Ken Weddle Learning Center for Sight-Impaired Children


KWLC is a place of discovery for children of all abilities. The Center has three hand crank audio players with four prerecorded messages each. There is a tree bench that is made from cob, a mixture of clay, sand and straw. This bench has much to offer the visitor who wants to explore. Songbirds love the center and make nests in the eves of the building roof. If you listen carefully you will discover several different species.

There are many fossils to see and touch. Nearly all of these come from Kentucky. Most are animals that lived in shallow seas that once covered the interior lowlands of the continent. If the building is open when you visit, be sure to look inside to learn about trees. We have many leaf imprints and bark samples for you to explore by touching.

The exhibits at KWLC are expanding all the time, so visit often. You can start exploring now by clicking on any of these images to view a larger picture.

 

Ken Weddle Biography.  Ken Weddle was a lifelong resident of Jackson County, Indiana.  He was a Scoutmaster, a mayor of a hometown that he dearly loved, and a friend to all who knew him.  He loved traveling to new places and meeting new people.  He enjoyed making intricately scrolled shelves in his basement woodshop.  He could fix almost anything.  He learned about nature from his father, John and his grandfather, Chester who taught him the trapping, hunting, and fishing skills he would need to feed his family during the lean times of the great depression of the 1930’s.  He shared this knowledge with his children and grandchildren. He and his wife Dorthy, his partner for over 73 years, operated a school cafeteria and later a roller skating rink.  They were surrogate parents to thousands of children. In his later years, Ken lost his vision because of macular degeneration; but he never lost his spirit.  Because he loved children, especially those with special needs, he would have been proud to have his name associated with a center dedicated to teaching sight-impaired children about nature.
accessible ramp at Ken Weddle Center
front deck at Ken Weddle Center
hand crank audio box
front of Ken Weddle Center
close up of beech bark with braille sign
scarlet oak growing through the center deck
tree of life sculptured bench
closer view of sculptured bench
building wall with Ordovician fossils
Mississipian fossils
sea lily fossils
"head" of a sea lily
fragmented sea lilly or crinoid stems
large sea lilly or crinoid head
large fragments of crinoid stems
horn coral
large rock slab with trace fossils or animal trails
trace fossil
trace fossil
fossil coral
fossil coral
fossil coral close up
Ordovician moss animals
Ordovician Brachiiopod shells
rock slab with brachiopod fragments
Trilobites
plaster model of one of the largest trilobites found in Kentucky
rock slab with many small brachiopod shells
cephalopod nautilus fossil
slab with many small moss animal stalks
rock slab with tubular moss animal stalks
ordovician rock slab with many very small brachiopods
large brachiopod shell imprint
wall with many cast tree leaf imprints
arrow wood leaf imprint
tulip poplar bark
arrow wood leaf imprint
tree bark
smooth sumac leaf imprint
pawpaw leaf imprint
tray of acorns and yellow poplar seeds
pine cones

Published 30 May 2014 last modified 7 Feb 2018          © Clay Hill Memorial Forest 2014               

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