INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL PARK: Celebrate National Aviation Day at Indiana Dunes National Park and learn about Octave Chanute’s pioneering glider flights in the dunes. Join in the fun on Saturday, August 19 from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm at the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center.
During the event, Chanute biographer, Simine Short, will give a brief talk on his collaborative approach to overcoming the problems related to flight and the support he gave to many aeronautical pioneers, including the Wright brothers.
Then view Paul Nelson’s documentary on Chanute. This film tells the story of the aviation pioneer’s efforts to achieve human flight using the dunes along the southern shore of Lake Michigan. “These sites right on the lake in Northwest Indiana should be revered in the same way that Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, is for flight enthusiasts," said Paul Nelson, the film's director. “It's just another aspect that makes the Indiana Dunes so special."
The Indiana Dunes Visitor Center is located at 1215 North State Road 49, about one mile north of Interstate 94. For more information on this and other programs at Indiana Dunes National Park, call 219-395-1882, visit our website, download the official National Park Service app, or view our Facebook page.
www.nps.gov
The Indiana Dunes National Park is one of more than 400 units of the National Park System ranging from Yellowstone to the Statue of Liberty. Located in Northwest Indiana, the park includes 15 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and 15,000 acres of biodiverse beaches, woods, prairies, and marshes. Over 3 million visitors come to the Indiana Dunes each year.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service