Bedford and Lawrence County

Lawrence County is home to over 46,000 people with approximately 14,000 residing within the Bedford city limits. The city of Bedford has a small town atmosphere with many conveniences of a larger city. Bedford is the county seat of Lawrence County, and was founded under its current name in the early 1900s by a wealthy landowner named Kyle Wade.

Bedford is known as the limestone capital of the world, and is surrounded by limestone quarries, many of which are used by the residents for swimming. A common name for the light gray Indiana limestone quarried in south central Indiana is "Bedford limestone". Much of the limestone used in the construction of various Washington, D.C. monuments was quarried in the Bedford area.

The first commercial quarrying in Lawrence County started in 1860, and the quarrying process involved blasting a one year supply of limestone at once, then hand sawing the stone and using horses and oxen to haul it to the mill. In 1866 the first steam-powered saws were purchased, revolutionizing the industry. After the 1871 Chicago fire, limestone soon became the building material of choice in the city of Chicago. Its popularity spread.

Bluespring Caverns

One notable point of interest in the Lawrence County area is the Bluespring Caverns. Bluespring Caverns is a cave system stretching 21.5 miles. The cave system is a karst and river type cave formation and drains a 15 miles sinkhole plain. The cave is most notable for having the longest known subterranean river in the United States with approximately 3 miles of navigate river, and more than 21 miles of stream and river passages. The cave is host to a number of species, including crayfish, salamanders, crickets, spiders, and beetles. Most notable among these is the rare sightless Northern Cave fish, which is abundant in this cave system. A small number of bats make this cave their home, especially during winter. However, the frequent flooding of this cave system discourages bat habitation year-round.

Spring Mill State Park

Another notable point of interest in the Lawrence County area is the Spring Mill State Park. The Spring Mill State Park is a 1,319 acre state park in the state of Indiana. The park is located on the Mitchell Karst Plain, which allowed the park's caves and sinkholes to form in the limestone. Many of the park's features were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's, including the Spring Mill Inn, Spring Mill Lake, campgrounds, and several shelters and trails. A pioneer village can also be found in a valley in the park, featuring a historic grist mill, blacksmith shop, tavern, distillery, gardens, and several other structures. A stream runs through the village, which is fed by a spring in Hamer Cave and powers the grist mill.

Also of interest in the Spring Mill State Park is a memorial to native resident of Mitchell, Gus Grissom, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, who died in the Apollo 1 accident. The memorial features the spacecraft from Grissom's Gemini 3 space flight, nicknamed the "Molly Brown" (after the play The Unsinkable Molly Brown) by Grissom, as well as a short video about the life of Grissom, and artifacts such as a space suit, helmet, and electronics.

Some text taken from Wikipedia.