New Harmony is a small town along the Wabash River in southwestern Indiana. It began as a communal living experiment by German Lutherans led by George Rapp in the early 1800s. After a period of time, the group decided to move away to the Pittsburgh area in Pennsylvania to be closer to markets and better transportation. The town was sold to Robert Owen, a Scottish textile mill owner who wanted to establish a utopian secular community. At that point it became more of an intellectual center. As with many if not most of those communal efforts, both variants were less successful than hoped.

Today a portion of the historic section of the town is a site administered by the University of Southern Indiana which has a visitor center there offering videos on the history of the community and touring information.

Many of the original buildings still exist, but many of those are in private ownership, so it is not possible to wander through them as at some historic sites. In our case, a rather dreary drizzly morning didn't help bring out the best views and photos, but it was still an interesting stop. As we have family in Indiana, we will have more opportunities to check out things in better weather.

This stop was part of the Grand Tour 2016, a 5800 mile drive through flyover country!