To celebrate, they decided to build a replica of the Great Pyramids of Cheops and, for good measure, a 650 feet long replica of the Great Wall of China.They hoped to attract tourists to the Limestone Park that would then stick around Bedford to enjoy the hospitality of southern Indiana (and spend their money there).
The federal government gave the city money to start the project at a nearby quarry... But they had barely started when the project came under attack.
A Wisconsin senator annually ridiculed ridiculous projects that wasted tax dollars, by handing out the "Golden Fleece Award." The Bedford Pyramid Project was the (un)lucky recipient of this award in 1981.
Embarrassed, the government revoked funding after only a single layer of limestone had been laid. As a result of the notorious award, the project came to an end before it even got off the ground.
Nine miles north of Bedford, there is a strange layer of limestone that can still be viewed, and will probably baffle archaeologists in the far distant future.
