Sullivan County gives you more than one way to spend the night. A motel off the highway suits a bed and an early start. Cabins sit in the state forest, tent sites line the strip-pit lakes, and a campsite at the top of the bluff lets you watch the sun drop over the Wabash and still be in your sleeping bag ten minutes later. The room, the cabin, or the campsite follows from there.
PLACES TO STAY
Pick the kind of morning you want to wake up to.
SPOTLIGHT
Sullivan County Park & Lake
Just east of Sullivan, the county park and its 461-acre lake are built for a weekend with the family. Pitch a tent, pull in the RV, or book one of the deluxe cabins with a full bath, then spend the day on the water: a sandy beach, a swim, and boat and pontoon rentals. When you’re off the lake there’s a playground, a disc and 9 hole golf course, pickleball and basketball courts, an arcade, and an RC track, and a hiking trail through the forest to work through. Four three-day festivals run across the season, with the July fireworks over the water, the one the kids talk about all year, and on the big festival weekends the food trucks come to you. Pack a lunch the rest of the time, cook over the campsite fire, or head into town for a bite. It’s close to town when you need a grocery trip or a restaurant, and a world away once you’re back at the campsite. Open March through October, at 990 East Picnic Rd. Reserve a site or a cabin at sullivanparkandlake.com.
SULLIVAN COUNTY CAMPING
Camping and cabins
Most of the county’s overnight character is outdoors. The state forest, the state park, and the county lake account for the bulk of it, with a small campground on the bluff above the Wabash. Those properties are in the list below, along with the rooms and the rentals.
Where to Stay
For a standard room, there’s the Days Inn out on State Road 154 west of Sullivan, a hunting lodge, and the Inn at Fairbanks Landing, up at the Fairbanks Community Center. For camping, Sullivan County Park & Lake is the family base on the water, with Shakamak State Park, Greene-Sullivan State Forest, and the campground at Merom Bluff Park covering tent sites and RV hookups across the county. For cabins, Park & Lake, Shakamak, and Greene-Sullivan rent them, and the Merom Camp & Retreat Center handles group stays on the old college grounds.
Several short-term rentals show up in the county as well, listed on VRBO and Airbnb. Use the filters below to sort by the kind of stay you want and by town, and call ahead at the smaller places, where hours and seasons move around.
