Some people go to the beach for spring break . . . we went to Paducah! The impetus for the trip was to fulfill our promise to Mane to take her to the National Quilt Museum. Alas, they do not allow photography, so no pictures from there. But, here are some of the other sites we saw . . .
Mane in front of one the panels depicted on the extensive "Paducah Wall to Wall" flood wall mural.
This has been on my radar for some time . . . the grave-site of "A Man of Courage," John T. Scopes. Born and raised in Paducah, Scopes became famous/infamous for his role in the Scopes Monkey Trial. He went on to work in the oil business in Venezuela, Louisiana, and Texas.
Buried in the same cemetery as Scopes is the once famed and prolific author, humorist, and columnist Irvin S. Cobb. He is the author of one of my favorite "weird tales" called Fishhead. Click on the link and take the time to read this forgotten oddity. By the way, H.P. Lovecraft was very praising of Fishhead, and supposedly it was an inspiration for his own novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth.
The Lloyd Tilghman House and Civil War Museum was the last residence of Confederate Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman. He was killed at the Battle of Champion Hill in Mississippi. There is a massive statue of Tilghman at the Vicksburg battlefield (there is also a statue of Tilghman in Paducah, which we visited as well). The tall building in the background on the right of the above photograph is the Irvin Cobb Hotel (now apartments for senior citizens). On a tip from Vic, we went into the lobby of this place. This place must have been amazing at one time. Every inch of the former lobby is covered with some kind of decoration. Good to see that it has survived, but it needs to be brought back to life. Click on the link above to see some pictures of the hotel.
The Tilghman house is also a really nice museum that pertains to the Jackson Purchase area in the Civil War. The exhibit pictured above relates the story of Nathan Bedford Forrest's raid on Paducah in March of 1864. Most of the places relating to the battle have been lost to time, including Fort Anderson which Forrest attacked (the convention center is located there now).
Captain Dudeboy guiding his barge up the Ohio River. This simulation is one of the exhibits at the River Heritage Museum.
Wacinton . . . "Hand chiseled from a local 56,000 pound Red Oak to honor the Chickasaw Indians who lived and hunted in this area until the Jackson Purchase, 1818." Not far from here is the well known Chief Paduke statue.
Just across the river in Illinois is the location of the Kincaid Mounds. These earthen mounds date to the Mississippian time period. There is an observation/information area, but access to the actual mounds is prohibited.
Our tourist photo-op at Metropolis, Illinois.
2 comments:
Colour me jealous. I should have talked you and Dr. J into adopting me.
What a shame about the Itvin Cobb Hotel. Good to see pics from a town I used to frequent quite often.
Vic
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