Hoosierland Influence: Falls of the Ohio

This is going to be a rare double-picture post, only because I couldn't decide between two of my favorite things in Indiana that happen to be at the same location. The Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville has 390 million-year-old fossils (our good friend T. rex is a youthful 65 mil for comparison) AND was the launch site for the Lewis and Clark expedition! This is one of the places I visit each time I hit the homeland.


Here you see the representation of William Clark and Meriwether Lewis meeting up at the Falls in preparation for their ultimate big adventure. I was there October 26, 2003 when this statue was dedicated as part of the L & C bicentennial celebration. Conveniently, I needed to make a roadtrip to the homeland to pickup some furniture. As if I needed an excuse to gas up the Jeep and head east for this!

Growing up, I was a huge fan of Will's big brother George Rogers Clark, not only a local hero - hello, CLARKsville - but a General in the Revolutionary War. Now, I'm inspired by William (honestly, not so much by Lewis!) as I pack the chow box and big white shirt for another exploration into the unknown. (Well, I do have a smartphone, so nothing is that unknown.) And, this blog could be seen as my travel journal!

Next up are the fossils, and the perfect limestone foundation to capture the impressions. These trilobites are from the Devonian Coral Period, and those are yellow and white dandelion heads miniaturized at the top of the photo. When I was in geology class at Santa Monica College, I took pictures of this and other fossils for a project, using a film canister for perspective. I've long given up on film, so I'll use nature for sizing these extinct creatures.

There are about 200 acres of these fossils, and an incredible Interpretative Center - it wasn't there when I was a kid or who knows where I would've ended up professionally - to intrigue visitors and put history in its place.

Click here to go to the Falls of the Ohio's Web site.