The excitement of discovery pervades the atmosphere at the Falls of the Ohio. While park rules prohibit fossil collecting, staff encourages everyone to search for, hold, and even pass around the loose fossils they find among the rock outcrops. When the limestone bedrock erodes away through natural weathering processes, it can release the harder, silicon-based fossils from the confines of their stone matrix. Therefore, some fossils actually drop out of the bedrock.

Once you've had enough of fossil hunting, you'll enjoy a variety of other attractions at the Falls of the Ohio. For instance, biologists have recorded 265 species of birds at the park. Large numbers of herons, egrets, migratory waterfowl, osprey, peregrine falcons and occassionally bald eagles visit the area to feed on the fish and algae found in the potholes and aquatic feeding areas.

Speaking of fish, more than 125 species of fish appear in the Ohio River at the Falls. Several of these, including the paddlefish or spoonbill catfish, shovel-nosed sturgeon, and the long-nose gar, are descendant from the age of dinosaurs. The rushing water, limestone beds, and gravel bars provide feeding and spawning areas unlike any other on the 981 miles of the Ohio River.

Although the name seems to imply waterfalls at this new state park, in actuality, the Falls are cascading rapids, or cataract falls. They cause the Ohio River to drop 26 feet in elevation over a two-and-a-half-mile stretch. Early explorers found this area the only navigational barrier on the entire Ohio River - historic records refer to the "Rapids" or "Falls" of the Ohio River.

Many visitors, some famous, have graced the Falls throughout the past 200 years. After General George Rogers Clark returned here from conquering the Northwest Territories during the Revolutionary War, John James Audubon arrived to render more than 200 sketches of birds in the Falls area. Mark Twain endured the Falls and recorded, "We reached Louisville - at least the neighborhood of it. We stuck hard and fast on the rocks in the middle of the river, and lay there four days."

After experiencing a boat trip down the Falls, Walt Whitman wrote that "The bottom of the boat grated harshly more than once on the stones beneath, and the pilots showed plainly that they did not feel altogether as calm as a summer morning.

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