Cave-In-Rock has evolved from pirate hideout to picnic spot

CAVE-IN-ROCK, Ill. (AP) — What a difference a couple of centuries can make.

Today, several hundred thousand tourists a year flock to the tiny Ohio River village of Cave-In-Rock to visit the massive cave carved out of the limestone bluffs by the river. Even the most claustrophobic person would have little difficulty stepping inside the 55-foot-wide opening.

The cave is located in a state park that bears its name in Hardin County.

Its history wasn’t always so inviting.

A 2015 article in Atlas Obscura, headlined “A Cave of Villainy on the Ohio River,” paints a dark picture of the cave that was “discovered” by French explorer M. De Lery in 1739. He called the cave “caverne dans Le Roc.”

The article makes it clear that the cave wasn’t a tourist attraction for pioneers and settlers heading west in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

“Almost immediately after the cave was discovered it became a wretched hive of scum and villainy,” the article states. “From around 1790, Cave In Rock was base camp for a group of river pirates who would ambush flatboats carrying cargo down the Ohio River. Pirates, bandits, fugitives and murderers used the cave as a sort of hideout and handout where they could scheme, gamble, drink and even kill.”

Samuel Mason, a notorious river pirate, established a tavern in the cave that lured in travelers as they passed by. Other “notable” outlaws who operated out of the cave were murderers Micajah and Wiley Harpe, known as “Big” and “Little” Harpe.

A 2011 article in The Southern Illinoisan said, “The Harpe brothers spread killing and despair wherever they went.”

Legend also says the Sturdivant Gang, a group of counterfeiters, used the cave. And, local legend has it that Jesse James once took refuge there.

The Atlas...