big Clifty Overlook - State Park Founding

The memorial and information panel are located in the grassy area at the Big Clifty Falls Overlook, along with the Indigenous tribes memorial stone. They note the first 100 years of Indiana State Parks. Clifty Falls State Park was established in 1920, the third State Park after McCormick's Creek and Turkey Run.

Big Clifty Overlook - Indigenous People's Memorial

The memorial stone sits in the center of the grassy area beyond the State Park system founding material at the Big Clifty Overlook. It honors the Indigenous tribes that lived in these lands prior to Indiana's statehood. It was placed here in 2016.

Lilly Overlook


A favorite Clifty canyon overlook for many is the Lilly Overlook.


The memorial states:


TO THE ENDURING MEMORY OF JAMES WATKINSON LILLY

BORN LAFAYETTE, IND NOVEMBER 10, 1862

DIED INDIANAPOLIS, IND JUNE 22, 1925

A PUBLIC SPIRITED CITIZEN WHOSE LOVE AND LABORS FOR HIS UNFORTUNATE FELLOWMEN MADE HIM ENVISAGE THE GREATER SERVICE OF THESE PRECINCTS AS A STATE RECREATIONAL GROUND STATE OF INDIANA

1927


The Indianapolis Star of June 20, 1927 reported: "The commission will also erect a fitting memorial at Clifty Falls state park to the late James Watkinson Lilly, for many years a member of the board of trustees of the Southeastern hospital for the insane at Madison."


According to one report, there had been a plaque placed on the old stone house behind the Inn (early era of the park).

Garber Memorial


The Garber Memorial - many locals will know the name, but I wonder how many know this memorial plaque is here - or how many hikers and other visitors know it? It still sits (I think) where it was when first installed in the early 1930s at the Clifty Inn overlook. It witnessed the CCC era and modifications to the Inn over the years, including the 1974 tornado.

The memorial states:


THE DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION
 STATE OF INDIANA
 IN
 COMMEMORATION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
 OF THE
 DISTINGUISHED SERVICES OF
 MICHAEL CHRISTIAN GARBER
 BORN APRIL 6, 1850 - DIED JULY 15, 1930
 IN THE LOCATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF
 CLIFTY FALLS STATE PARK
 THE LANIER MEMORIAL
 AND
 THE NAVIGATION OF THE OHIO RIVER

Guthrie Entrance (South Gate)

The south gate is known as the Guthrie Entrance, named so in  honor of one the leaders of the  state park movement in Indiana.

The memorial states:

GUTHRIE ENTRANCE
CLIFTY FALLS STATE PARK

NAMED IN HONOR OF W. A. GUTHRIE
FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE INDIANA
CONSERVATION COMMISSION WHO
WAS VERY ACTIVE IS FOSTERING THE
ACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT OF
CLIFTY FALLS STATE PARK AND OTHER
CONSERVATION PROPERTIES
DEDICATED 1936