Pendleton Falls Park

For a town the size of Pendleton, the park system is enormous. Anyone looking to live in Pendleton proper to raise a family could do a lot worse… it really is very good.
The park itself is spread out encompassing a large playground with pavilions, a fountain, gazebo, and Japanese style garden on one end and ending about a mile away with nearly a dozen softball and baseball fields on the other. In between is the historical museum, walking and biking trails, Brown olympic size outdoor pool with platforms and slides, and huge amounts of green space. The golf course on the other side of town also falls in the jurisdiction of the parks.
Falls Park Rd. is sort of the de facto thoroughfare that links all the park components. I would be hard pressed to say I would walk from the main playground to the ball fields… it is long enough to probably drive. Traffic thru there is 20mph but I have noticed much worse.
The crown jewel really are the ball fields though. It is large enough to host tournaments and I know that a daughter of a co-​worker has travelled from south of Center Grove to get there. Youth softball and baseball are huge here and many age levels are represented.
If swinging thru Madison county, stop by and take a stroll on a walking trail and check it out!

Falls Park in Pendleton, Indiana is the first place I head for when I get to town, night or day. It’s in the center of the town that is in the center of my heart, where I have so many warm childhood memories and even memories of adult visits here.
At the old swimming area there are two waterfalls that never cease to be pretty in any season. The beautiful pond has ducks swimming thru it, a lighthouse, and two cannons for kids to climb on. There is a Veterans Memorial to local soldiers killed in the service of their country, a gazebo for concerts, picnics and parties, brick picnic shelters, more ducks everywhere, a playground for kids, and in the former bath house where we used to pay our 20 cents and change into our bathing suits, the Pendleton Historical Museum is housed, a real town treasure.
The only thing missing (and the reason for taking one star away) is the old «Maypole» that used to be in the playground, where I remember swinging around till I was dizzy when I would play there on childhood visits to my grandmother’s. I was shocked when, a few years ago, my mother, in her 80’s, talked about how she wouldn’t go on it because it gave her motion sickness. What? It was there in her childhood too? I was so disappointed when I went there in 2007 and for the first time in my life it wasn’t there.
Whenever I visit the Midwest I always fly into Indy airport and visit Pendleton first before I head up to Ohio and Michigan and come back here for more visit before I fly home. I envy any kid who got to grow up in this town (except for the snow and tornadoes!).