John O'Dell calls Southern Illinois' beauty home

Jeff Jones photo

John O'Dell, left, recently retired from the Saline County Tourism Board. On Aug. 29 at Harrisburg Ponderosa the board honored him with a plaque for his years of service. Presenting the plaque is Saline County Tourism Board Member C. Mart Watson.

Jon Sternberg photo

John O'Dell has been a driving force behind Southern Illinois tourism for many years. He has inspiring young people, created a statewide trail, written multiple trail guides and served as host to out-of-area visitors.

John O'Dell calls Southern Illinois' beauty home

By Jon Sternberg

jsternberg55@gmail.com

Mitchellsville

Not since Clarence Bonnell has a man contributed as much to promoting the enjoyment of Southern Illinois as John O'Dell.

O'Dell truly embodies the drive and knowledge that enabled Bonnell to create the first great interest in this truly unique area of the country that we live in. O'Dell is a historian, archeologist, outdoorsman, geographer, geologist, cultural socialistic, ethnographer, artist, minister and extremely passionate advocate of Saline County and it's potential for tourism development.

"I love Southern Illinois," O'Dell said. "We have here such a wealth of history, scenery, culture, a wealth of things to see and do. Tourism, it's an untapped resource for our future. As long as we keep the resource intact and pure."

After a career as a school superintendent in various school districts, O'Dell and his wife, Marilee, bought a house in the Shawnee hills south of Mitchelsville in 1988. And the adventure began. O'Dell, enamored with the charm and beauty of Southern Illinois began looking for a way to begin promoting tourist interest in the area. O'Dell contacted Alan Green at the United States Forest Service with the idea of a marked trail system stretching from the Ohio River to the Mississippi River. Green responded with the words, "I've been looking for a guy like you."

"We got in contact with Reese Lukie from the American Discovery Trail (a cross nation trail group) and a local man involved in 4-H, Ray Morris, and we started marking the trail," O'Dell said. "Ray was really terrific, he developed the distinctive trail markers for the River to River Trail and we were off and marking."

O'Dell became the founder and first president of the River-to-River Trail Society, and the trail system, stretching from the Ohio River to the Mississippi River was marked out in four to five months.

"We would take two cars and drop one off where John's destination for that day was. I would drive him back to where he wanted to start and drop him off," Marylee O'Dell said.

"And that's how Marilee helped mark the River to River Trail," John O'Dell said with a gentle laugh and a warm smile for his wife. Not long after its creation, the River-to-River Trail was officially accepted as a part of the national "American Discovery Trial" and gained even more prominence in bringing tourism to enjoy the very special beauty of the land we live in here in Southern Illinois. O'Dell served as the first Illinois representative on the Discovery Trail Board for a number of years.

Almost as an aside during this time, O'Dell helped originated the idea and help found the Southern Illinois Arts Center, a place for the works of local artists to be showcased to attract nationwide attention.

"It was a time that I was between superintendent jobs and looking for something more glamorous," O'Dell said.

After meeting Glen Poshard an a River Flatboat Reconstruction event, O'Dell found a valuable ally in Poshard.

"Glen is a good guy to know," O'Dell stated.

O'Dell them became involved with the newly formed Saline County Tourism Committee, becoming it's first Director.

"Debbie Dullinger, the owner of the Harrisburg McDonald's donated office space for us and the Saline County Tourism Board came into existence," Marilee O'Dell remembers.

"We had a good sized grant and we started looking around as to how to create a self-sustaining event. We came up with the idea of the River-to-River Relay Race." O'Dell said. "Gordon Pitts and the Herrin Hiking and Running Club came on board and we were off. After the first year, the event has paid for itself. Not only did it turn out to be one of the biggest events we have, we learned a very important lesson. Make the event work so that it is self-sufficient. We have never had to put money into the relay race since the first year, it grows and supports itself. If you have a good event that becomes sufficient, that pays for itself, that's where tourism development begins. It was a very valuable lesson."

The River to River Relay Race has now been in existence for many very successful years.

The next series of projects for the Tourism Board under O'Dell leadership were the expansion of the Saline Creek Pioneer Village and Museum. An authentic pioneer cabin was moved to the site of the museum from Elizabethtown. A replica of a pioneer blockhouse was constructed and the annual Life on the Illinois Frontier Festival was originated and promoted under O'Dell's leadership. This event has become one of the best attended and important festivals of the early summer season.

O'Dell turned his mind toward utilizing the area's American Indian heritage to focus tourists' minds on Saline County and southeastern Illinois.

After thought and consultation with American Indian groups, O'Dell decided to use the life and history of the Shawnee Tecumseh as a rallying point for promotion of the area. After consultations with Indian councils in the Midwest, O'Dell was instrumental in developing powwows that have helped draw visitors to Saline County.

In conjunction with Shawnee tribal groups, the only bronze statue of the noted Shawnee Chief, Tecumseh, was formed, cast and emplaced at the Saline County State Fish and Wildlife Area.

"I cannot thank the Native Americans enough for their cooperation and help in making this event one of the high points of the year. This is what our area is about, the cultural heritage and exchange between Native Americans and European Americans. This is so much a part of the history of our culture and history in this area. I regard this as perhaps my greatest achievement in everything I have done to promote tourism and interest in our area," O'Dell said.

O'Dell retired from the Saline County Tourism Board this year.

"It has been a wonderful experience, but I'm turning 81 and I just can't do it forever. If we are to have an economic engine for Southern Illinois, what would it be?" he asked. "It would be tourism. To show and share the incredibly rich, multi-cultural, sociological history of this area that is so much a part of all our family histories, part of all the peoples who traveled through this area on the way west. Part of all of us in America."