While visiting Kentucky during a recent travel trailer road trip, I heard about a restored riverboat in Louisville that offered rides on the Ohio River. While checking out this vessel, I met Charlotte Mason, the Communications Manager for Belle of Louisville Riverboats (an organization run by the Waterfront Development Corporation, a branch of the Louisville Metro Government, owner of the steamboat). Mason guided my wife, daughter, and me on a private tour of the Belle of Louisville, including the boiler room, engine room, pilot house, and captain’s quarters (complete with a true-life ghost story). Three days later, we had the opportunity to board the Belle for a two-hour sunset cruise, the highlight of our time in Kentucky (home of Colonel Sander’s secret blend of 11 herbs and spices back in 1940).
The Belle of Louisville was originally named the Idlewild when she was built in Pittsburgh in 1914. Operated by the West Memphis Packet Company, she spent several years hauling cargo on various river systems. Her time as a packet bought, however, ended in the 1920s, when a network of paved roads led to the creation of the trucking industry.
To stay was converted into a tramp excursion boat, going from town to town, giving people rides (like the aerial barnstormers did with their biplanes during the Golden Age of Flight). With a draft of only five feet (the depth of the vessel’s hull beneath the surface), the operated on every major navigable waterway from the Missouri River to the eastern seaboard. Over the years, ownership changed hands several times and upgrades were performed to improve passenger comfort.
