the atheneum

we happened to arrive at the Atheneum just before 2pm--which was very convenient since they do only two walking tours a day: at 10:am and 2pm. This tour was very comprehensive and gave a good overview of the two intentional communities that founded New Harmony. Our only complaint was that there is a very interesting museum that contains many interesting original drawings/lithographs of Karl Bodmer that the tour spends a very limited time in, but cannot be visited at leisure at any other time. Too bad it is kept closed. Since this tour covers an extensive area of the town, one must be prepared to walk for a couple of hours--there are few places to sit down.

Terry our tour guide gave us a wonderful start on our tour of New Harmony. This is a fascinating town.

Thoroughly enjoyed the day visiting the Atheneum Visitors Center and taking the guided tour of historic sites. Inside staff at visitors center were friendly and welcomed us and the tour guide was very knowledgeable and made the historical building come alive as she described events that occurred in and around the buildings. She clearly has a passion for New Harmony and that comes through and is contagious. Our group agreed it was the best part of the day.

The magnitude & stark white appearance of this beautiful modern building was a lovely contrast against the large green lawn it stands on, & among the historical buildings in New Harmony. Volunteer staff was fantastic.

Took the tram tour and it was really worth the money, guide very knowledgeable and we learned so much about the town and the history. Really enjoyed it!

This should be your first stop when visiting New Harmony. The staff, can tell you anything you would like to know about the local sites & attractions. The one thing, I did not like was; the lack of locally produced art, in the gift shop.

My wife and I decided to take an unplanned road trip on a whim. We ended up deciding to check out New Harmony, IN. The toll bridge from Illinois was closed so we took the I-64 bridge north of town. When we arrived at the west end of town we were surprised to see a large white tile and glass building. You are naturaly drawn to this out of place creation. We went inside and were greeted by a knowledgable fellow who gave me an overview of the muesuem and the town while my wife and son explored the building. There is a great scaled down model of the original settlement and displays of good information about the ideas held by the founders. We had the option to rent a golf cart for 15 bucks an hour but decided to drive our car. They have a big chalkboard at the entrance that you can write down your idea of utopia. Worth a visit for sure.

Our guide, Seth, was knowledgeable and interesting. The story of this town is really fascinating, and he showed us inside of many homes and locations. It was fabulous.

We took the 10 am walking tour. It was $18 but was well worth it. There is 2pm tour also. Wonderful tour of the town, and you get to go inside historic buildings not open to the public - The Granary, Community House #2, Lenz House, Maximilian - Bodmer Exhibit. The tour took 2 hours and our guide Marlene was excellent.

We joined the 2pm tour of New Harmony on a beautiful spring day. The tour was outstanding. We hated to see it end. Our tour guide was the incomparable Jan. If you can, schedule one of her tours, though she only leads them a few times a month. Her extensive knowledge and delightful sense of humor were well worth the price of admission. Other tour guides are available for the daily tours at 10am and 2pm, March 15 through October 31.The rest of the year, tours are offered at other times. Tours are 18 dollars per adult, with the AAA or the senior discount 15 dollars. The Atheneum itself is a lovely, ultra-modern building a wonderful counter point to the many historic buildings in the town. We especially liked the granary with its surprising spring, discovered during restoration.

If you just walk inside the building and read, you'll probably be disappointed. When they tell you that the tour is 18$ (15 for seniors or AAA) you gasped. Take the tour. 2 hours of knowledge from SIU college kids that brings the history of Harmonists and Owenites and new harmony to life.

We arrived just wanting to get a little information. After speaking with the staff we decided to take the tour. It was a walking tour of the older parts of town and included several buildings. It was very informative and we learned a lot about the history. One tip, make sure and take advantage of the available discounts. even though we are older we are still in college and were able to get tour tickets for $5 instead of the regular $18.

We drove down from Decatur, IL to visit New Harmony. After lunch at a fun tavern, we set out to find The Atheneum. Not difficult in this small town, in fact we could easily have walked there from the downtown restaurant. Plenty of parking on this cold November Tuesday before a Thanksgiving. As we approached the building we noticed it was half wrapped with construction plastic sheeting. We entered the main door into a largish room with a literature rack and info desk. The lady at the desk inquired if we needed help to which we replied we'd like to look through the literature first and get our bearing. There is a stairway closed off by a rope. When I asked if there was a museum I was told there was an exhibit upstairs with a model of the town. Period. Then I pointed out that the stairs were roped off. The reply was that you had to pay $3 for a tour upstairs. The tour included a 10 minute movie and "the guide talks to you for a few minutes."There was no sign of openly wanting to share the history of these grounds with the public - we had to pull teeth to get bits of information. So we excused ourselves and toured the grounds, which include sections of the town, by ourselves relying on Wikipedia for factual information.

Recently returned to the Atheneum and had time to view the movie and hear the history from the well versed staff. Even though we come to NH frequently we learned new things and really enjoyed the movie and the background it provided.

This is where we started our visit in new harmony. What an incredible example of architecture. From this point, you can literally walk the entire town. Unfortunately, we arrived too late to take the tour, and the woman at the the desk was less than helpful! In fact she just said here's a map and pretty much dismissed us! Other than that, our day in this wonderfully quaint town was fabulous.