Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve and Wesselman Park form one of Evansville, Indiana’s most distinctive natural and recreational areas. Located along Boeke Road on the city’s east side, the property combines a traditional city park with something far more unusual: an old-growth forest that survived while the city developed around it.

Wesselman Woods is recognized as the largest urban old-growth forest in the United States and is designated both an Indiana State Nature Preserve and a National Natural Landmark. The neighboring Wesselman Park provides sports courts, fields, shelters, playground areas, and other recreational facilities.

Although the names are often used interchangeably by Evansville residents, Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve and Wesselman Park are not quite the same thing. The park is a traditional public recreational area, while the woods are a protected natural preserve with stricter rules designed to protect its ecosystem.

An Ancient Forest Inside Evansville

What makes Wesselman Woods remarkable is not simply the number of trees it contains, but their history.

Much of Indiana’s original forest was cleared during the 19th and early 20th centuries as land was converted to farms, towns, roads, and industry. The forest that became Wesselman Woods largely escaped that fate. Research into the property’s history indicates that much of it has remained essentially uncut for at least two centuries.

The result is a surviving piece of the landscape that existed before modern Evansville.

Some trees in the preserve are older than the City of Evansville itself. The forest contains more than 50 species of trees, and notable specimens include white oak, shagbark hickory, chinquapin oak, blue beech, winged elm, and tulip trees.

Visitors walking through the preserve are therefore seeing something very different from a modern park where trees were planted as landscaping. Wesselman Woods represents a surviving natural forest ecosystem.

Early History

The land’s recorded ownership history stretches into the early 1800s, although Indigenous peoples lived in and stewarded the region long before European-American settlement. Wesselman Woods recognizes the Miami, Wea, Shawnee, and other Indigenous peoples associated with the land.

During the early 19th century, the McCallister family acquired property in the area from the federal government. A series of circumstances prevented the forest from being extensively cleared.

Marcus Sherwood purchased the property in 1838. Although Sherwood was involved with railroad construction and raised horses and mules, the forest remained largely intact.

In 1847, William H. Stockwell became the owner of a much larger estate totaling approximately 594 acres. For years, the forest was consequently known as Stockwell Woods.

Even as transportation corridors and the expanding city approached the property, much of the woodland survived.

The State of Indiana purchased most of the property from Stockwell’s daughter Frances in 1919. An approximately one-acre McCallister family cemetery was excluded from that purchase.

From Stockwell Woods to Wesselman Woods

The modern identity of the property began taking shape during the mid-20th century.

In 1954, the City of Evansville purchased part of the property for recreational development. State Senator Albert Wesselman later played a major role in efforts to preserve the remaining forest.

Wesselman persuaded the State of Indiana to transfer the land to Evansville with the requirement that it be maintained for park and recreational purposes.

In August 1963, Indiana Governor Matthew E. Welsh signed the deed transferring the property. Stockwell Woods was subsequently renamed Wesselman Woods in honor of Albert Wesselman and his efforts to preserve it.

The decision proved enormously important. Without preservation, the forest occupied land that could easily have been consumed by Evansville’s continued development.

Instead, an ancient forest remained in the middle of a growing city.

Creation of the Nature Preserve

Community involvement became increasingly important to the woods during the following decade.

Members of the local Junior League organized efforts to develop educational opportunities at Wesselman Woods, eventually helping establish a Nature Center in 1971.

The nonprofit organization now known as the Wesselman Nature Society was established in 1972 to help protect and manage the property.

Wesselman Woods received National Natural Landmark recognition in 1973 and became an Indiana State Nature Preserve in 1981.

These protections distinguish the woods from an ordinary municipal park. Plants, animals, fungi, trees, and other natural resources within the preserve are protected. Visitors are required to remain on designated trails, and activities such as collecting plants, hunting, camping, bicycling, jogging, and bringing pets onto the preserve’s trails are prohibited.

Wildlife

Despite being surrounded by an urban environment, Wesselman Woods supports an impressive variety of wildlife.

Mammals found within the ecosystem include white-tailed deer, coyotes, rodents, and even bobcats. Reptiles and amphibians include garter snakes, black rat snakes, king snakes, painted turtles, eastern box turtles, salamanders, and frogs.

The woods are also important habitat for birds. Pileated woodpeckers, turkey vultures, hummingbirds, and numerous other species can be observed within the forest.

Seasonal vernal pools provide additional habitat, while fallen trees and decaying vegetation remain important parts of the forest’s natural life cycle.

The very age of the ecosystem is one reason Wesselman Woods is so valuable. Old-growth forests contain relationships among plants, animals, fungi, soil, water, and decaying organic material that can take centuries to develop.

Walking Trails and Nature Center

Wesselman Woods contains more than four miles of walking trails, allowing visitors to experience different portions of the forest.

Trail surfaces vary considerably. Some areas contain boardwalks or improved surfaces, while other trails consist of mulch and natural dirt with roots and uneven terrain.

The Nature Center serves as the main visitor and educational facility. Environmental programs, animal encounters, school activities, conservation programs, and special events have helped make Wesselman Woods an important environmental education resource for generations of Evansville-area children.

The preserve also hosts one of Evansville’s best-known nature traditions, the Maple Sugarbush Festival, traditionally held in early March. The event celebrates the process of producing maple syrup and has included guided hikes, educational activities, animal encounters, and a pancake breakfast.

Nature Playscape

A newer addition to the property is the Welborn Baptist Foundation Nature Playscape, a five-acre area designed to encourage children to interact directly with nature.

Rather than functioning like a conventional playground dominated by manufactured equipment, the playscape emphasizes natural materials, exploration, creativity, climbing, and unstructured outdoor play.

The area has expanded to include the Bernhardt Family Bird Sanctuary and the Arwood Family Treehouse. Completed in 2024, the treehouse includes ramps, rope bridges, climbing features, and elevated views reaching approximately 12 feet above ground level.

Wesselman Park

Surrounding and adjoining the protected forest is Wesselman Park, one of the largest recreational parks in Evansville.

The park itself covers approximately 99 acres, while city planning documents list Wesselman Woods at more than 230 acres. Wesselman Park includes basketball courts, baseball and softball fields, volleyball facilities, tennis facilities, shelters, playground space, and other recreational areas.

For decades, the park was also home to a Par 3 golf course. The course permanently closed in 2020 following years of declining use.

Part of that former golf-course landscape is now undergoing a dramatic transformation.

West Meadow

Wesselman Woods has begun restoring approximately 23 acres of the former Par 3 golf course as an area known as the West Meadow.

Instead of maintaining the property as closely cut recreational turf, the project is intended to establish native grasses and wildflowers, create pollinator habitat, improve soil health, and increase native plant diversity.

The long-term ambition goes even further. Through the natural process of ecological succession and continued stewardship, the meadow may eventually develop into secondary forest, extending the natural habitat surrounding the ancient woods.

The project represents a striking reversal of the development pattern that threatened forests across Indiana: land once converted away from a natural ecosystem is now deliberately being returned to one.

Conservation Challenges

Preserving an old-growth forest in the middle of a city requires active management.

One challenge is the population of white-tailed deer. Researchers from the University of Evansville have studied how deer browsing affects the forest’s ability to regenerate. Deer frequently consume young trees before they can mature, potentially changing the future composition of the forest.

Researchers have established monitoring plots and protective tree cages to study regeneration. Wesselman Woods also works to control invasive plants and manage species such as pawpaw and spicebush where their abundance can interfere with the development of the next generation of canopy trees.

This work demonstrates an important reality about Wesselman Woods: protecting an ancient forest involves more than simply leaving it alone.

An Evansville Landmark

Wesselman Woods occupies a special place in Evansville because it represents two very different versions of the city at once.

Outside the forest are streets, neighborhoods, businesses, schools, athletic facilities, and the infrastructure of a modern city. Walk into the preserve, however, and visitors encounter enormous trees, wildlife, wetlands, fallen timber, and a forest whose origins predate Evansville itself.

Few American cities possess an old-growth forest of this scale within their city limits.

That makes Wesselman Woods more than another Evansville park. It is a surviving fragment of Southern Indiana’s natural history and one of the city’s most unusual landmarks.

Quick Facts

Location: 551 N. Boeke Road, Evansville, Indiana
Established as park: 1963
Former name: Stockwell Woods
Named for: Indiana State Senator Albert Wesselman
Designation: National Natural Landmark and Indiana State Nature Preserve
Environment: Urban old-growth bottomland forest
Trails: More than four miles
Managed by: Wesselman Nature Society in partnership with the City of Evansville
Notable features: Nature Center, old-growth forest, Nature Playscape, Arwood Family Treehouse, West Meadow, walking trails and wildlife habitat