Say Hi to the Lady

The Lady of Turkey Run

Juliet V. Strauss was truly the savior of Turkey Run. She managed to save the area from logging interests, making it the second Indiana state park in 1916. This statue, called "Subjugation", was a thank you and memorial installed in 1921 after her death. The original home was absolute perfection-- tucked behind a stone outcropping down on the trail leading into Turkey Run Hollow. It was truly a sacred place, touched by the sun slanting through the trees above and the cry of birds swirling away the summer months. Eventually she was moved to a more secure location behind the Inn and is still beautiful. It's different though, and you can almost hear her saying she misses the real home down under her beloved stone bluffs.

My entire life she has been important to me. As I grew older and moved on to being an adult, she stayed a touchstone no matter how far from Indiana I found myself. On my occasional visits she was always my first stop and somehow just represented the park to our entire family. When anyone found the opportunity to go, everyone else would inevitably ask "Please say hi to The Lady for me".

When I began letterboxing and decided to try my hand at carving, I knew instinctively that The Lady had to be my first planted box. It was pretty rough around the edges but still I was proud of it. (original box name was simply "The Lady") Some really awesome visitors left lovely messages for me in the logbook and truly seemed to appreciate the walk I had led them on. Sadly it was destroyed by someone who obviously hasn't been taught that you don't throw trash into the streams while hiking.

This weekend I recarved and replanted the stamp with this new name. I feel better...even if this one disappears eventually to, at least I know that for now I have done the best I could for her. I hope you seek out her treasure in your own time and take away with you a memory of having visited something special there on the trails. If you go, please say hi to The Lady for me. :-)


To learn more, try:

Juliet V. Strauss~
http://www.bsu.edu/web/landandlit/literature/Authors/straussjv.html