Day Trip: Back Four Hundred Million Years!

While learning my Kentucky history and geography in the 1950s, I often wondered why Louisville (Kentucky, U.S.A.) turned out to be one of the largest cities on the long Ohio River.  Today, I got the answer: the Ohio River Falls.  This was "a series of rapids caused by water flowing over ledges of hard limestone composed of vast numbers of fossils.  The first rapids began in front of what is now downtown Louisville and continued to Sand Island, a distance of 2.5 miles and a drop of 26 feet.  When Dam was built in the 1920s, the river's flow was restricted and most of the rapids were covered with water" (Falls of the Ohio State Park brochure).  ALL boats HAD to stop in Louisville or risk perishing in the rapids!

My son, John, and I had wanted to visit this park for a long time.  I can't believe that even though I was born and raised in Louisville, I had never gone there.  Back then, 'field trips' for school children were few and far between.  We also visited my in-laws, John, Janie, and their pup, Haley.

The Dam at the Ohio River Falls, finished in 1927, was the first long concrete wall in the world.  This was a model for other engineers to know "it can be done."  The Dam still holds up today.  When the Ohio River Floods, it is covered.  But mostly, the many fossil beds are visible.

Falls of the Ohio State Park, Clarksville, Indiana, U.S.A.: exposed fossil beds. Concrete dam 'wall' in center of photo.

In the Park "Interpretive Center"/museum is an extremely well done history of the habitat of seas, near glaciers, ancient marine and wildlife in the falls area.  The movie depicting this history was excellent.  In the entrance was a skeleton of a 5-ton Mastadon.

John, son #2, meets the Mastadon skeleton.

Me, Jan, in front of the mural showing the Ohio River rapids before dam construction.

The museum also exhibits local history of settlement and manufacturing.  Clarksville, Indiana, was named after General George Rogers Clark, one of the primary explorers of western America.

Statue of the meeting of George Rogers Clark & Meriwether Lewis.  From here, they explored the American continent clear to the Pacific Ocean

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Lastly, the museum contains a gift shop with a good selection of geodes and fossils.  There is a nice picnic area.

Louisville skyline and bridge across the Ohio River as seen from the Park's observation deck.

My dear in-laws, Janie & John, at lunch today.

Haley, the friendly, beautiful, polite pup.

Next on our 'Wish List' of local places to visit is the river 'Locks', through which all river boats and barges must pass to continue on the river.  It's directly across from the Falls of the Ohio State Park, on the Kentucky side of the river.