Falls of the Ohio

After dropping off my piece at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft in Louisville, we took a side trip to see the fossil beds at the Falls of Ohio State Park in Clarksville, Indiana, almost directly across the Ohio River.  I'd been itching to go there for some time; after all, what could be more exciting (to me, at least!) than a 386-million-year-old Devonian fossil bed.  When the river is at its lowest, 200 acres (!) of this former coral reef are exposed, making it among the largest naturally exposed Devonian fossil beds in the world.

Looking upriver, you can see Louisville in the background.

 

You may be wondering, as I did, where's the falls?  One would think the name "Falls of the Ohio" implies an actual waterfall- right?

 

 Like me, you would be wrong.  The "Falls of the Ohio" was a series of rapids which made navigation almost impossible, so to circumvent these, the Portland canal with locks was completed in 1830. Later the lock and dam system on the Ohio changed this area even further.

Apparently, fishing is good near the dam...

 As I began walking across the fossil beds, I was very excited to see a horn coral 18 inches long, and stopped to take a photo. 

 As I continued, I realized I was walking on hundreds of fossils literally with every step I took...

 This 'beehive coral' had a diameter of about three feet!

There are several levels to the fossil beds; here I'm looking across the upper level toward the bridge.

As you can see, it's huge, and I only had time to explore a tiny fraction of it...

...which means that, of course...

 ... I'll be going back!