Zeric Daniel exploring Tunnel Mill reservation
By Grant Vance
Ever heard of Tunnel Mill? What about its significant origins in Southern Indiana?
It started with a big bang, but not the one you’re thinking of. Upon making his way to Southern Indiana circa 1804, surveyor and engineer John Work happened upon and purchased 100 acres of land for a dollar an acre (not bad!) along Fourteen Mile Creek in Charlestown, IN. Work used the land to build a 400-foot grist mill—a hot commodity in the 19th century. Alas, when the mill began to fail due to a pear-shaped, 700-foot-wide peninsula complicating the water flow, Work had an ambitious idea. The idea? To use 650 pounds of saltpeter explosives to blow a tunnel through it, creating a dam to power the mill more successfully.
Three years of excavating and $3,300 later, Bang. Tunnel Mill is born.
Tunnel Mill exchanged hands after Work passed in 1832 to five succeeding “Operators” through 1927. In 1927, the George Rogers Clark Council (later evolving to the Lincoln Heritage Council) ultimately purchased the land for the Scouts of America. With the ownership of Tunnel Mill, the scouts have used the reservation as a campground and community space ever since, creating a century of memories passed through families for generations.
Little did Work know 650 pounds of explosives would ignite a century of memories for the Southern Indiana Scouting community. But now, in our tumultuous year of 2026, all of that could change.
Tunnel Mill in Crisis
On Jan. 17, I attended a community luncheon held by the Friends of Tunnel Mill (FTM) 501C3 organization in response to troubling news. If the Lincoln Heritage Council plans to sell Tunnel Mill, and the executive board votes to finalize this decision in late April. During two hour symposium within Tunnel Mill’s Paul Ogle Dining Hall FTM chairs Dennis and Phillip James (Fund Raising), Jerry and Vicki Huffman (History and Preservation), Kris Hampton, and Josh Waddell (Promotions and Marketing) provided a heartfelt rallying cry to all in attendance. Will the scouts still have a place in their surrogate home if the land is sold?
The FTM Chairs laid out their objectives on how to combat this sudden, if not anticipated, decision to sell.
President and Fundraising Co-Chair Dennis James summarized that FTM’s objective is to have a proposal ready in the first part of May to appraise the land at fair market value ($800,000 as of 2022). Fundraising aside, this proposal needs approval by the executive council of the Lincoln Heritage Council. There is also a risk of competition from higher financial bidders. “We are an organization dedicated to the historic preservation, upkeep, and improvement of Tunnel Mill Reservation…so we want to purchase [Tunnel Mill] outright,” James said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that takes $1 million. Maybe more.”
One million is a little more than Old Man Work paid for the land originally, huh? Luckily, this call to action is no shallow goal. A handful of funding strategies presented include: presenting to businesses, grassroots funding through Gofundme, membership fees, and various grants. The plans for these funds go much farther than the initial appraisal as well. FTM, if successful, has many ambitions within its five-year plan. These plans include restorations to the currently unused swimming pool, repairing buildings throughout the camp, and building new bunkhouses for campers.
Following their informational slide show and camp-appropriate grilled cheese recess, the floor opened to a Q&A amongst approximately 150 members of the community. Everyone from veteran scouts inquiring about actionable strategies outside of FTM’s presentation to law-savvy attendees offering help on the litigious side of appraisals chimed in. Another interesting acquisition from the parascouting community: Will the scenic landscapes of Tunnel Mill be open to the public if FTM does succeed in acquiring the land?
“It will no longer be listed as Tunnel Mill Scout Camp. It will be the Tunnel Mill Reservation,” James said. “So it would be opened up to anybody who would like to come out here to camp. And especially if you’re a member of Friends of Tunnel Mill, you would have first choice.”
Needless to say, this is an important space for the community, scout or no—not to mention the history of Southern Indiana at large.
Exploring the Heart of the Campgrounds
If you’re like me, you didn’t know very much about the importance (or utility) of mills prior to this piece. As it turns out, various flavors of mills—grain, corn, grit—are imperative to the development of Southern Indiana. So important, in fact, that the development of mills helped Southern Indiana transition from a frontier to an organized civil status.
Lowering the scale, Tunnel Mill in particular is near-and-dear to individuals in the Southern Indiana community and holds a special place in the hearts of scouts and parents alike. Per Sarah Hawkins, matriarch of two Eagle Scouts, “We all seem to have some kind of connection to that place. My oldest son returned there to have his senior pictures done. Many of the scouts who have made Eagle have used the dining hall on the property for their Court of Honor ceremony. It truly is a special place for Scouts and their families. I feel like my kids grew up there.”
Her husband, Chris Hawkins, also echoes these sentiments as a scout who grew up there himself.
Sarah and Eagle Scouts Zeric Daniel and Lucas Hamm were kind enough to take me on a stroll around the reservation grounds, opening my scout-illiterate heart to the sentimentality sprinkled throughout their history there. On our chilly tour, Zeric and Lucas showed me various campsites, an auditorium, and the scout shooting range. We walked down to Fourteen Mile Creek, where they recounted their childhood memories of kayaking and fishing. We passed a beautiful waterfall, a quaint cemetery, and historical medical cottages. They caught me up on Scout’s jokes for rocks around the communal fire pit. We even saw John Work’s ghost! (The ghost sighting is a fabrication by the author, but that would be cool, right?).
I could have explored for hours in spite of freezing temperatures. I could feel the pulse of what makes Tunnel Mill special through and true.
Although the fate of Tunnel Mill is uncertain, the love and drive to preserve it is nothing but. John Work was able to blow a six-and-a-half-foot-wide by 388-foot-long tunnel through land to make Tunnel Mill what it is today. Who’s to say a dedicated Southern Indiana community can’t preserve it to keep it that way?
