It’s become one of the area’s most anticipated annual festivals, but the Taste of Montgomery County also fulfills a very important role. The TASTE is the largest annual fundraiser for the General Lew Wallace Study and Museum, located on the grounds in Crawfordsville where Lew Wallace penned his masterwork, Ben-Hur.

An Historic Treasure

The site of the TASTE was once General Wallace’s backyard, located just north of his home on Wabash Avenue. Many TASTE-goers don’t realize that the General’s bronze statue stands where he set up his rocking chair. Lew Wallace sat under the spread of a giant beech tree to work on his writing in peace and solitude. Wallace wrote a significant portion of Ben-Hur under this tree, known as the Ben-Hur Beech Tree. Hundreds of TASTE-goers congregate in that spot every summer to hear the great live music beneath the shade.

The General’s Study building is one of the gems of Crawfordsville. It has seen visitors from around the globe for more than 100 years. The Study features original paint finishes and houses Lew’s original artifacts and personal memorabilia. Most of these objects have been in the Museum’s collection since Wallace’s death in 1905.