Abe Lincoln Lodge at Brown County State Park - Nashville, IN Review

Recently I wanted to take my family of four for a weekend get-away close to home.  I was looking for the "feel" of a long distance vacation without the travel expense.  I live just northwest of Indianapolis, and have been to Indiana's Brown County but have never stayed in the hotel inside the large Brown County State Park. 

Brown County State Park is located in Nashville, Indiana.  For those of you who haven't ventured to Nashville, Indiana, it is well worth your trip.  The park is very large and the views are breathtaking . . . especially in the fall.  There is on-site camping available, but I'm not that much of an outdoor-sy person, although I do love a good hike every now and then.  The town of Nashville has many little specialty shops so shoppers can rejoice!

When I did some research for the hotel inside the State Park, I came across the website for the Abe Lincoln Lodge.  A variety of room options were available, but I settled on a two-queen room option, as this was best for my family.  I was pleased to find out via the website that they offered a brand new indoor water park included with your stay.

So, when the day finally arrived, we loaded up the family and made the 45 minute trek to Nashville.  We found the hotel without difficulty by following the signs inside the park.  Admission to the park was $5 per vehicle, so in essence there is a $5 parking fee, although once you are in, you can leave and re-enter without additional charge so long as you show proof you are staying at the hotel.

When we arrived at the hotel, we were amazed at the lobby.  There were large wooden carvings and you essentially walked through the gift shop to get to the front desk.  Already I felt like I was on "vacation."  When we checked in we were given room keys.  And by "room keys" I mean actualy metal keys for the room.  I couldn't remember the last time I had an actual room key at a hotel.  We found our room without difficulty and had to jiggle the key just right to get the door to open.  Upon entering the room we found two queen beds, a chair, a small table, an armoire with TV, and a dresser.  There was not much else room to move.  The beds were cute and seemingly made out of wood logs.  The bedding was well worn, but comfortable.  There was no refrigerator or microwave, but this was not surprising as none was advertised.

We quickly donned our suits and headed to the waterpark.  My kids are 2 and 4, and we were delighted at what we found.  There was a zero entry pool (at least I think that is what it is called . . . the kind of pool where as you walk further the water gets a tad deeper).  There was a small lazy river, a single water slide that had a few curves in it, an area for just "swimming", and a separate pool for those wanting to play volleyball or basketball in the pool.  No area of the pool was higher than I think 36 inches, which was great since my 4 year old could touch the bottom anywhere we went.  Life vests and swim noodles were available without charge.  We had a BLAST!  The waterslide kept us adults VERY entertained (although the children were too small to use it).

After an exhausting couple of hours, we retreated to our room to shower off and settle in for the night.  The bathroom facilities definitely needed updating.  Most surprising of all was the lack of hotel-provided blow dryer.  I have grown to assume that there will be one of these in every hotel, so I didn't pack one.  Big mistake. 

The next morning, we decided to eat in the lodge, and we came across the "Little Gem Restaurant" which was located on the 2nd floor.  It was homestyle cooking at a very reasonable price.  They have a breakfast buffet which has just about anything you could want. 

After eating we drove through the park stopping at some of the fantastic views for some photo-ops and made a brief pit-stop for our first family hike.  After that we headed into town for some shopping and took the "Nashville Train Tour" which is actually not a train at all but was very informative 30 minute guided ride about the history of Nashville.

So if you are looking for an unusual but family friendly retreat, I highly recommend the Abe Lincoln Lodge.  The rooms themselves are not so hot, but the rest of the experience is most definately deserving of a return trip!