Tell City
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Tell City

Tell City

Ohio River town in southern Indiana, founded by Swiss settlers and still marked by Alpine heritage.

Tell City sits on the Ohio River in southern Indiana, the largest town in Perry County. It was founded in 1857 by a Swiss colonisation society and named after the legendary William Tell — the Swiss heritage is still visible in the town's layout and architecture, and the Tell City Pretzel Co. has been baking the same hard, hand-twisted pretzels by the same Swiss family recipe since 1858.

The river setting is the main attraction. The Ohio bends dramatically here, and the forested hills of the Hoosier National Forest rise just to the north. It is a quiet place, good for a stop on a drive along the river or as a base for exploring the surrounding hill country. Ten minutes downriver in Cannelton, the cathedral-like Cannelton Cotton Mill is the largest surviving pre-Civil War industrial building in the American Midwest.

Guide

Eating Out

Tell City's restaurants are unpretentious and lean German-American. The local specialities — pretzels, Schnitzelburger, and turtle soup — are worth tracking down, partly for their own sake and partly as evidence of how stubbornly the town has held onto its Swiss-German roots.

Guide

Getting There

Tell City sits on the Ohio River along Indiana State Road 66, which runs the south Indiana riverbank between Evansville and Louisville. From either city it is about a 90-minute drive on a mix of state and US highways — the most scenic option is the Ohio River Scenic Byway, which follows the river the whole way.

There is no passenger rail or commercial bus service. The nearest commercial airports are Evansville Regional (EVV) about 75 miles west, and Louisville Muhammad Ali International (SDF) about 80 miles east. Both are an easy drive.

Guide

Things to Do

Tell City is a small Ohio River town with a clear Swiss imprint — the street grid, the brick downtown, and a chimney that has cast its shadow over the city for more than 150 years. The riverfront and the wooded ridges of Hoosier National Forest just to the north are the natural draws.