Bringing Parke County Historic and Tourist Attraction to Life – Inside INdiana Business

Two entrepreneurs and history buffs from Illinois are using their skills to help restore historic appeal to one of Parke County’s familiar, albeit aging, tourist attractions. The living history site known as Billie Creek Village has fallen on hard times and hasn’t officially welcomed visitors in over a decade. With its general store, one-room schoolhouse, and authentic log cabin, the attraction told the story of early American life in rural Indiana.

In an interview with Around Indiana reporter Mary-Rachel Redman, Billie Creek Village COO Gregg Larson said he wanted to restore the historic site to its former glory.

“We don’t want to fundamentally change. We love Billie Creek as it is. But we want to hand it over to future generations who are going to use it,” Larson said.

Established in the 1960s by residents of Parke County, Billie Creek Village was famous for its authentic historic buildings and covered bridges. But time has not been kind to the 70-acre property which narrowly escaped demolition in 2005.

“Unfortunately, he just didn’t get the love and care he needed to support himself. You know, structurally and has been more or less dormant for decades,” said Cyndi Todd, executive director of the Parke County Redevelopment Commission.

Larson and his business partner Steve Cecchin are leading the effort to revive the property, and they’re not alone. The project received a grant from the Wabash River Regional Development Authority. The funding is part of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation’s READI grant program.

“We want to redo the school days where we invite school children to come on field trips here,” said Steve Cecchin, who is part of the new leadership team. “We are looking for volunteers to come and play some of the living history roles they’ve played in the past.”

Larson and Cecchin say they also hope to bring back Civil War re-enactments, Medieval Renaissance fairs and perhaps concerts to make the village an attraction again.

“Just anything tourism-based. We’re looking to get people two, three or four hours away here to enjoy Parke County,” Cecchin said. “We have a lot of ideas for things we want to do here and have a very fast ride again.”

This isn’t their first foray into resurrecting historic properties in Parke County. Larson and Cecchin are the “brains behind the boo” at the abandoned Indiana state sanitarium. They want to make it what business partners call “the nation’s premier paranormal destination.”

“We’re kind of like the ghost of Airbnb,” joked Larson.

The partners say they are hosting a team of ghost hunters who were going to spend two nights on the 200-acre abandoned property.