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Fort Jefferson Hill Park and Memorial Cross

Fort Jefferson Hill Park and Memorial Cross
ViewpointsLC Features
Wickliffe Kentucky 42087

Information

lat: 36.9567156 long: -89.0925973

Fort Jefferson—named for Thomas Jefferson—was established by William Clark’s older brother, George Rogers Clark, in 1780. Due to illnesses that prevailed in the area, lack of settlers, and the need for troops in other places, it was abandoned sometime around 1781. While camped at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers at Fort Defiance, near today’s Cairo, Illinois, Captains Clark and Lewis took a canoe and eight men and paddled south to visit the site on November 18, 1803:

“Set out early this morning with a canoe and eight men in company with Capt. Clark to visit and view the ground on which Oald Fort Jefferson stood;”
—Meriwether Lewis

“I was at old fort Jefferson, it is entirly grown up with Trees—”
—William Clark

Today, one can read the interpretive signs and enjoy the view of the Mississippi-Ohio river traffic.

https://www.kentuckytourism.com/explore/fort-jefferson-hill-park-welcome-center-memorial-cross-of-ky–4884

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