Lawrenceburg Ratliff Landing

Indiana, Dearborn County

river mile 495

River access: yes. Tree cover: open. Impervious surface: a lot. Landscape design strategy: organized. Information about the Ohio River: little to none.

U.S. 50, running here next to Interstate 275 which circles Cincinnati, is not an attractive road. It is multi-laned, busy, noisy and bordered by every kind of fast food restaurant and big box store one could imagine. Yet if one goes past the Skyline Chili and turns towards the river before McDonald’s and Krogers and Lowes, one finds a quiet cove, Tanners Creek, that leads on to the Ohio. The cove itself looks as if it would be fun to explore by kayak. The Dearborn Trail, a bicycle trail that connects Lawrenceburg with Aurora, bypasses this park, passing by on a bridge over Tanners Creek a hundred yards riverward. Thus kayakers could have access, but not bicyclists.