Ozark Tour 2014 planned in October
The Ozark Tours returned last year after many years' absence, providing an opportunity for people to learn about the history and beauty of Col. L.O. Trigg's Illinois Ozarks.
The tours are being offered again Oct. 25 with new stops, new sites and a new name in an old region Southern Illinois residents call home.
Over the past year, the Shawnee National Forest joined with a variety of interested citizens and civic groups to plan and implement the Trigg's Trails, Tours and Detours, also known as the Ozark Tours, according to a release from the Shawnee National Forest.
From 1931 to 1949, Col. Lindolph Oscar (L.O.) Trigg - owner of the Eldorado Daily Journal - annually shepherded government officials and area boosters on sight-seeing expeditions to various sites in Southern Illinois. The purpose of the tours was to highlight the special places in the area, including both scenic and important historical sites and to encourage the establishment of a national forest. Col. Trigg was an early and enthusiastic promoter of a national forest for Southern Illinois and dedicated much of his life to showing others the beauties of the region. His dream was finally realized when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed the establishment of the Shawnee National Forest in 1939.
On Oct. 25 a wide variety of outdoor recreation enthusiasts, including the U.S. Forest Service, Gallatin and Hardin County Tourism groups and the River-to-River Trail Society, will host the second modern-day Ozark Tours.
At 8 a.m. Saturday the group will load air-conditioned buses for a day of recreation, sightseeing and exploring this special part of Southern Illinois. The tour will visit many of the sites that Col. Trigg visited during the 1930's and will include old friends such as Illinois' first banks at Old Shawneetown, visiting the WPA mural at Equality, Potts Tavern, the Fluorspar Museum in Rosiclare and many other historic and scenic sites. A highlight of the Ozark Tour will be visiting John Crenshaw's mansion on the hill, also known as Hickory Hill, and having a catfish supper served on the front lawn of the Rose Hotel in Elizabethtown.
Colonel Trigg's granddaughter Janet Davis, along with other friends and neighbors who knew and remember Col. Trigg, will be on hand to tell tales of the grand ol' man himself and his wonderful Ozark Tours. The evening will end with a campfire and tall tales at the Illinois Iron Furnace.
The cost of the weekend tour is only $120 and includes the bus ride, guided tours, two meals, a catered lunch in Equality with all the fixin's, and a good ol' Southern Illinois catfish supper on the banks of the Ohio River. The tour hopes for an Indian Summer weekend of strolling and sightseeing, sunsets and storytelling, under our southern skies plus a few experiences tourists are not likely to have anywhere else - except on an Ozark Tour.
Pre-registration for the Ozark Tour is required and can be done by contacting the Illinois Ozarks at 618-287-4333 or at http://www.illinoisozarks.com.
Administered by the USDA Forest Service, the Shawnee National Forest is one of 155 national forests nationwide. As the only national forest in Illinois, the Shawnee offers numerous avenues for connecting with the natural world through its 280,000 acres of varied landscape.