Louisville Waterfront Park is a 72-acre municipal park adjacent to the downtown area of Louisville, Kentucky and the Ohio River. Specifically, it is adjacent to Louisville's wharf and Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere, which are situated to the west of the park. As of Summer 2005, Waterfront Park offers free wireless Internet access. Currently this is the largest public park in the nation to offer such access. |
Once an industrial wasteland, Louisville's reclaimed waterfront now features trees and walking paths.
The western half of the park features linear fountains, not officially intended for swimming but nevertheless quite popular for that purpose. Further east, there are two expansive lawns, bisected by the interstate, and a small series of docks for boats. Nearby are the Children's Play Area and the Adventure Playground. The pedestrian walkway and ramp are on the eastern end of the park. |
OOOH read the sign shown below that is posted at the beginning of the pedestrian walkway ramp to the Big Four Railroad Bridge -
The two RV Gypsies really liked the fact that
dates and romance ARE allowed on the bridge. |
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Below: Karen Duquette on the pedestrian walkway which curves around and links to the Big Four Railroad Bridge shown behind Karen. |
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Below: The George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge as seen from the pedestrian walkway. The bridge is 5,746 feet in length and 38 feet wide over the Ohio River.
Locally, the Clark Bridge is also known as the Second Street Bridge, as Louisville's Second Street leads directly to the bridge. This has never been a formal name however. There is a pedestrian sidewalk on each side of the bridge deck. Since 1991, the bridge has been used as "ground zero" for the annual Thunder Over Louisville event, when a waterfall of fireworks flows along the entire length of the bridge during the fireworks show. This involves traffic being closed for much of the week. The bridge is featured in a scene from the 1981 movie Stripes in which Bill Murray drives his cab to the middle of the span, gets out of the vehicle and then tosses his keys into the river below.
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| Above quote from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
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Below: The George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge as seen from the Big Four Railroad Bridge |
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Below: The two RV Gypsies and their
Segways on the Big Four Railroad Bridge |
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Below: The Big Four Bridge is a six-span former railroad truss bridge that crosses the Ohio River, connecting Louisville, Kentucky, and Jeffersonville, Indiana, United States. It was completed in 1895, and updated in 1929. It has its largest span at 547 feet for 2,525 feet in total. It gets its name from the defunct Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, which was nicknamed the "Big Four Railroad." It is now a converted pedestrian walkway from Louisville into Indiana.
Access to the Big Four Bridge is limited to pedestrian and bicycle use and Segways. The Indiana side was not completed as of this date, as shown below. However, the two RV Gypsies returned to Louisville in 2015 and took the Segway tour again, and the Indiana side was completed and they rode their Segways into Indiana. Those photos can be reached from the link at the very bottom of this page.
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| Most of the above quote from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
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Below: Other sights the
two RV Gypsies toured on their Segways |
Since 1963, the Belle of Louisville has taken people for a cruise on the Ohio River .The Belle is America's last true Mississippi River Steamboat still in operation, and she is preparing to celebrate her 100th birthday in October 2014. Though we know her today as the Belle of Louisville, she was originally named The Idlewild when she was built in 1914 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was designed to be a ferry and day packet vessel for freight work, and was also outfitted for her later career as an excursion boat. Completely paddlewheel-driven with a steel hull that draws only 5 feet of water, she was able to travel on virtually every navigable inland waterway, earning her the distinction of being the most widely traveled river steamboat in the nation. The Belle was named a National Historic Landmark on June 30, 1989. |
| Above quote from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
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Below: The Lincoln Memorial
at Waterfront Park was dedicated on June 4, 2009 and was funded by the
State of Kentucky, the family of Harry S. Frazier, Jr., and the Kentucky
Historical Society/Kentucky Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
as part of the two-year national celebration of the bicentennial of
Lincoln's birth.
This memorial tells the story of how, as a young man, Lincoln began developing his abhorrence of slavery while watching slaves being loaded onto riverboats on the Ohio River in Louisville. The memorial features a 12-foot statue of Lincoln seated on a rock and looking out over the river.
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Below: The Grasshopper sculpture that has been a centerpiece of Waterfront Park since 1999, created by Artist Tony Smith. |
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The two RV Gypsies really enjoyed this Segway tour, and the price was quite reasonable. Their tour guide was very knowledgeable in the area and told about each stop. The two RV Gypsies highly recommend Segway Tours by Wheel Fun in Louisville. As stated above, the two RV Gypsies returned to Louisville in 2015 and took the Segway tour again. Those photos can be reached through the TOC button above and choosing S, then scrolling down to Segway tours. |
