Saturday, October 16, 1999

TALL STACKS NOTEBOOK

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Paddle wheel part of new monument

BY CHRISTINE WOLFF
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Creole Queen passes by the American Queen paddle wheel anchored along the Serpentine Wall. (Saed Hindash photo) | ZOOM |

        A 60-ton, 36-foot-tall paddle wheel sticks up from the middle of a flat barge anchored along the Serpentine Wall.

        There no boat attached to this wheel, but it's authentic and soon to be the showcase of Cincinnati's National Steamboat Monument.

        For sale at Tall Stacks are commemorative bricks to be placed around the monument. Look for the booth on the walkway above the barge. Bricks cost $40 each and can be engraved with three lines of text.

        The monument opens in June 2000 on a plaza at the Ohio River and Broadway.

        The paddle wheel was donated by the Delta Queen Steamboat Co. of New Orleans.

Complete Guide

        MUSICAL MAGIC:Take a relaxing — if noisy — break at the flagpoles near the P&G Pavilion in Bicentennial Commons at Sawyer Point.

        Listen to the music blowing from the brass pipes of an air-powered calliope. A musician makes the melodies that draw passersby to gather — the ditties everyone knows at least some of the words to, “The Sidewalks of New York,” “A Bicycle Built for Two,” and “If You Knew Susie ...”

        Competing with the calliope is a nearby steamboat whistle exhibit. Push the button at nine stations and hear the distinctive howl of a steamboat that once worked the Ohio, such as The Steamer Queen City and The Steamer Tom Greene.

        KIDS' TIME: Children who otherwise don't give a hoot about the historic gathering of riverboats will love Tom Sawyerville at Sawyer Point.

        The sand volleyball courts have become a place to dig for “Tom's Hidden Treasure.” Kids keep what they find — coins, rocks, arrowheads.

        A wooden arch marks McDougal's Cave. Inside, it's a winding sidewalk with plenty of room for imagination.

        On the Ohio River overlook is the Becky Belle, a child-sized riverboat.

        Tom Sawyerville closes at 7 p.m.

        NATIONAL NOTICE: The Library of Congress is taking note of Tall Stacks '99.

        Cincinnati's celebration will join more than 800 other celebrations, festivals, traditions and performances from across the nation to be documented as “Local Legacies.” It will be part of a permanent record of U.S. cultural history being built for the Library's American Folklife Center.

        Congressman Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, who selected Tall Stacks, and Roberta Stevens, the library's Bicentennial Program manager, will speak during the Tall Stacks departure ceremony 7-9 p.m. Sunday.

        HISTORY REMEMBERED: A ceremony dedicating the placing of an Ohio Historical Marker commemorating the sinking of the Sultana, a Cincinnati-built steamboat that exploded in 1865, killing more than 1,700 Union soldiers, will take place Sunday in Bicentennial Commons at Sawyer Point.

        The program begins at 10 a.m., with a presentation of colors, music by the Colerain High School Band and an introduction by Andy Verhoff of the Ohio Historical Society.

        The plaque is near the Cincinnatus statue in Bicentennial Commons. The Sultana, a 260-foot wooden steam transport, was built here in 1862. It was transporting 2,300 Union soldiers in April 1865 when a boiler exploded and the boat sank in the Mississippi River, 10 miles north of Memphis.

        The marker was prompted by Chris Heather, a Colerain Township videographer who asked the Ohio Bicentennial Commission in Columbus to erect the marker in the park, near where the boat was built.

Everybody loves a riverboat parade
Today at Tall Stacks
Captains grab chance to socialize
Inland river cruises evoke Twain's era
On board the ... Dottie G

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