Welcome to Golconda
Nestled in the foothills of the Shawnee National Forest, Golconda sparkles like a diamond on the banks of the mighty Ohio River. As a matter of fact the definition of the word 'golconda' is 'a source of great wealth (especially a mine)' according to Princeton University.
Pope County Deer Festival November 19-22
Plans are gearing up in Pope County for the 48th annual Pope County Deer Festival celebration, which is guaranteed to provide a good time for the whole family.
Featured Places to See
Many significant events took place on the banks of the Ohio River and farther into the interior of the state. The area provides a wealth of information for genealogical research.
Many of the first settlers to this part of the United States are buried in local cemeteries. Historic churches dot the rural landscape of our area.
Pope County Museum & Historical Society
Main Street Golconda
Buel House and Davidson Cabin
Whats Going On Here
On October 23, 2008 the server running this website had a hard drive failure that wiped out the database for this domain. Since this was a project running exclusively on very small ad sales funds are not available to get it back up and running at the same level as before. We apologize for this and promise to bring the site back in the future as time and resources allow.
History of the Pope County Deer Festival
The Pope County Deer Festival had its origins in 1957. Since 1901, a fifty-six year period, the State of Illinois had been closed to deer hunting due to a small deer population. By 1957, the deer population had recovered sufficiently to permit a hunting season. In that first year, 1735 deer were harvested in thirty-three counties. Interestingly, 110 deer were harvested in Pope County. Since that first season, autumn deer hunting has become a tradition and with it the Pope County Deer Festival.