Coming in 2026
The Rose Island Story
A Novel Set Along the Ohio River in Indiana
"The river runs swift, but history has a way of catching up."
The Forgotten Resort on the Ohio River
From 1923 to 1937, Rose Island Amusement Resort drew more than 135,000 visitors a year to a narrow peninsula where Fourteen Mile Creek meets the Ohio River in southern Indiana. Families arrived by steamboat from Louisville. A Ferris wheel rose above the tree line. A roller coaster called the Racing Derby rattled through the woods. A black bear named Teddy Roosevelt watched from his pen near the zoo.
Then the 1937 Ohio River flood came. The water rose twenty feet in three days. When it receded, Rose Island was gone — the rides, the dance pavilion, the hotel, the cottages, the zoo. The resort never reopened. For decades, it existed only in the memories of those who had been there, and in a handful of photographs that survived the water.
The Rose Island Story is a historical novel set against this vanished world. It follows the people who built it, loved it, and lost it — and uncovers details about Rose Island, Indiana that have never before been published.
The Complete History of Rose Island Amusement Resort
Before the novel, there is the history. This in-depth overview covers the founding of Rose Island by David B.G. Rose in 1923, the resort's golden years through the late 1920s, the slow decline of the Depression era, and the catastrophic 1937 flood that ended it all. It also covers what remains today — the stone ruins, the hiking trails, and the ruins that visitors can still walk through at Charlestown State Park.
What the Research Revealed
Years of original research uncovered details about Rose Island that have never been published — until now.
The Hidden Road
Rose Island had a private access road that most visitors never knew existed. New research identifies its exact location and reveals which guests were granted access — and why it was kept off official maps.
Read MoreDavid Rose: The Real Story
The story of David Rose didn't end with the flood of 1937. Newly uncovered records trace what happened to the man who built Rose Island in the years that followed — a story that has never been told.
Read MoreThe Rides That Survived
For nearly 90 years, it was assumed the rides were lost to the Ohio River. They weren't. New research locates both the Ferris wheel and the roller coaster — intact and preserved — at a location that will surprise anyone who thought they knew the full story of Rose Island.
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The Characters of Rose Island
Some are historical figures. Some are fictional. All of them are shaped by the same stretch of Ohio River shoreline.
David Rose
Started as an eight-year-old newspaper boy in Kentucky. By 1923, he was connected to twenty-six corporations. The accepted story says he died broke after the flood. The accepted story is wrong.
Esther Rose
When 4,000 people showed up on opening day — three times what they'd planned for — Esther organized the chaos. She moved through crisis the way she moved through Louisville drawing rooms. Calm. Direct. Never flustered.
Juanita Folger
She was there the summer before the flood. What she saw, and what she chose not to say, becomes the thread that pulls the novel's mystery forward.