Why You Should Visit Cave-in-Rock, Illinois

With the current popularity of pirates, why not take a short fall journey to one of the many places in the mainland United States where pirates really did hide out?

Long before the Civil War, when the Ohio and Mississippi rivers were used much more for travel than they are today, Cave-in-Rock, Illinois, was home to river pirates including Samuel Mason and the Strudevant Gang.

Legend has it that Mason began using the cave as a hideout and tavern in 1797. His gang would befriend travelers and attract them to the cave where they would be robbed and killed. The idea enticed Hollywood so much they used it and the cave in the movie, "How the West Was Won". The cave was also used as a location for the Disney movie "Davey Crockett and the River Pirates".

According to local history buffs, the cave has also been used as a hideout for various gangs over the years and was once the sight of a counterfeiting operation. The cave itself no longer sits right on the Ohio River, unless it is spring runoff and the river is very high, but it does offer a spectacular view of the river and is a deep cool cave year-round.

Even in the heat of Southern Illinois summers, the cave remains comfortable. The cave is the main attraction of the Cave-in-Rock Illinois State Park, but the rest of the park is worth seeing too.

You can park near the top off the cliff and take the hewn rock stairs down tot he cave entrance. The cave itself is 55 feet wide at the mouth and is made of limestone carved out by the Ohio River. In the early spring, avoid sitting on many of the rocks near the sides of the cave, or get wet, as runoff continues to enlarge the cave ever so slightly each year.

The cave was named by a French explorer in 1729 who called it "caverne dans Le Roc" and in 1744 it began to show up on maps with that name, French for Cave-in-Rock.

After Samuel Mason was killed, allegedly by one of his own men hoping to collect the $100 reward, a string of other pirates, murders and thieves called the cave home. Mason's killer never got the reward as he was killed immediately by another member of Mason's gang.

Other than Mason, the most notorious residents of the cave were the Harpe brothers, murders from Kentucky who are considered to be among the nation's first documented serial killers.

Finally, in the 1830s, local residents had cleaned out the cave enough to offer it as a real shelter for westward travelers. A century later, the state of Illinois opened Cave-in-Rock State Park on the site.

The park offers 204 acres of hiking trails and scenery, mostly along the Ohio River bluffs. In addition, there is a lodge and several duplexes available on the property for those who want to visit the natural and historic beauty without roughing it. The park also has a pond and two separate boat launches into the Ohio River for those interest in fishing or other water activities.

Around the corner, almost literally from the park, is the village of Cave-in-Rock with a historic Opera House and friendly southern hospitality. Just a bit further south along the river, travelers can visit Elizabethtown, home of the state's only floating restaurant, and Rosiclare, where rock hounds can hunts for fluorite and fossils.

A visit to Cave-in-Rock is an easy hike for almost anyone and the view of the Ohio River is breathtaking. And, on a quiet spring day without a lot of other visitors around, it's easy to imagine how travelers weary of the water could have easily stepped into Mason's trap.