You'll Want To Visit These Beaches For The Most Beautiful Indiana Sea Glass
By Tori Jane|Published July 19, 2022
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Tori Jane
Author
Tori Jane is a storm chaser, writer, photographer, and the village idiot - in that order. When she's not out and about dancing with the meanest storms on planet Earth for funsies she can be found wandering, shooting landscapes, writing, editing photos, and otherwise up to no good. Legend has it that she can also be occasionally spotted typing up short bios in the third person, but those rumors are unsubstantiated.
Beachcombing is fun. It’s a thing that people have been doing for centuries, and the treasures have always been worth the effort. You never know what you’ll find; there could be some amazing shells, or maybe a really interesting piece of driftwood you’d like to add to your fish tank. Maybe you’ll discover some interesting rocks and minerals, or sometimes, you might be able to find sea glass. Sea glass – also known as beach glass – is an interesting phenomenon that’s fun to make an adventure out of. Where do you find beach glass in Indiana? Look no further than the shores of Lake Michigan. Though there are all kinds of amazing lakes in Indiana to choose from, Lake Michigan has proved time and time again that it’s an excellent destination for sea glass searchers of all skill levels.
Beach glass is a phenomenon that wouldn't exist if not for human activity on and around the water.
It's formed over many, many years, when glass from bottles or other discarded items is tumbled about in the water, rubbing against sand, more glass, and other debris within the water. It can occur in saltwater and in freshwater, and it's found around the world.
The years of erosion eventually round off all the edges that might have existed once upon a time, and any glossy, slick surface the glass might have had in its past life is exchanged for a matte, frosted look.
Its color depends on what it was in its past life; beach glass is found in shades of green, blue, white, clear, red, yellow, and sometimes amber shades. They say the "rarest" color is the oranges and ambers, as there haven't been a lot of glass products made over the centuries in those colors.
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Indiana has more than 40 miles of shoreline along Lake Michigan that's prime for finding beach glass.
We have a few beaches we love for our glass-seeking adventures like Whihala Beach and Whiting Lakefront Park. It's also well-known that Indiana Dunes National Park is an excellent place for finding beach glass, and so are the beaches of Beverly Shores, Michigan City, and Long Beach.
Bring a hand shovel with you for the best results; that way, you can root around in the sand and find all the frosty glass treasures you can manage. Sometimes, you'll even find shards of pottery, geodes, fossils, and more - it pays to comb beaches, if you're into that sort of stuff (guilty as charged).
There are a few rules of thumb to get you going; one, search in the mornings when the tide is low. Two, search after storms (the bigger and angrier, the better - then you KNOW that water got jostled around nicely). Three: during snowmelt. You can find beach glass in Indiana at any time of year or day, of course, but those times and circumstances are tried-and-true sea glass seekers' favorites.
There are lots of things you can do with beach glass, like making jewelry or even just holding onto it.
Use caution - sometimes you'll find "uncooked" pieces of glass, or shards that still have their edges and can very much still cut you! Pass those ones up - they still need some time being washed in the lake to "cook".
So there you have it: everything you need to know to head out and start collecting beach glass of your very own! Did you know that some beaches in Indiana are so beautiful they feel more like the Caribbean than the Midwest? Check them out and see for yourself, and show us your sea glass discoveries in the comments!
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