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Interesting Places to Visit
By Phil Dotree — July 18, 2011
It’s sometimes easy to forget that the United States used to be a very dangerous place, especially when our biggest problems are malfunctioning smart phones and lackluster reality shows. It’s worth thinking about the dangers that the first Americans faced; rugged frontiersman had to deal with dysentery, starvation, and even river pirates. Outlaws and thieves once preyed on American pioneers, especially river travelers who were gullible enough to trust a kind stranger.
Cave-In-Rock's cave was spectacularly flooded when we first visited. Here's what it looks like during drier conditions.
There’s no better example of the grim, macabre side of the early U.S. than River Pirate Cave, a small rock formation on the banks of the Ohio River between Kentucky and southern Illinois. The cave is in a small, aptly-named town called Cave-In-Rock, which seems to be out in the middle of nowhere on the south side of Shawnee National Forest.
A road sign outside of the Cave-In-Rock lodge. (Photo by Phil Dotree © Richard Grigonis)
The small, 55-foot wide cave was once a prime stop for travelers in the late 1800s, as it provided easy shelter from the heat and an obvious stopping point for riverboats.
Before that time, Cave-In-Rock was home to thieves and murderers who’d lure travelers into the cave under false pretenses, probably an offer of food, supplies or guidance. The pirates would then kill the travelers, dumping their bodies into the Ohio River and erasing their names from history. READ MORE...
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