Cave-In-Rock

History

From the 1790s to the 1870s, the area around Cave-in-Rock was plagued by what historians as early as the 1830s referred to as the "Ancient Colony of Horse-Thieves, Counterfeiters and Robbers", and better known today due to Otto Rothert's book early in the 20th century as the "Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock". In 1790, counterfeiters Philip Alston and John Duff (or John McElduff) used the cave as some type of rendezvous, though details are scarce. Although folklore printed in 19th century histories failed to establish a prior connection between the two men, both had lived in the area of Natchez, Mississippi, at the start of the Revolutionary War. Duff was living upriver a few miles, either at Battery Rock or across the Ohio River at what would become Caseyville, Kentucky, when in 1797 Samuel Mason moved his base of operations from Diamond Island and Red Banks to the cave and made it the home of river pirates. Two of Mason's brothers had been business partners of Duff in Kaskaskia, Illinois, in the 1780s. Mason created a combination tavern, gambling den, brothel, and criminal refuge. His men lured in gullible river travelers and then robbed and killed them. James Wilson, also known as Bully Wilson, may actually have been an alias for Samuel Mason, the next leader of the gang after Mason's hasty departure, or possibly the front man for Mason's operation. He may be the Wilson who married one of Mason's nieces. In 1799, he hung a sign over the cave's entrance saying "Wilson's Liquor Vault and House for Entertainment". By this time, Duff and his associates had been making salt (or looking for silver) in the area around the Illinois Salines along the Saline River in southeastern Illinois. A detachment from the U.S. Army garrison at Fort Massac, down river from Cave-In-Rock,…

Geography

Cave-In-Rock is located in southeastern Hardin County and is bordered to the south by the Ohio River, which forms the state boundary with Kentucky. The Cave-In-Rock Ferry crosses the Ohio from Cave-In-Rock village to Crittenden County, Kentucky, at a point north of Marion. Cave-In-Rock is the southern terminus of Illinois Route 1, which leads north from the ferry to its northern terminus in Chicago. According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Cave-In-Rock has a total area of , of which (or 90.12%) is land and (or 9.88%) is water. Cave-in-Rock is located in the driftless area of southern Illinois and features geographical differential erosions from the Upper Mississippian and Lower Pennsylvanian ages. Bluffs and ridges are generally sandstone, while valleys are from limestones and shales. Cave-in-Rock is near the Hicks Dome. Cave-in-Rock's primary feature is a striking riverside cave formed by wind and water erosion and by cataclysmic effects of the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes. The cave is located at , just upriver (east) from the village. The first European to come across it was M. de Lery of France, who found it in 1739 and called it "caverne dans Le Roc". Other names for the cave include Rock-In-Cave, Rocking Cave, Rock-and-Cave, House of Nature, The Cave, Big Cave, and Murrell's Cave. The cave is the main feature of Illinois' Cave-in-Rock State Park, established in 1929.

Most-observed species

• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  415
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  397
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  390
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  387
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  351
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  319
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  297
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  278

Most recent

• M 2.58 — 2025-08-09
  2 km ESE of Cynthiana, Indiana
• M 2.52 — 2023-06-03
  7 km N of Nebo, Kentucky
• M 2.51 — 2023-05-30
  7 km W of Calhoun, Kentucky
• M 3.03 — 2023-05-30
  6 km W of Calhoun, Kentucky
• M 2.57 — 2022-04-13
  3 km SE of Springerton, Illinois
• M 2.61 — 2020-02-27
  5 km SW of Bremen, Kentucky