Picture yourself floating along the same route as the early keelboat and steamboat operators who travelled the Ohio River in the 1700s and 1800s. Imagine viewing the banks of the Ohio River where for many hundreds of years before Europeans came this way, the Miami and Shawnee Indians lived an idyllic existence. In this region we call America's Junction, you'll see the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers whose navigable waters stretch almost a thousand miles in three different directions. These are sights that can only be fully experienced from our unique vantage point aboard the R/B River Explorer. There are other means of travel in the Ohio Valley, but only RiverBarge Excursion Lines gives you so much to see and do!
Along the banks of the Ohio where farmlands border the many tributaries that merge here to form these beautiful waters, we offer several excursions for exploration. No matter which route taken, we see the joining of these rivers just as pioneers did hundreds of years ago. The only difference is that today we travel comfortably on a river that bustles with traffic, carrying goods and people through this historic region that is a meeting place of rivers, people, cultures and ideas. Come to appreciate the Ohio River as more than a dividing line between states. It is a dividing line between cultures: between mint juleps and German-brewed beer; between southern fried chicken and knockwurst.
The Ohio River is also America's conduit for settlement and commerce. Formed by the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers at Pittsburgh, the Ohio defined America's early westward expansion, as more and more settlers headed toward the heart of the North American continent.
Some of America's most distinctive cities and towns are here: Cincinnati. Louisville. Henderson. Paducah. And some of America's most distinctive rivers are here, too. The Wabash, the Green, the Kentucky, the Cumberland and the Tennessee all join the Ohio along this route. The Ohio's junctions with the Tennessee and the Cumberland created the Land Between the Lakes, a prime recreational area with much to offer to lovers of the great outdoors.
You'll travel through the historic locks that made the Ohio River navigable and see Cave in Rock, a notorious hangout for 1800s river pirates, part of the Shawnee State Park whose high hills and rugged bluffs offer a spectacular view of the river.
Visit the part of our continent where America meets the river, where the river meets the people, where the stories begin and the fun never endssee yourself as part of the picture in a place where it all comes together: America's Junction.
CINCINNATI 6 AND 8 DAY ROUND TRIPS
Capture the quintessence of the Queen City. Board in the afternoon for an overnight stay in Cincinnati. Spend the rest of the day strolling about town. Tour Oldenburg Brewery. Natural History Museum at Union Terminal. Depart in the morning on either a 6 or an 8 day upriver excursion. See Portsmouth. Shawnee State Park., Huntington, West Virginia. Keeneland Racetrack (See Rare on the River, back page). Kentucky Horse Park. Ohio Amish country. Much more.
CINCINNATI MEMPHIS or ST. LOUIS
These nine day excursions afford a thorough exploration of the boarding and destination cities of Memphis or St. Louis and Cincinnati. See the clear water of the Ohio mix with the muddy Mississippi at the confluence. Travel the Ohio to Paducah, Kentucky. Quilt Museum. Seaman's Church. J. J. Audubon State Park. Locks and locks to see. Louisville. Jeffersonville. Much more.
