The roof over the boiler deck did not originally also serve as a deck. This surface, which is on two levels, was the hurricane roof, and skylight roof when Belle of Louisville was new and called Idlewild . Later, when Idlewild was employed mostly on excursions, this roof also became a deck by the addition of passenger stairways and railings. The raised section of deck over the skylights on Western Rivers steamboats was used to build a small group of cabins for officers. This cabin area, called the Texas, is only about thirty feet long, and supports the pilothouse on its roof.
Small staterooms serve the officers for occasional cruises away from Louisville.
The keyboard for the calliope is located on the after side of the Texas. In 1968, an additional roof was built over the entire skylight deck, level with the top of the Texas. This roof is not railed, or open to passengers, but supports railed extensions to its forward corners to allow the Captain to view the bow and side when maneuvering. Carbon-arc searchlights of Second World War vintage are mounted at the outboard wings of the extensions. The large bronze ship's bell of about 400 pounds is mounted amidships at the bow between the extensions.