Rock On!

Finally, I think the saga of the Indian Head Rock has come to an end! The dispute has raged on for the last three years. The fate of the eight ton boulder that was the cause of much angst in these three years has finally been resolved. The antiquity is being returned to its rightful owner, Kentucky, in the near future. Thankfully this prevents litigation. Portsmouth, Ohio will relinquish the control of the rock with no further need for the resolution settlement in Federal Court. Portsmouth has agreed to return the rock to Kentucky.

Just to refresh your memory I will review the facts. The rock was on the bottom of the Ohio River when historian Steven Shaffer led an expedition of divers to remove the rock from the Ohio River in September, 2007. Shaffer and one of his cronies was facing criminal charges at one time because they violated Kentucky's antiquities law. Said rock was on the Kentucky side of the river and therefore was owned by Kentucky..

The rock is believed to be a relic of prehistoric Indians. It has a crude carving of a face, possibly done by the Indians but it also has the names of some Portsmouth families from the early 1900's carved into it. (They were probably in an under water carving class.)

I am missing something here because I can't really see it becoming a tourist attraction if it remained on the bottom of the river. Seems to me that Shaffer and his cohorts did Kentucky a favor by dredging this gigantic, eight ton rock up to the surface. Rather than dropping the thing back into the river they(Ohio) are going to remove the rock from their storage place, (some warehouse somewhere) and move it to Kentucky, the rightful owner.

It seems the integrity of the archaeological site has been compromised so the rock will be stored by Greenup County officials until a permanent home can be found for it and then it will be on display for the public to see. Do you see a special trip in your future to travel to Northern Kentucky to view this phenominal chunk? The Heritage Council is gearing up for the anticipated crowds. Kentucky Rocks. Ciao.