Population (2010) 2,819 Introduction Once a bustling port at the confluence of two of the biggest rivers in the US, Cairo (pronounced CARE-o) today is a shell of its former self. The reasons for its shocking decline aren’t too hard to figure out. History The
The most southern portion of Illinois has been known as Little Egypt at least since the 1820s, and maybe earlier. Many early European settlers viewed the Mississippi River as America’s Nile, which, coupled with evidence that the area was inhabited by an ancient civilization (earthen mounds that often looked a lot like pyramids) probably
Flood month continues at the Song of the Day Department with another song from the 1927 flood: Cairo Blues by Melvin 'Lil Son' Jackson. Recorded in 1949, Jackson references parts of an earlier song, High Water Blues by Blue Belle, a much darker take on the 1927 flood than Jackson's. Listen to more Songs here.
Fort Defiance Park offers an intimate view of the merging of two of the continent's biggest rivers--the Ohio and the Mississippi--a combination that spawns a beast of a river from that point south. The park isn't in great shape--it floods often and the City of Cairo doesn't have a lot of money to take care
Shemwell's BBQ; Cairo, IL Cairo, Illinois has been through some tough times, but through it all, Shemwell's Barbecue, now run by the fourth generation of the family, has continued to put out good barbecue for a reasonable price. The sweet smell of smoking meat fills the small, no-frills interior that feels like a
This is a composite of three photos taken at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers in October 2012, at Fort Defiance State Park near Cairo, Illinois; the Ohio is on the left and the Mississippi on the right. Just over a year before, the point from where I took these photos was under
