American Heritage: Same boat, new name, due in Cape Girardeau

Barring a last-minute change of schedule, another paddlewheel boat will grace Riverfront Park in downtown Cape Girardeau today.

American Heritage, formerly known as Queen of the Mississippi, is expected to be docked from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. — one of a series of paddlewheeler visits continuing until mid-November.

American Heritage, a five-decker paddlewheeler with a passenger limit of 150, was built in 2015.

With its new name — the boat was redesigned for the 2022 cruise season with new furniture and carpets and with artwork in honor of the Mississippi River — the boat is due to return to Cape Girardeau on Oct. 4. The paddlewheeler is owned by American Cruise Lines.

On Sunday, American Countess, the newest paddlewheel boat from American Queen Steamboat Company, will be at the Cape Girardeau riverfront from noon to 5 p.m. It is a four-deck vessel and can accommodate 245 passengers.

Other 2022 visits

According to www.visitcape.com, formerly publicly known as Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau, the following boats will visit the port of Cape Girardeau for the remainder of the year:

• American Symphony: 8 a.m. to noon Sept. 20
• American Heritage: 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Oct. 3
• American Queen: noon to 5 p.m. Oct. 7
• American Countess: noon to 5 p.m. Oct. 21
• American Queen: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 27
• American Queen: noon to 5 p.m. Nov. 18

VisitCape personnel remind those planning to travel downtown to see the paddlewheelers that arrival dates "are highly likely to change and changes often come last minute."

Additionally, because of security concerns, public tours of the visiting riverboats are not available.