- P.A. Denny (ship)
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The P.A. Denny is a 109-foot (33 m) long three-deck paddle wheel boat that cruised the Kanawha River in the eastern United States for nearly three decades as a tour boat. It provided excursions and parties, before leaving for Ohio in August 2004.
The Denny is now based in Cincinnati, Ohio operated by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission’s educational foundation. It is renamed the P.A. Denny River Education Center and is used as a floating classroom, with periodic excursions. The facility is designed to introduce fourth through 12th graders to science and ecology concepts. The P.A. Denny features labs and equipment for the students’ use during their four or five hour voyage.
History
The ship was built as the Scott, in Charleston, West Virginia, by Charles Ward Engineering Works in 1930 and served the U.S. Corps of Engineers in Louisville for 24 years.
Charleston river man Pete Denny bought the boat and led it to victory in the 1974 Stern-wheel Regatta Race in Charleston. After his death, a longtime friend, Captain Lawson Hamilton bought the boat and named it the P.A. Denny. The Denny participated in the World's Fair in New Orleans in the early 1980s.
As of January 2009, the ORSANCO Educational Foundation has changed its name to the Foundation for Ohio River Education (FORE), which is primarily operated from the P.A.Denny River Education Center, currently docking in Covington, Kentucky. Classes offered on board include Land Use and Watersheds, Water Chemistry, Aquatic Biota, and Ecological Impacts for the High School and College cruises. For Elementary and Middle School, we offer Planktomania, Critter Counting (macroinvertebrate identification), Fish Ecology, and Rate Your River.
References
- P.A. Denny visits Charleston Huntington Herald Dispatch, Oct 17, 2007
- WSAZ Coverage of Deny repairs at Charleston, WV.
- STERNWHEELER CONVERTS TO CLASSROOM The Cincinnati Post (Cincinnati, OH), August 11, 2004 , by April Yee
- Floating classroom looks for support By Kirsten Stanley, The Ironton Tribune Thursday, October 19, 2006
- P.A. Denny Historic Sternwheeler Preservation Society
- Tall Stacks.com Specifications and announcement
- Visitors Guide Cincinnati OH
- ORSANCO website Owners of the P.A. Denny
See also
Categories:- Paddle steamers of the United States
- Education in Cincinnati, Ohio
- Ships built in West Virginia
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