About Rivermeister

My name is Will and I live in Georgetown, Texas.

On the morning of July 7th, I am going to begin a paddle trip down the Monongahela River (locals call it the Mon) at Prickett’s Fort State Park near Fairmont, West Virginia. The Mon winds its way for 115 miles through a fantastically scenic valley to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where it joins the Allegheny River. The confluence of those two rivers forms the Ohio River. The Beautiful Ohio.

From Pittsburgh I'll paddle down the Ohio, a little less than a thousand miles to Cairo, Illinois, which by the way is pronounced like Karo Syrup, not like Cairo, Egypt. Along the way it touches Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois, and goes through some major cities, Pittsburgh PA, Wheeling, Parkersburg and Huntington WV, Portsmith and Cincinnati OH, Louisville and Paducah KY, Tell City and Evansville, IN, and Cairo, IL.

The Ohio has been an important waterway since before the United States became a nation; there are a number of small and large river towns that have served travelers for over three hundred years. Old style stern-wheel and some side-wheel steamboats still offer tours on the river and the Anderson Ferry, just down river from Cincinnati, has been in operation since 1817. The Ohio played strategic roles in the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, and the American Civil War, and is full of historic sites. I want to visit them all.

That’s the plan. I have a very good Ohio River guidebook, written by Jerry Hay, and published by Inland Waterways, Floyds Knobs, Indiana, a very thorough guide. I have also made contact with some interested folks in Morgantown, West Virginia, and hope to write a guidebook for the Mon River. Guidebooks are useful but, what the heck, I can’t possibly get lost.

I will be posting comments, photos and whatnot to this website, so if you have an interest, kindly follow along.