๐ฆJoin us to celebrate the return of the monarchs, as they migrate up from the south! ๐๏ธSunday May 24, 2026 ๐ฐ๏ธ 1 – 4 pm
๐ซ Visit the Griffith Depot & Train Museums (everything will be open to view!) and enjoy our Monarch Waystation garden! ๐ฆLearn about Monarchs, their amazing migration, & how they’ve become endangered. Jeanette Bobos, the retired Master Gardner who planted our garden, will be on on hand to share her knowledge. ๐Learn about adding native plants to your garden. ๐ปBuy plants that help butterflies, especially monarchs! Weโll have a small selection of milkweed plants & other native plants.
๐Happy Holidays and a very Merry Christmas from the Griffith Historical Society! ๐ Thank you to everyone who braved the cold and came out to Santa in the Caboose!! From our volunteers to those of you who visited and left a donation, we couldn’t do it without you! ๐As a non-profit, volunteer-run organization, all of your donations go directly to the upkeep of the Train & Depot Museums and the Town History Museum at the Franklin Center. We appreciate you and your support!
Mark your calendars for this year’s ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐! ๐ โ ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐, ๐ซ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ 13: 10 ๐.๐. ๐๐ 3 ๐.๐. โ ๐บ๐๐๐ ๐๐, ๐ซ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ 14: ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ 3 ๐.๐. ๐ธ Give a donation to see Santa (our 28th annual!) and support the upkeep (and heating!) of the Historical Park! ๐ธ Take as many personal photos & videos as youโd like! ๐ช Be sure to shop our Holiday Bake Sale and holiday stocking stuffers as well! *๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ๐ด, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด!
The monarch butterflies fluttering about arenโt just casual flutterers. They are the last to be born in 2025, and they are โsuper monarchs.โ
Right now, they are busy sipping up nectar they, so as to build up fat reserves in their bodies. You see, these particular butterflies were born to do a seemly impossible job.
They, and millions of other super monarchs, fly 1200 miles to a fir treeย forest in central Mexico between August and November. And the continuation of their existence in theย northeastern states depends upon their safe arrival.ย
These butterflies do have some โsuper powersโ to help them accomplish their task.
– Because of this journey, a super monarch will live far longer than the 2 toย 5 weeks normal monarch butterflies do.ย ย – These butterflies are born with larger wings and are capable of flying 50 toย 100 miles in a single day, weather permitting.ย ย – It is believed they were born with an internal sun compass or magnetic ย compass to guide them to Central America.ย – They can fly at speeds of 5 to 25 miles an hour for 4-6 hours a day, glidingย on currents of warm air called thermals, to conserve energy when possible.ย ย
At the end of each day of their journey, the butterflies will seek out nectar from the flowers to fuel their next-day trip. Once that is accomplished, they will spend the night in trees, clustered together for protection.
It will take the monarchs who leave from Indiana 5 to 7 weeks to make the trip to that Mexican forest Oyamel fir tree forest.
Once there, they, and millions of other super monarchs, will blanket the fir trees for warmth and to conserve energy. Thereafter, they will enter a state of dormancy, allowing them to survive the winter.
We wish all these spectacular insects a safe trip.
๐ฆJoin us in May 2026 to celebrate these incredible creatures at our 2nd Annual Butterfly Day at the Griffith Historical Park, featuring our Monarch Waystation, the Griffith Junction Butterfly Stop.
(If you come visit our Monarch Waystation at the Depot, we ask that you do so respectfully. Please don’t touch the plants, insects, or disturb the habitat in any way. Thank you!)
Griffith History Museums 