As I progressed south on my Great River Road tour out of St. Louis, MO towards Arkansas, our plan took us briefly into Kentucky.  It was well over 50 miles out of the way but it was required for the Great River Road Challenge I was working on.

Out of Cairo, IL on route to Kentucky, we visited Fort Defiance State Park, which is located literally at the southern most point of Illinois, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.  Apparently this area was known at Camp Defiance during the American Civil War but is more well known as the point where Meriwether Lewis and William Clark spent five days studying celestial navigation.  Using navigational tools of their time (no GPS), they successfully obtained the first latitude and longitude data that they used during their expedition.

We crossed the rivers and entered Wickliffe, KY.  Just out of Wickliffe, we stumbled upon Fort Jefferson quite literally by accident.  Our goal was to find the closest geocache located just inside Kentucky, which brought us to this historical overlook.  Fort Jefferson was built during the American Revolutionary War to protect the inner United States against the British.  It was abandoned after one year after having been taken by force by the Chickasaw.  Eighty years later, it later served as a Union Army post during the American Civil War.  Very little evidence of the fort remains today but in 2000, the Fort Jefferson Memorial Cross was completed to memorialize "lost loved ones."

Enjoy the photographs (click the thumbnails for larger view)..

The entrance to Fort Defiance	Molly walking on the river bank of the Mississippi and Ohio river confluence	Bart sinking into the riverbank
Bart and Grandma Norvina standing where Lewis & Clark obtained first latitude and longitude	The Fort Jefferson Memorial Cross near Wickliffe, KY	River traffic as seen from Fort Jefferson near Wickliffe, KY