Highland Oaks is best known for weddings, but it is an event venue in southern Indiana the rest of the time, and the property works just as well for the rest of it. We are 36 acres in Palmyra, about 25 minutes from Louisville, with a barn that seats up to 300, an open lawn, and a forest clearing under mature trees. Most weekdays the whole place is available, which is exactly when most companies and families want it.
Southern Indiana does not have many event spaces that give you the entire property to yourself. Most options are a room inside a building that has three other rooms doing three other things that afternoon. Here, whatever you book, you get the whole place, and nobody else’s event is running down the hall.
Corporate events and team gatherings
Getting a team out of a conference room does more than a slide deck ever will. Highland Oaks gives you the whole property for the day: the barn for the main session or the meal, the lawn and the woods for everything that works better outside, and no other event running alongside yours.
It suits annual meetings, sales kickoffs, leadership retreats, appreciation dinners and holiday parties. There is a prep kitchen for your caterer, on-site parking for the whole group, and enough room that breakouts do not end up shouting over each other. Our bar service can run a hosted tab, a cash bar, or nothing at all, whichever fits the occasion.
Family reunions and milestone celebrations
Reunions are the events this property was made for. There is space for the kids to actually run, shade under the oaks for the people who would rather sit, and a covered barn so an afternoon of rain does not end the day early. Big anniversaries, milestone birthdays, retirement parties and graduation celebrations all work the same way.
If your family is coming in from out of state, the location does some of the work for you. Louisville is about 25 minutes away, hotels in Corydon and New Albany are 15 to 25 minutes out, and there is enough nearby, from the state forest to the caverns to Corydon’s historic downtown, to build a weekend around rather than an afternoon.
Showers and rehearsal dinners
Bridal showers, baby showers and rehearsal dinners fit the property naturally, and they do not need the whole 300-guest footprint to feel right. A smaller group in the barn with the doors open, or out under the trees in good weather, reads as intimate rather than empty.
If you are already getting married here, a rehearsal dinner on site is the easiest logistics decision you will make all year. Nobody drives twice, nobody gets lost, and your out-of-town people see the property the night before instead of for the first time on the day.
What the property gives you
- Room for up to 300 guests, and layouts that work for far fewer
- A covered barn, so the forecast does not decide your day
- Open lawn and a forest clearing for anything outdoors
- Tables and chairs, set up and taken down for you
- Hi-boy cocktail tables
- A prep kitchen with cooler and freezer for your caterer
- Space heaters and fans, so the barn works most of the year
- On-site parking for the whole group
- Private getting-ready and breakout spaces
- Our preferred vendor list, if you would rather not start from scratch
Two things worth knowing before you ask
Catering is open, alcohol is not. Bring whichever caterer you want. Alcohol is different: for licensing and liability reasons, every drink served at Highland Oaks is purchased through us and poured by our bartenders. Nothing can be brought in, by you, your caterer, or anyone else. Most people find this simpler once they understand it, but it surprises anyone expecting to supply their own.
Events carry an insurance requirement. We ask for a one million dollar event policy with Highland Oaks listed as additional insured. It is inexpensive and takes about ten minutes to arrange, and we will point you to where to get it.
Why an outdoor event venue changes the day
Most event venues near Louisville are indoor spaces with a patio attached. The difference here is that outdoors is the main event and the barn is the backup, not the other way around. People spread out. Conversations happen in small groups instead of one long table. Kids find something to do without anyone organising it.
That matters most for the events where the point is people talking to each other, which is most of them. A reunion where three generations are stuck in one room is a different afternoon than a reunion with 36 acres. The same is true of a team offsite.
Getting here
Highland Oaks is at 4175 US-150 in Palmyra, Indiana, in Harrison County. Louisville is roughly 25 minutes southeast, Indianapolis about 90 minutes north, and Evansville and Bloomington are both a comfortable drive. Guests coming up from Louisville cross the Ohio River and are on quiet country roads within a few minutes.
Tell us what you are planning
Every event is quoted individually, because a Tuesday leadership offsite and a Saturday family reunion are not the same booking. Tell us the date you have in mind, roughly how many people, and what you are hoping the day looks like, and we will come back with what it would cost and what is available. If you would rather just walk the property first, that works too.
Prefer to talk it through? Call or text the venue line at (502) 785-9671.
Planning a wedding instead? See our barn wedding venue and wedding pricing pages, or read the FAQs.