Tucked away in the rolling hills of Dubois county in Southern Indiana, Jasper, a small German town located on the winding Patoka River, remains true to its ethnic roots. Even now, more than 150 years after Bavarian and German immigrants, drawn to this pastoral area because its dense woods reminded them of their homeland, a large majority of Jasper’s population is of German descent.

The downtown’s historic courthouse and traditional Indiana Courthouse Square is surrounded by businesses and stores, some of which have been in the same family for a century or so.

Take a stroll behind the unique Geode Grotto behind soaring St. Joseph Cathedral with its wonderful stained glass windows. It's okay to peek inside or even say a prayer and light a candle so don’t worry about going inside. The unique Grotto painstakingly constructed in the 1960s by Father Thad Sztuczko cemented thousands and thousands of geodes into a multi-acre grotto of shrines, walls, flower pots, birdbaths and towers.