Tall Stacks is a festival organized every 4 years in Cincinnati, OH. It is basically a heritage, arts and music festival to celebrate the riverboat heritage of Cincinnati. During the festival, various kinds of vintage steamboats are seen on the dock of the Ohio River. Here are some funny facts about the boat festival of Cincinnati.

Calliope is a musical instrument and is used in large numbers during the Tall Stacks. The fun factor is that a calliope operates on compressed steam and air. The range of calliope is around 2 1/2 octaves high and it consists of 32 whistles, though an above average calliope can have more than that.

The biggest calliope of the world lies with the Mississippi Queen. This calliope has 44 whistles. The whistles on the Delta Queen are a century old. These were originally fitted on Water Princess by Thomas L. Nichol, which sank miserably. However, the crew saved the whistles and later E.J. Quimbry installed those on Delta Queen. Therefore, Delta Queen is now proud to have antique whistles. The whistling sound of the calliopes can be deafening, but in the past the Mississippi and Ohio River Systems had around 9000 calliopes.

During the Tall Stacks, you will come across the funny steamboat jargon. For instance, doctor is not a medical practitioner; rather it is a pump pouring water into the boilers. The boiler room is termed as the firebox. The paddles of the wheel are referred to as the bucket planks. In this lingo guy does not mean a boy, instead it refers to a line holding a boom, smokestack or mast steadfastly.

Fun Facts about Tall Stacks Cincinnati

http://cincinnati.com/tallstacks/fun_facts.html

General facts about Tall Stacks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_Stacks

Tall Stacks - a premier tourist booster

http://www.gocincy.com/tallstacks/ts_tour_group.html

Tall Stacks - a popular event in Cincinnati

http://www.cincyusa.com/events/popular/

Founded in 1788 Cincinnati has come a long way since then. Founded by John Symmes and Colonel R Patterson it was named Losantiville. It began with three settlements and Fort Washington was to protect and guard these settlements in the Northwest region. The original name of the settlement was changed to Cincinnati by Arthur St. Clair, then governor of the territory.

History of Cincinnati Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cincinnati

The city got its name from the Society of Cincinnati of which St. Clair was the president. The Civil War saw artillery batteries built around the settlements to protect it from 1861 to 1865. The city also served as a headquarter during the war directing the troops into offensives into Kentucky and Tennessee.

Cincinnati in the Civil War Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_in_the_Civil_War

Cincinnati was also at the forefront for the anti slavery moment and several places in the region were allegedly stops for the famed Underground Railroad. This rail was ran for a long time to transport slaves from neighboring state Kentucky where slavery was practiced.

The City of Cincinnati is the city of many firsts. Some of these are - First city to establish a fire department on municipal lines, first Jewish hospital, first weather bureau, only city to build and own a railroad, and also the first licensed public television station.

About Cincinnati Museum

http://www.cincymuseum.org/explore_our_sites/cincinnati_history/cincinnati_war/

List of local historic districts in Cincinnati

http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cdap/pages/-3668-/

Interesting Cincinnati facts

http://www.cincyusa.com/cincinnati/facts/

Some recent movies that have been filmed in Cincinnati are - Seabiscuit, Rain Man, Traffic, Tango and Cash and City of Hope. Some famous people from Cincinnati include General Ulysses S. Grant who went on to become a U.S president, Ted turner media mogul was born here, Steve Spielberg is also a Cincinnatian.