RN: After a drive of about 250 miles from Lexington, we arrived in Paducah and a new time zone. Unbeknownst to us, Kentucky is in two time zones and, somewhere we crossed into Central time so we gained an hour! 

Paducah is the only city in Kentucky with a native American name.  Local lore has it that William Clark (of Lewis & Clark) surveyed the town (formerly named Pekin) and named it Paducah after Chief Paduke of the Chickasaws; however (according to Wikipedia), historians and experts on native tribes discovered that no such word or person was part of the Chickasaws.  Instead, “historians believe that Clark named the town for the Comanche people of the western plains. They were known by regional settlers as the Padoucas.”  Paducah sits at the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio River so it was an important port when travel and trade depended on steamboat traffic.  It was a key port during the Civil War and was occupied by a Union force under General Ulysses S. Grant, where it could serve as a supply depot for Federal forces along the Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee rivers. In 1937 the city was inundated by the Ohio River when it rose over 10 ft above its flood stage and 27,000 (essentially the whole city) had to flee. To prevent further flooding, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers erected a huge flood wall to protect the city.

Why did we stop in Paducah?  Well, Alan Willard told us about it and it is part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in craft and folk art and home to the National Quilt Museum.  We rented a gorgeous AirBNB within walking distance of downtown and used this as an opportunity to take a 3 night stay to relax and enjoy.

FE. The Airbnb we rented is called “Wisdom’s Lovely Lady”, built in 1868 by wealthy Mr. Wisdom, and is on the National Registry of Historic Homes. The photo above is of the living room. Other rooms include a similarly well appointed TV room, dining room, full kitchen with breakfast area and 2 bedrooms. What a find!

To end the day we went for dinner at the Freight House. Chef Sara Bradley recently won “Chopped, All American Showdown”, and the food was, as expected, marvelous. Here is Rae’s fried catfish with English peas and greens on a pea puree, next to my porkbelly on a bed of gnocchi and succotash with a thin slice of bacon-fat fried cornbread. Delicious!!