Lewis and Clark Expedition ~ Golconda, IL - Lewis and Clark Trail on Waymarking.com

Marker Erected by: This sign was erected by the Illinois Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission in 2003 in conjunction with the Illinois Bureau of Tourism, the National Park Service, Pope Co. Historical Society, Golconda Rotary Club, Golconda Pope Co. Chamber of Commerce, Pope Co. Board of Commissioners, Pope Co. Education Assoc., City of Golconda, Main Street Golconda, R.C. & Joan Davidson, Michael Pricha, Curtis O. Broadway and Walker and Associates.
County of Marker: Pope County.
Location of Marker: Washington St., on river levee, Golconda.
Marker Text:

Lewis & Clark Expedition
1803 ~ 1806

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Golconda
In 1796 Major James Vance Lusk, Revolutionary War veteran, and his wife Sarah, daughter of Gen. James McElwaine, led a party of 35 - half of them children - from Washaw, South Carolina to a site in Kentucky, opposite the mouth of Lusk Creek.

Lusk obtained a license from Kentucky, and operated a ferry until 1798 when he established an unlicensed business on the Illinois bank, in protest of Kentucky's slave status. He built a two-story house of keelboat timbers near the mouth of the creek which still bears his name. Known as the Ferry House or the Tavern House, it was visited by many important travelers. In 1803 Major Lusk died after completing a narrow road from Tennessee to Green's Ferry on the Mississippi.

In 1804 Sarah Lusk was granted a license by Gov. Wm. Henry Harrison of Indiana Territory. She operated the ferry and a store until 1805 when she married Thomas Ferguson, later a member of the First and Second Territorial Legislatures. Ferguson took control of the business and sold it in 1816.

In 1798 this was the only Illinois settlement between Kentucky and Kaskaskia. Records of 1807 show there were three small stores, one tavern, one saloon, and twenty dwellings. The name changed from Lusk's Ferry to Ferguson's Ferry, Sarahville, and finally became Golconda in 1817.

"Must Sees"at this location": Just east of here, on the Pope County courthouse lawn, is another Lewis and Clark marker (The In Illinois Series) and a marker to Sarah Lusk. Date Waymark Created: 10/01/2003 Do they allow dogs at this location?: Yes Rate this waymark as to importance:

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