It's a quick 20 minute drive - a bridge over the Ohio River, then west along the water. The riverbank falls away by the time the park sign is within sight. The Falls of the Ohio State Park has an impressive building all its own, with a mastodon skeleton statue, special exhibits and theater room. But we walked straight through and out to the back deck, which provides an easy descent into the fossil beds.
I learned the gist of this place from a plaque along the sidewalk:
400 million years ago this land was the bed of a warm tropical sea just south of the equator. What's left from that Devonian Age is a fossilized coral reef which extends from Louisville to Indianapolis. This stretch along the cascades known as the Falls of the Ohio is the only exposed bit of the reef. More than 600 fossil species of animals have been identified here. A few famous Americans ventured to the falls including George Rogers Clark (of Lewis and Clark), John James Audubon, Mark Twain and Walt Whitman.
In the visitor's center they provide brochures that show the various types of fossils, so you can enjoy finding and identifying them all as you go. On most weekends they have free guided tours of the reef too. You are not allowed to take fossils from the bed itself. But you're welcome to take away driftwood or any fossils found in the large piles brought in from elsewhere just for visitors to dig through.
There's nothing else to say besides it was just really cool. And I wish that I'd brought lunch. Those giant rocks in the shade are perfect for sitting beneath and picnicking. Next time.
I think this place is one of Kentuckiana's magical little gems. I love parks - and the Falls is one unique and very well-done. It made me very happy to find a place like this now, when we have lived here for over a year and are feeling quite settled.
