The Falls of the Ohio State Park: Facile with Fossils
You don't have to be an old fossil to love the Falls of the Ohio State Park, located on the Indiana bank of the Ohio River. True, the Falls of the Ohio is located next to one of the most extensive naturally exposed fossil beds in the world,. But with an array of multimedia presentations, indoor exhibits and outdoor activities, the center has carved out a important position for those who love nature and are fascinated by nature's history.
The interpretive center traces millions of years of history along the Ohio River and in Louisville and Southern Indiana.
Louisville and the surrounding cities owe their very existence to the Falls of the Ohio, a series of shallow rapids that halted barge and flatboat traffic on the Ohio River before the the middle of the 19th century.
A 26-foot drop in the river over two miles meant that passengers and cargo had to disembark east of the falls and transfer to another vessel on the western side of the then-shallow Falls of the Ohio.
But the Falls of the Ohio State Park's interpretive center doesn't begin its historical tale in the mid-1800s -- or even with the 1783 founding of Clarksville, Indiana, the oldest American town in the Midwest, by Revolutionary War hero George Rogers Clark or the first visit to the area by a European, Frenchman René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, in 1669.
No, the interpretive center''s timeline commences 386 million years ago with what became the 100-acre fossil bed located just outside its door – one of the most extensive naturally exposed fossil beds in the world.
The interpretive center also organizes hikes through the fossil bed from August through October. An interpretive naturalist leads canoe or kayak trips along the Falls of the Ohio. Other programs include Young Explorer Day Camps for first- through sixth-graders and Young Paleontologist Camps for 9- through 14-year-olds.
Visitors to the interpretive center will find a museum on the rich history of Louisville and Southern Indiana. Exhibits on everything from the area’s millions of years as an ocean bed with a coral reef to the Native American experience before the Europeans arrived to the area’s heyday as a frontier outpost and riverboat port are sure to delight both history buffs and the simply curious.
The museum even boasts a reproduction of the cabin that General George Rogers Clark built in Clarksville in 1803. It was from there in 1803 that Clark's brother, William Clark, and Meriwether Lewis set off with the Corps of Discovery on the expedition across the continental United States.
For those interested in fossils, the best time to visit the state park is between August and October, when the river level is low. Removing any of the fossils is strictly prohibited.
The State Park is open every day from dawn until dusk. The interpretative center is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Posted on Jun 15, 2011 by Ivonne Rovira
