ABOUT US
The Forks of the Wabash
Some events that transpired at the Forks of the Wabash helped shape the face of our nation. Others reflected movements going on all over the country.
When you step inside the Chief's House, you will quickly see that the Miami who lived here in 1846 were far distanced from the Miami who greeted the French here 150 years earlier. This is the home of people who had succeeded in meeting the demands of a rapidly-changing culture. They were not hunters, they did not nap flint tools, and they did not live in matted wigwams. Rather they were successful business people and committed community leaders. They were people of wealth and good taste, and they were also politically astute. The negotiating skill of the people associated with this house resulted in many Miami families remaining here in Indiana. As a result of their skill, today we can find the Miami not just in history books, museum exhibits and old photographs but as vital members of our present community, a part of the tapestry of who we are today.
The construction of the Nuck House still shows the scribe marks left by Mathias Nuck as he marked the notches he was about to carve out with an axe. The scribe marks were drawn free-hand, not with a straight-edge. Mathias carved the notches: some shallow, some steep, and visitors will see how tightly the logs fit together. Our Visitor’s Center features his wood-working tools.
Visitors to the Forks will notice the clapboard siding on the east wall of the Nuck House. This clapboarding was added to keep the timbers of the house dry, but perhaps more importantly, the siding spoke to the new status the Nuck family was attaining. With a few coats of whitewash, this wood siding gave the house the appearance of a “real” house. It was not some rough-hewn cabin in the wilderness, but a “modern” home where a family of rising means lived.
The discovery trails of Forks woods will take visitors through a cross-section of transportation history. The Wabash River – the ancient transportation route and link to the Mississippi River system – comes within a few feet of the towpath of the Wabash & Erie Canal. After the Canal’s demise, the towpath became the right-of-way for the old interurban rail system that connected communities in Indiana and ushered in the 20th century. A few feet beyond the interurban route is modern, four-lane U.S. Highway 24. As visitors stand on the canal towpath, they are literally standing in the footprints of 10,000 years of people moving toward their future.
It all happened here, and if we listen, we can still hear the whispers of earlier times. Won’t you come out and take a listen for yourself?
Historic Forks of the Wabash, Inc.
Of course, like all good stories, it began with someone who cared about a place rooted in history: deep like the roots of the sycamore trees dotting our riverbanks.
In 1943, a local historian named Luke Scheer purchased the Chief’s House from the last living relatives of Chief Lafontaine and Richardville. The home had been rented out for several years, but then sat empty due to a damaged water line.
Jean Gernand, a home economics teacher at Huntington North and a budding historian, knew of the Chief’s House and its historic past, and wanted to help restore the home. Under Gernand’s direction (and with Scheer’s permission), the Junior Historical Society began an extensive restoration of the Chief’s House in March 1977. The Society and its many volunteers provided the free labor over their spring and summer vacation from school, and Scheer paid for the materials.
The property, and Huntington’s love for its unique history, began to grow. In 1979, Jim and Carol Shuttleworth donated the Nuck house to the Junior Historical Society. The Board of Zoning Appeals approved moving the log cabin to the northwest corner of 9 and 24 west. By 1987, the Junior Historical Society was able to purchase the Chief’s house, and the Historic Forks of the Wabash Inc. was born.
Over the next five years, the Historic Forks of the Wabash restored and developed the property. They put a museum in the building where the Riverforks Farm fruit and vegetable stand was located. Ironically, this building was originally built by Scheer to house a museum. In 1990, the Historic Forks of the Wabash purchased the Treaty Grounds, which encompassed: Wabash and Erie Canal land, Interurban RR land, Norfolk & Western RR (Wabash RR), Long Portage land, Chief Richardville’s home, the Treaty Grounds, Indian Villages locations, and the Bishop Noll’s summer home.
In the early 1990s, Bill and Polly Shriner donated additional property to the Historic Forks of the Wabash, and the Chief’s house and Nuck House were moved across US 24 to make way for proposed widening of the highway. Work also began on transforming the fruit stand into a museum.
In June of 1994, the Forks was finally ready for its dedication and Grand Opening in its new location. Guests included the principal chief of the Oklahoma Miami, Chief Floyd Leonard and his wife, Pat; Paul Godfroy, Tribal Council member; and Chief Peconge, interim chief of the Indiana Miamis. There were about 2 miles of trails leading to the Wabash and Erie Canal and along the Wabash River at the Forks, and a new log structure was under contruction and would soon become our 1840s schoolhouse.
Over the years, many people have stepped up and volunteered or supported the Historic Forks of the Wabash in one way or another. Today, the Forks is still volunteer-run. Contact us today to volunteer and find your own place within the pages of history.