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.
Gallatin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 4,946, making it the third-least populous county in Illinois. Its county seat is Shawneetown. It is located in the southern portion of Illinois known locally as Little Egypt. Located at the mouth of the Wabash River, Gallatin County, along with neighboring Posey County, Indiana, and Union County, Kentucky form the tri-point of the Illinois-Indiana-Kentucky Tri-State Area.
Old Shawneetown is a village in Gallatin County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the village had a population of 113, down from 193 at the 2010 census. Located along the Ohio River, Shawneetown served as an important United States government administrative center for the Northwest Territory. The village was devastated by the Ohio River flood of 1937. The village's population was moved several miles inland to New Shawneetown.
Shawneetown is a city in Gallatin County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,054 at the 2020 United States Census. It is the county seat of Gallatin County.
Carrsville is a home rule-class city beside the Ohio River in Livingston County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 50 at the 2010 census, declining from 64 as of 2000. It is part of the Paducah, KY-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is situated just west of the junction of where Buck Creek empties into the Ohio River.
Maysville is a home rule-class city in Mason County, Kentucky, United States, and is the seat of Mason County. The population was 8,873 as of the 2020 census. Maysville is on the Ohio River, 66 miles (106 km) northeast of Lexington. It is the principal city of the Maysville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which comprises Mason County. Two bridges cross the Ohio from Maysville to Aberdeen, Ohio: the Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge built in 1931 and the William H. Harsha Bridge built in 2001.
U.S. Route 45 is a major north-south United States highway and a border-to-border route, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. A sign at the highway's northern terminus notes the total distance as 1,297 miles (2,087 km).
Southern Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois comprising the southern third of the state, principally south of Interstate 70. Part of downstate Illinois, it is bordered by the two most voluminous rivers in the United States: the Mississippi below its connection with the Missouri River to the west and the Ohio River to the east and south, with the Wabash as a tributary. Some areas of Southern Illinois are known historically as Little Egypt.
The Carl D. Perkins Bridge is a cantilever bridge that spans the Ohio River between Washington Township, Scioto County, Ohio and South Portsmouth, Greenup County, Kentucky. The bridge carries the two lanes of State Route 852 and Truck Route U.S. Highway 23. The bridge connects to Kentucky Route 8.
Illinois Route 13 is a major east–west state route in southern Illinois. Illinois 13 has its western terminus at Centreville at Illinois Route 157 and its eastern terminus at the Kentucky state line and the Ohio River, at Kentucky Route 56. This is a distance of 151.54 miles (243.88 km).
Lower Shawneetown, also known as Shannoah or Sonnontio, was an 18th-century Shawnee village located within the Lower Shawneetown Archeological District, near South Portsmouth in Greenup County, Kentucky and Lewis County, Kentucky. The population eventually occupied areas on both sides of the Ohio River, and along both sides of the Scioto River in what is now Scioto County, Ohio. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on 28 April 1983. It is near the Bentley site, a Madisonville Horizon settlement inhabited between 1400 CE and 1625 CE. Nearby, to the east, there are also four groups of Hopewell tradition mounds, built between 100 BCE and 500 CE, known as the Portsmouth Earthworks.
Formed in 1870 as a consolidation of the Pana, Springfield and North Western Railroad and Illinois South Eastern Railway, the Springfield and Illinois South Eastern Railway ran from Springfield to Shawneetown, Illinois. It was under construction until at least 1871, when it was noted as having been increased by 140 miles. In 1875, the Ohio and Mississippi Railway acquired the line. It merged in 1893 with the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern Railroad, now part of CSX Transportation.
Interstate 64 (I-64) in the US state of Indiana is a major east–west highway providing access between Illinois and Kentucky. It passes through southern Indiana as part of its connection between the two metropolitan areas of St Louis, Missouri, and Louisville, Kentucky.
U.S. Route 45 enters Kentucky at Fulton in Fulton County and travels northeast through Hickman County, Graves County, and McCracken County. After passing through Mayfield in Graves County it heads directly north into Paducah as a four-lane highway. In Paducah, US 45 serves as a major artery, intersecting with Interstate 24 at Exit 7, and intersecting US 60 and 62. U.S. 45 leaves Kentucky from Paducah's northern border across the two-lane, metal-grate Brookport Bridge to Brookport, Illinois across the Ohio River.
Michael Kelly Lawler was a volunteer militia soldier in the Black Hawk War 1831–1832, an officer in the United States Army in both the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. In the latter conflict, as a brigadier general he commanded a brigade of infantry in the Western Theater and served in several battles.
South Portsmouth is an unincorporated community in Greenup County, Kentucky, United States. South Portsmouth is located on the Ohio River across from Portsmouth, Ohio and 3 miles (4.8 km) west of South Shore, Kentucky. Kentucky Route 8 passes through the community.
Kentucky Route 56 (KY 56) is a 61.503-mile-long (98.979 km) state highway in Kentucky that runs from Illinois Route 13 (IL 13) near Old Shawneetown, Illinois, on the Shawneetown Bridge at the Kentucky-Illinois state line to KY 81 near Owensboro via Morgantown and Sebree.
U.S. Route 60 and U.S. Route 62 (US 60/US 62) run for a very short distance within the state of Illinois. The highways run concurrently for their entire existence within the state. The joint highway runs around Fort Defiance in Cairo, from the Cairo Mississippi River Bridge over the Mississippi River east to the Cairo Ohio River Bridge over the Ohio River; the Ohio River Bridge also carries US 51. The bridges cross the two rivers just north of the mouth of the Ohio.
Kentucky Route 109 (KY 109) is an 90.309-mile-long (145.338 km) north–south state highway that traverses four counties in western Kentucky's Pennyrile region. It traverses Christian, Hopkins, Webster, and Union counties.
The Cave-In-Rock Ferry is one of four passenger ferry services that cross the Ohio River into the U.S. state of Kentucky. It connects Illinois Route 1 in Cave-In-Rock, Hardin County, Illinois to Kentucky Route 91, 10.6 miles north of Marion, Kentucky. It is the only public river crossing available between the Brookport Bridge at Paducah, Kentucky and the Shawneetown Bridge at Old Shawneetown, Illinois.
IL 13 / KY 56 
