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EXPLORING
KENTUCKY - September 2005 by Katherine Tandy Brown River City Resurrection Though I’d always successfully avoided high school reunions, friends finally coaxed me to Western Kentucky in June for our – argh! – fortieth. Surprisingly, no ghosts emerged from that long-closed closet, only fond memories and warmly renewed connections. Another surprise awaited when three chums and I hit Paducah, the big city of our youth, for a day of exploring, shopping and, of course, eating. Having visited only briefly a few years ago, I’d no idea of the extent to which this once-quiet town had parlayed its fascinating river history, burgeoning arts community and architecturally rich downtown into a magnet for tourists and new businesses. With her husband, Ron, Sue bought eight historic buildings on Broadway right by the water in 1999 and developed them into RiverPlace. Four businesses now flourish in RiverPlace. Step into the Market Pavilion Gift Shoppe, and the Ice Cream Factory next door will lure you in with the heavenly smells of home-baked waffle cones and homemade ice cream. Upstairs, the Fox Briar Inn offers short- or long-term downtown lodging in beautifully refurbished condos. Or if you’d rather go rural, the Clarks’ other hostelry, Fox Briar Farm Inn Bed & Breakfast (www.foxbriarinn.com), awaits on 100 peaceful acres just outside Paducah, with only a quiet lake and Belted Galloways, or “Oreo cows,” to keep you company. The other RiverPlace draw is d. Starnes, famous for its West Kentucky hickory barbecue for 50 years. Sue has added luscious homemade pies, including coconut cream with sky-high meringue and rich Southern pecan, among others. Just around the corner, the River Heritage Museum perches right on the waterfront in the city’s only surviving antebellum structure, formerly an 1843 bank. Through listening stations, interactive models and displays, we got to know Paducah’s personality. Founded in 1827 by General William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, this Ohio River town – smack at its confluence with the Tennessee – embraced all things marine, including barge building and freshwater button manufacturing. Yankee General Ulysses S. Grant protected Paducah from General Forrest’s Rebels in 1861 by constructing a riverside Civil War fort and one of the first pontoon bridges. Modern maritime training continues these days at the Seaman’s Church Institute, where experienced engineers and boat captains come from all over the world for river safety training in a towboat-shaped simulator capable of creating any weather conditions. Occasionally, visitors can try it out. “On a tour you sit in the pilot’s seat,” Koch explains. “The floor rattles. You’re going past the St. Louis Arch and you think you’re never going to get under it. It’s fabulous!” In 1937, Paducah’s river flooded, driving 32,000 citizens from their homes and leading to the creation of a floodwall, now embellished with gorgeous historic scenes painted by well-known artist Robert Dafford. The wall-to-wall murals provide an artistic backdrop for events, like Barbecue on the River (September 23 and 24), where you can pig out at free outdoor concerts. One of the city’s internationally known yearly happenings is the Quilt Show and Contest at the 30,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art American Quilter’s Society National Museum, a half block from the riverfront. The show draws 40,000 quilters from all over the world. Just a short walk away, the Market House Museum occupies a renovated 1905 building with the Yeiser Art Center and Market House Theatre. The century-old, meticulously reconstructed gingerbread woodwork interior of List Drug Store, circa 1877, provides a historic backdrop for the museum’s collection. Its stars include exhibits of Paducah native sons Alben W. Barkley (Harry S. Truman’s vice-president), humorist Irvin S. Cobb, Boots Randolph and James Allard Vessels, a survivor of the USS Arizona. Objets d’histoire include a 1913 fire truck; an 1850 chair used by General Grant; and the shoes of Grand Old Opry star, Benjamin Francis “Whitey” Ford, also known as “The Duke of Paducah.” The downtown area also sports the $44 million Luther F. Carson Four Rivers Center, home of the Paducah Symphony Orchestra, and a pops, classical and Broadway series; and African-American, Civil War and LowerTown walking tours. LowerTown, a 26-block National Register of Historic Places Fine Arts District, is the site of the award-winning Artist Relocation Program, a national model for using the arts for economic development. Since 2001, more than 45 artists from around the world have relocated to its Queen Anne-style homes and Italianate mansions to ply their trades. Watch LowerTown artisans at work and peek in galleries and stores during Arts Walk, the second Saturday of each month. Located in RiverPlace, the Paducah Visitors Bureau has reams more information at (800) PADUCAH or www.paducahtourism.org.
Katherine Tandy
Brown is a staff writer for The Lane Report. |
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Copyright 1996-2005, by Kentucky Business Online. All rights reserved. Editorial content
is copyright 2005, Lane Communications Group The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
“When we first opened a B’n’B 10 years ago, the downtown was boarded up and the doorways were full of dead leaves,” Paducah resident Sue Clark told me. “It’s had a really exciting turnaround since then.”
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