Saving Historic Orange County-SHOC

10/25/2025

Saving Historic Orange County (SHOC) has donated $1000 to kick-start this effort by the Historical Society to locate and place an historic barn at Lindley House, the historical society’s museum home. Lindley House was part of a working farm for the Thomas Elwood Lindley family, beginning in the Civil War era. Your contribution will allow the Historical Society to recreate the farm setting, move the Society”’s tool collection to the barn freeing up space in the downtown museum building and better provide an educational experience for visitors representative of Orange County early beginnings as an agriculture settlement.
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Orange County Historical Society Launches Barn Raising Campaign to Rebuild 1850s Farm Life at Lindley House

Paoli, IN — The Orange County Historical Society has recently launched a Barn Raising Campaign to reconstruct a one-story, 1850s-style historic barn at the historic Lindley House in Paoli. The project originally announced as part of the Society’s 50th Anniversary celebration of the creation of the Lindley Home Museum is designed to deepen the interpretation of the Lindley House as a working farm home from the mid-19th century.

The Society is currently searching for a suitable historic barn that can be dismantled and moved to the museum grounds or, alternatively, built to reflect the period using traditional methods and materials. The goal is to bring farm life from the 1850s and 1860s to life for visitors of all ages.

“We’re looking for a modest, authentic barn with character and history,” said Robert Henderson, President of the Historical Society. “This structure will help tell the story of early farm families in Orange County and give us a space for hands-on education.”

Once complete, the barn will feature museum exhibits, historic tools, and demonstrations of 19th-century farming techniques, as well as information on the crops and animals common to the time.

The space will be used for tours, school field trips, and seasonal programs.

To support the project, the Society has launched an Adopt-a-Beam Campaign. For $100, donors can symbolically adopt a beam and contribute directly to the reconstruction effort. All donors will receive a certificate and be recognized on-site. Local farms and agricultural businesses are also being invited to support the campaign through sponsorships.

The Society is spreading the word through local newspapers, radio ads, and social media, using the tagline: “Help Raise the Barn: One Beam at a Time.”

The Lindley House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1985, is open for guided tours by appointment and reflects the life and times of the 1850s to 1860s. The barn project will add an exciting new chapter to its educational mission.

To report a possible barn, adopt a beam, or get involved, contact the Orange County Historical Society at (812) 653-1212 or visit

Preserving Historical Materials & Traditions from Orange County Indiana

08/22/2025

08/21/2025

Members of Saving Historic Orange County (SHOC) are saddened to learn of the passing Gayle Cook. She was a heroine of area historic preservation and with her husband, Bill, the Cook family philanthropy became legend. SHOC members were happy many years ago to have Gayle join our group as a Lifetime member and we know her work in historic preservation will live on.

12/12/2024

Did you know the Indiana Barn Foundation has a grant to assist barn owners with barn repairs? The deadline to apply is January 31st. For details and the application, visit the IBF website at https://www.indianabarns.org/grants (Shown is a previous grant recipient barn where funds were used for foundation work.)

12/03/2024

10/16/2024

Saving Historic Orange County members are excited to nominate The Maples, an historic farmstead between Paoli and Prospect, to the National Register of Historic Places. Work began last week by Kurt W. Garner, a preservation consultant SHOC has contracted to write the nomination application.

10/08/2024

One of Orange County’s oldest and most historic structures, the 1841 stagecoach stop known as The Maples, has been designated by Saving Historic Orange County (SHOC) as the next candidate for protection offered by a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
SHOC’s proposal to finance cost of the National Register project received the blessing of The Maples owner, Kelly Cuff. Work begins this week to prepare an application, which will be reviewed first by Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology (DHPA). If approved, the paperwork moves on to the National Park Service in Washington D.C., which administers National Register of Historic Places.
This week, Kurt West Garner, of Heritage Preservation, Plymouth, IN will visit the historic inn, which offered travelers lodging on the stagecoach route between New Albany and Vincennes. The property, located between Paoli and West Baden Springs, was built by James Campbell and served as an inn for many decades.
Mr. Garner is acquainted with Orange County and SHOC. He was contracted by the preservation group and successfully nominated the Shindler-Stetson House in Orleans to the National Register in 2021. He is a renowned historic preservation consultant, who has prepared more successful National Register nominations than any other consultant in the state of Indiana.
Mr. Garner told SHOC members he is excited to begin work on the nomination of The Maples. The original iron bar securing the door to the room where cash was stored, remains in place in the house and the summer kitchen, smoke house, barn, corn crib and carriage house, all remaining on the property. He is hopeful those surviving structures will allow the property a unique and uncommon listing on the Register as a farmstead.
Members of SHOC had noticed restoration occurring in a preservationist’s manner to the inn exterior and chose Mr. Cuff recipient of the organization’s annual Historic Preservation award.
During the award selection process, members expressed concern about protection of the historic property, especially considering its proximity to a SR 56 and US 150. National Register properties are offered a degree of protection should proposed state or federal projects diminish or threaten its historic value, so SHOC moved forward toward the National Register nomination by contracting Mr. Garner.
In addition to protection, a listing on the National Register of Historic Places allows the property owner the ability to qualify for either state or federal tax credits for approved restoration projects, an added benefit for Mr. Cuff.

Pictured below: Owner of The Maples, Kelly Cuff, center, is recipient of the 2024 Saving Historic Orange County (SHOC) preservation award. Jeff Lane, SHOC member and Orange County Historian, made the presentation with SHOC president, Terry Cornwell. Mr. Cuff is the twelfth owner of historic Orange County property to be recognized for preservation efforts by SHOC.

04/11/2024

Financial incentives to restore historic property.

Owners of historic buildings are invited to attend a free program April 25, 2024 in Paoli to learn about financial incentives available for rehabilitation of historic structures, especially those listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The program is sponsored by Saving Historic Orange County and the Design committee of Possibilities in Paoli.
Laura Renwick, community preservation specialist with the Southern Regional Office of Indiana Landmarks, will lead the program. Topics will include what a listing on the National Register does and does not do for a property and how to qualify for state and federal financial incentives available for rehabilitation of various types of historic buildings.
Large portions of downtown Paoli and Orleans are currently listed in the National Register of Historic Places and according to Renwick, many other historic structures in Orange County could qualify for the financial incentives when certified.
The program will begin at 6 p.m. in the lower level of the County Community Building on Hospital Road in Paoli.
Copies of the Orange County Historic Sites and Structures Survey book, which identifies historic districts, will be available.
Please share with family and friends who own historic homes.

04/02/2024

Don’t forget, if you would like to learn the proper techniques for cleaning cemetery stones, Karen Padgett will conduct a workshop at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 6. Meet in the Old Town Cemetery between Fair Street and Third Street.