The Shawnee Queen River Taxi is a 48-passenger vessel. It is equipped with a wheelchair tie-down and bicycle racks. The Shawnee River Taxi takes you on a scenic cruise along the historic Ohio Rive. It makes stops in the river towns of Golconda, Rosiclare, Elizabethtown and Cave-in-Rock along the way. The crew of the Shawnee Queen River Taxi points out interesting sights, wildlife and lovely waterfront estate homes.
Although the Shawnee Queen River Taxi is a popular Illinois attraction, its history is based on necessity, rather than recreation. Back in the 1940s, a major bus service was discontinued in the Pope and Hardin Counties in Illinois. In 1976, the Golden Circle Senior Citizen Center was given a two-year period to develop a program called RIDES, which stands for Rural Initiative Development of Effective Services. A service agreement with the Golden Circle Nutrition Program enabled the delivery of meals to the homebound. Additionally, people in the river towns along the Ohio River were able to travel to nutrition centers. Although the RIDES program began as a bus system, in August of 2001, the Shawnee River Queen Taxi became a part of the RIDES mass Transit District.
Cave-in-Rock is one of the Illinois attractions that are serviced by the Shawnee River Taxi. This 55-foot wide cave was actually formed by water. Cave-in-Rock has a fascinating history. Samuel Mason, a former militia captain and judge, came across the cave in 1797 and converted it into a tavern called Cave-in-Rock. It was used as a base for his pirating operation, the Mason Gang. Mason and his cohorts would make friends with unwary travelers, and then use various means to entice their riverboats into the cave, where they would generally be robbed and killed.
The Shawnee River Taxi also stops in Elizabethtown Illinois, where you can find the 1812 Rose Hotel. You can spend the night, or simply enjoy a drink on the veranda. The town of Golconda is another stop on the Shawnee Queen River Taxi. Golconda is a popular Illinois fishing and hunting destination. The shops on Main Street provide an enjoyable Illinois shopping experience.
Although it is not a stop on the Shawnee Queen River taxi, if you are interested in Illinois history, you may want to visit Shawneetown Illinois. Shawneetown was established in 1937, after the flooding of the Ohio River inundated what was once Old Shawneetown. Old Shawneetown was the site of the first bank in Illinois, which was constructed in 1812. Today, it is known as the John Marshall House. It bears the distinction of being the third oldest brick building in Illinois. There is a legend that states that the Shawneetown Bank refused to buy the first bonds issued by the city of Chicago on the grounds that no city located that far from Shawneetown could survive.
