This month’s Bedford Parks and Recreation program at 6 p.m. March 28 will feature information about the historic landscape of southern Indiana in the 1880s.

A.J. Ariens, an archaeologist with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, will discuss what early surveyors saw when they first traversed the Indiana territories. Ariens has studied the early notes of surveyors who crisscrossed the southern part of the state as they laid out the townships, ranges and sections so the land could be settled.

Ariens reports on the kind of notes the surveyors made as they transected straight courses through this area previously settled only by Native Americans. The surveyors of that time made annotations as they went about the trails they crossed and the trees they used as witness trees for the corner monuments. These records open a window into what these surveyors saw and what trees and terrain they crossed in various parts of southern Indiana.

The presentation will be at the Otis Park Bath House located between the Red Brick Mansion and the golf course office at 607 Tunnelton Road east of Bedford.

Those planning to attend are asked to call the parks department office at 812-275-5692 or email [email protected] so enough handouts and chairs will be available.