Saturday in Augusta

On Saturday Dianne and I drove to Augusta, Kentucky. Augusta is a town of about 2000 people located along the Ohio river about 45 minutes Southeast of Cincinnati. The main purpose was to visit a relatively new business in Augusta -- Amy's Blue Daisy. The owner of the shop was one of Dianne's former co-workers. There is an article about the shop in a recent issue of Augusta's newspaper, The Ledger Independent. The shop is right in downtown Augusta (the yellow building in the photo).

While coming into town, Dianne noticed we were driving on Heather Renee French boulevard. Heather, Miss America in 2000, was born in Augusta. There's a big sign proclaiming that fact as you drive into town. Dianne knows Heather from graduate school -- another Augusta connection.

Another big draw for Augusta is the Clooney family. Rosemary and Nick Clooney were born in Maysville, KY, just a bit further up river from Augusta. Nick Clooney settled in Augusta when working in the Cincinnati area and his son George Clooney graduated from Augusta High School. Rosemary Clooney purchased a 'get away' house in Augusta in the 80's that is now a museum. Amy mentioned Augusta gets a lot of visitors because of Clooney family ties.

The city has a riverside park that provides access to the Ohio river. The photo here, taken at the park, shows a barge going downstream to the locks at the Meldahl dam. The park has shelters and picnic areas and plenty of parking for visitors and people with boat trailers.

After our visit to Augusta, we decided to take the ferry across the river and return along the Ohio side. There is a ferry that runs between Augusta and Higginsport, Ohio (weather permitting). Supposedly this is only one of two ferries (the other is the Anderson Ferry just West of Cincinnati) that are still operating on the Ohio river. According to this site, there has been a ferry operating on this spot since 1798.

The ferry, the Jenny Ann, was pretty cool. To me it seemed like a barge that could hold about six cars. Centered on the side of the platform was the wheelhouse and engine. When the ferry was loaded, a hydraulic arrangement pivoted the bridge and engine around the connection to the platform. It swings around pretty fast and keeps the barge platform pointed the right direction. That way the captain is always looking forward when coming into the landing. The photo at right, looking upstream, shows our car in front of the engine side of the ferry.

We were on the ferry with only one other car. Note in that picture you see the US flag near the middle of the ferry and the Ohio flag near the Ohio end of the ferry. I got a nice picture of Dianne under the Kentucky flag -- mounted on the Kentucky end of the ferry. This was about midway and looking downstream. It was a beautiful day, but very hot and humid for October! About 20 degrees above the average high.