Turkey Run also includes a system of trails, Rocky Hollow Falls Canyon Nature Preserve, a suspension bridge across Sugar Creek, camping sites, and other recreational areas.

[4] The land that would become Turkey Run is the traditional territory of the Kiikaapoi, Peoria, Potawatomi and Myaamia Native American peoples.

The origins of the nickname is uncertain, but it is believed to be due to the large number of wild turkeys in the area that took refuge for warmth in the gorges (or "runs"), which made it easy for early settlers to trap and hunt them.

[6] In April 1915, after learning that the forested area at Turkey Run would be sold at public auction in May, Parke County resident Juliet V. Strauss, who was a newspaper and magazine columnist for the Rockville Tribune, the Indianapolis News, and the Ladies' Home Journal, reportedly wrote a letter to Indiana governor Samuel M. Ralston urging him to save 2,382 acres (964 hectares) from timber harvesting.

Strauss's letter to Governor Ralston is believed to have prompted his decision to establish a Turkey Run Commission, which was assigned the task of preserving the forest.

On April 27, 1915, the governor appointed Strauss to serve as a member of the commission along with William W. Woollen of Indianapolis and Vida Newsom of Columbus, Indiana.

[7] In November 1915, Lieber met with Governor Ralston to discuss the idea of creating a state parks system as a permanent memorial to Indiana's centennial anniversary of statehood.

The Indiana Historical Commission and the state parks committee set a target goal of obtaining $25,000 from private citizens and Governor Ralston designated the week of April 24, 1916, to collect the donated funds.

Undeterred, Richard Lieber began negotiations with the lumber company and reached an agreement to purchase the land for $40,200 on November 11, 1916.

Money to buy the land from the lumber company largely came from private donations that included a $5,065 contribution from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Association.

While negotiations with the Hoosier Veneer Company were underway, Lieber and the state parks committee bought McCormick's Creek Canyon in Owen County, Indiana, at auction on May 25, 1916.

A suspension footbridge across Sugar Creek, the main drainage for Turkey Run and Shades state parks, provides pedestrian access to trails on the far side.

[citation needed] During the Pleistocene Epoch, glacial meltwaters and their associated erosion carved the Mansfield sandstone bedrock into its distinct, present-day formations.

[13] The park's suspension footbridge, originally built in 1917–18 across Sugar Creek, leads to the Rocky Hollow Falls Canyon Nature Preserve.

[16] The Richard Lieber Log Cabin is another of the individual sites at Turkey Run that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[14][18][19] The cabin is named in honor of Colonel Richard Lieber, the first director of Indiana's state parks system and the conservationist who advocated for its creation as a permanent memorial to Indiana'scentennial anniversary of statehood.

[8] Lieber discovered the cabin during a thunderstorm in 1918 and convinced the owner to have it moved 3 miles (4.8 km) so it could serve as the administration building for the state park.

An elderly man familiar with the chimney's "cat and clay" style gave directions for making a new one using stone from an old bridge.