Sunrise over Louisville’s Towhead Island

Towhead Island is at the eastern end of Waterfront Park in Louisville, KY.
Towhead Island is at the eastern end of Waterfront Park in Louisville, KY.

Click on the image to open it in a new larger window.

Towhead Island is located in the Ohio River just east of downtown Louisville, Kentucky. It was formed by a barge that sank many years ago and obstructed the channel. Over many decades the river delivered loads of silt and debris which eventually created the island we see today. Not only is it a staging area for barges to be transported down river it is also a mini wildlife refuge hosting a few blue herons and the occasional beaver.

Fall sunrise on the Ohio River  in Louisville KY.
Fall foliage at sunrise on Towhead Island in the Ohio River at Louisville KY as seen from the observation deck below the Big Four Bridge.

Click on the image to open it in a new larger window.

Towhead Island also creates a calm protected waterway to the University of Louisville’s boathouse, a police substation and a large marina. The lights on the distant shore are from the Jeff Boat boat building yards in Jeffersonville Indiana. On this particular morning the University of Louisville rowing teams were training and moving along the western end of the island.

3 thoughts on “Sunrise over Louisville’s Towhead Island

  1. I am part of the Louisville Rowing Club and we often row near or behind Towhead Island, and it used to be far larger than it currently is. Now, it is around the average size of the load that a large barge would carry but still to big to be from an old barge. There are rocks and even several full grown trees that are submerged, so that also indicates just how large the island really is below the waterline.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.