A Road Less Traveled Through Kentucky and Indiana

On a stormy afternoon, I traveled through central Kentucky and southeastern Indiana en route to Indianapolis, photographing historic bridges and ferry sites.

In Valley View, Kentucky, remnants of the old Richmond, Nicholasville, Irvine & Beattyville Railroad (RNI&B) remain visible today, including bridge piers in the Kentucky River. The RNI&B once spanned from Frankfort to Airedale but was largely abandoned in the 1930s. Its bridge over the river was dismantled in 1942, though the piers were retained to support the nearby Valley View Ferry.

Next to the piers is the Valley View Ferry, the oldest business in the Commonwealth. Established in 1785, it predated Kentucky’s statehood in 1792 and operated as a private venture for over 200 years. Managed by seven generations of families, it was jointly purchased in 1991 by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and Madison and Jessamine Counties. Today, it ferries KY Route 169 across the river.

In 1996, a heavy snowfall sank the ferry boat. It was replaced by the “John Craig,” named after the ferry’s original operator. In 1998, the crossing was closed for upgrades, including the installation of four 55-foot concrete anchor towers. Previously, the ferry had been tethered to the remaining piers of the old railroad bridge.

Nearby, the abandoned locks of Lock No. 9, built in 1903, can be found. Calls to close the lock first arose in 1951 due to the lack of commercial use. However, this changed after a coal-fired power plant opened at Ford in 1953, prompting coal shipments from a transloading station upstream of Lock No. 14. The lock was closed in 1981 as commercial traffic declined, briefly reopened under a state agreement in 1985, and permanently closed in 1989.

In Ripley County, I stopped for quick photos of two bridges and a trackside scene.

The first was along Cave Hill Road—a riveted Parker through truss built in 1920. The rural landscape around it remains largely unchanged, and the bridge continues to be used with only minimal modifications.

Nearby, the Otter Creek Covered Bridge, a Howe through truss, carried County Road 850 West over Otter Creek. Built in 1884 by Thomas A. Hardman and Phillip Ensminger, it remained in service until 1996 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2019. I photographed it after a heavy rain, though I missed capturing a double rainbow that briefly appeared.

I ended the day with a final shot along the former Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) in Holton. Originally completed in 1857 by the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad between Cincinnati and St. Louis, the line was acquired by the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern in 1893, becoming part of the B&O in 1900. Today, it operates as CSX’s Indiana Subdivision.

Holton’s historic buildings remain largely intact along the tracks, and old B&O Color Position Lights still stand at a nearby crossing, soon to be replaced by modern Safetran signals.