This protected bi-state stretch of the Ohio River near Louisville centers on the Falls of the Ohio, a broad reach of rapids formed where the river cut across Devonian limestone shelves about 386 million years old. Once creating a 26-foot drop over roughly two miles, the falls were the river’s only navigational barrier and helped shape the growth of Louisville, Jeffersonville, Clarksville, and New Albany through crossing and portage. Long used by bison and Native Americans, the site is also renowned for fossil beds in the Jeffersonville Limestone. Later canal, lock, and dam construction altered the falls, but the area remains significant for both geology and regional history.

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Jeffersonville, Indiana · USA