New outdoor classroom opens at Falls of the Ohio State Park

Nov. 3—CLARKSVILLE — When Southern Indiana kids or visitors attend a session or take a class at the Falls of the Ohio State Park there's now an option to do it outside.

A ribbon-cutting was held on Friday morning for the new outdoor classroom on the park's premises, and local elementary school students got to use it for the first time.

Falls of the Ohio Foundation Executive Director Kenton Wooten said there are several special aspects of the outdoor classroom, which is in a wooded area not too far from the Interpretative Center.

Long benches are made of driftwood and parts of trees found in the Ohio River near the park.

Limestone rocks, where teachers like Alan Goldstein, an interpretative naturalist at the Falls of the Ohio State Park, gave a session on Friday morning, are filled with fossils that kids can look for and identify.

Lisa Brones Huber with the Duke Energy Foundation said they donated $20,000 to the outdoor classroom.

"We are proud of the wonderful resource we have here at the Falls of the Ohio," Brones Huber said.

Representatives from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources attended the ribbon-cutting, including Deputy Director of Stewardship Ginger Murphy.

"Working with kids and working with others is close to my heart," she said.

Murphy said she appreciates the work put in for the classroom.

"Nowhere do we see this expressed more than at the Falls of the Ohio State Park," she said.

Wooten said the classroom is open for use and is completely ADA compliant.

The Falls of the Ohio State Park is at 201 W. Riverside Drive in Clarksville.