09/07/2026
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One of Kentucky’s eeriest sights is the “Kentucky Ghost Ship”, also known as the former USS Sachem, which can be found tucked inside Taylor Creek near the Ohio River in Petersburg. The 175-foot vessel began as a luxury steam yacht called Celt, ordered in 1901 and launched in 1902 for New York businessman John Rogers Maxwell. During World War I, the Navy took it over as USS Sachem, where Thomas Edison used the ship as a floating laboratory while testing ideas meant to help fight German U-boats. It returned to civilian life, became a party fishing boat, and was called back into Navy service during World War II as USS Phenakite. Afterward, it spent years carrying tourists around Manhattan for Circle Line. In the late 1980s, owner Robert Miller brought the aging ship roughly 2,600 miles to Kentucky. Today it remains stranded and rusting away on private property. You can legally see it from the water, but boarding the ship is not allowed and the surrounding land is all private property, so your best bet is to hop in a kayak and paddle up the creek to it!
