The Ohio River is a 981-mile-long (1,579 km) river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinois. It is the third largest river by discharge volume in the United States and the largest tributary by volume of the north-south flowing Mississippi River, which divides the eastern from western United States. It is also the 6th oldest river on the North American continent. The river flows through or along the border of six states, and its drainage basin includes parts of 14 states. Through its largest tributary, the Tennessee River, the basin includes several states of the southeastern U.S. It is the source of drinking water for five million people.
Newport is a home rule-class city at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking rivers in Campbell County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 14,150 at the 2020 census. Historically, it was one of four county seats of Campbell County. Newport is a major urban center of Northern Kentucky and is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area.
A riverboat is a watercraft designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury units constructed for entertainment enterprises, such as lake or harbour tour boats. As larger water craft, virtually all riverboats are especially designed and constructed, or alternatively, constructed with special-purpose features that optimize them as riverine or lake service craft, for instance, dredgers, survey boats, fisheries management craft, fireboats and law enforcement patrol craft.
The Julia Belle Swain is a steam-powered sternwheeler currently under restoration in La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States.
Belle of Louisville is a steamboat owned and operated by the city of Louisville, Kentucky, and moored at its downtown wharf next to the Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere during its annual operational period. The steamboat claims itself the "most widely traveled river steamboat in American history." Belle of Louisville's offices are aboard Mayor Andrew Broaddus, and also appears on the list of National Historic Landmarks.
The Delta Queen is an American sternwheel steamboat. She is known for cruising the major rivers that constitute the tributaries of the Mississippi River, particularly in the American South, although she began service in California on the Sacramento River delta for which she gets her name. She was docked in Chattanooga, Tennessee and served as a floating hotel until purchased by the newly formed Delta Queen Steamboat Company. She was towed to Houma, Louisiana, in March 2015 for refurbishing to her original condition.
General Jackson is a riverboat—more specifically, a showboat—based on the Cumberland River in Nashville, Tennessee.
Tall Stacks, formally known as the Tall Stacks Music, Arts, and Heritage Festival, was a festival held every three or four years in the Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, area, which celebrated the city's heritage of the riverboat. The sixth edition was held on October 4 to 8, 2006. The festival typically featured a number of vintage and replica steamboats from across the eastern United States, which docked along the Ohio River shoreline in Cincinnati and across the river in Covington and Newport, Kentucky.
The Disney riverboats are paddle steamer watercraft attraction ride vehicles operating on a track on a series of attractions located at Disney theme parks around the world.
The Great Steamboat Race is an annual steamboat race, taking place the Wednesday before the first Saturday of May, three days before the Kentucky Derby, as part of the Kentucky Derby Festival. The race was first run in 1963 and it takes place on the Ohio River in the span that runs between Louisville, Kentucky and Jeffersonville, Indiana. Until 2009, the race was traditionally between the Belle of Louisville and the Delta Queen, although other steamboats have participated. Since 2009, the Delta Queen has not participated due to ownership and legal issues, and the Belle of Cincinnati has taken its place in the competition. In 2012, the Belle of Louisville and Belle of Cincinnati were joined in the race by the American Queen.
Fredrick Way Jr. was the youngest steamboat captain on the Ohio River and Mississippi River. He was the author of books on the boats that ply the inland waterways. He supervised the flat-bottom, stern paddlewheeler, the Delta Queen, from San Francisco, down the Pacific coast, through the Panama Canal, across the Gulf of Mexico and up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to Pittsburgh in 1946.
Natchez has been the name of several steamboats, and four naval vessels, each named after the city of Natchez, Mississippi or the Natchez people. The current one has been in operation since 1975. The previous Natchez were all operated in the nineteenth century, most by Captain Thomas P. Leathers. Each of the steamboats since Leathers' first had as its ensign a cotton bale between its stacks.
Mayor Andrew Broaddus is a lifesaving station built by the United States Life-Saving Service located in Louisville, Kentucky, off the corner of River Road and Fourth Street. She is named in honor of Andrew Broaddus (1900–1972), a former mayor of Louisville (1953–1957). Her historic purpose was to protect travelers on the Ohio River from the Falls of the Ohio, with rescue crews for those who fell victim to the rapids. Louisville was the first place where a lifesaving station was placed in western waters. The first lifestation in Louisville was in 1881, with Mayor Andrew Broaddus as the third. A National Historic Landmark, she is the only surviving floating lifesaving station of the US Life-Saving Service.
The Majestic is a historic riverboat that is moored on the Ohio River at Manchester, Ohio. Built in 1923, she was the last floating theater to be built in the United States, and one of its longest-lived. She was declared a National Historic Landmark on December 20, 1989.
President is a steamboat that currently lies dismantled in Effingham, Illinois, United States. Originally named Cincinnati, it was built in 1924 and is the only remaining "Western Rivers" style sidewheel river excursion steamboat in the United States. She was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989, although these designations were revoked in 2011. Her home ports have been Cincinnati, Ohio; New Orleans, Louisiana; Vicksburg, Mississippi; St. Louis, Missouri; and Davenport, Iowa.
Robert E. Lee, nicknamed the "Monarch of the Mississippi," was a steamboat built in New Albany, Indiana, in 1866. The hull was designed by DeWitt Hill, and the riverboat cost more than $200,000 to build. She was named for General Robert E. Lee, General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States. The steamboat gained its greatest fame for racing and beating the then-current speed record holder, Natchez, in an 1870 steamboat race.
P.A. Denny is a 109-foot (33 m) long three-deck paddle wheel boat that cruised the Kanawha River in the eastern United States for nearly three decades as a tour boat. It provided excursions and parties, before leaving for Ohio in August 2004.
Indiana law authorizes ten land-based or riverboat casinos on Lake Michigan and the Ohio River, one land-based casino in French Lick, and racinos at the state's two horse tracks. In addition, there is one Indian casino in the state. Other forms of legal gambling are the Hoosier Lottery, parimutuel wagering on horse races, and sports betting.
The Belle of Baton Rouge is a riverboat casino and hotel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by The Queen Casino & Entertainment.
Betty Blake was an American historic preservationist and promoter. She was best known for preserving historic riverboats in Cincinnati. Her biggest preservation project was helping to save the Delta Queen.
