USI Historic New Harmony organizations to offer eclipse weekend ahead of total solar eclipse

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The University of Southern Indiana’s Historic New Harmony is one of five New Harmony, Indiana, organizations partnering to offer area visitors a special opportunity to see the community’s rich cultural and historical sites during the weekend prior to the Great American Eclipse. Events will take place between 10 a.m. and noon on Saturday, April 6, and 1 and 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 7. New Harmony has a history of utopian experiments, starting over 200 years ago as a spiritual sanctuary and later becoming a gathering place for scientists, educators, artists and scholars searching for equality in communal living. Today, the small town is known for its impressive architecture, public art, gardens, nature trails and history tours.

USI’s Historic New Harmony, New Harmony State Historic Site, Rapp-Owen Granary Foundation, Robert Lee Blaffer Foundation, and Working Men’s Institute will offer up nine sites between their organizations to visitors, including the Atheneum Visitors Center, Double Log Cabin, 1830 Owen House, Lichtenberger Building (Maximilian-Bodmer Exhibit), Community House No. 2, Thrall’s Opera House, Roofless Church, Rapp-Owen Granary and the Working Men’s Institute.

Visitors may tour the sites on foot or take advantage of Historic New Harmony’s hop-on/hop-off shuttle service that will begin and end at the Atheneum Visitors Center and loop through town stopping at each of the sites as well as the New Harmony Inn and the Ribeyre Gym. The Roofless Church, Rapp-Owen Granary and Working Men’s Institute will be open to the public, but the rest of the sites and shuttle service will require paid admission.

Admission is $20 for adults 18 and older, $10 for children between ages 6 and 17 and free for children under 5. No other discounts or membership pricing will apply. Tickets may be purchased onsite Monday and Tuesday, April 6-7, at the Atheneum Visitors Center at 401 Arthur Street, New Harmony, Indiana. All passes include free solar eclipse glasses and a souvenir wristband while supplies last.