PHOTOS: PADUCAH CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU
International Film Festival. Celebrat- ing its seventh year in November 2011, the four-day festival strives to bring independent film to what it describes as “the smart, arts-oriented, mid-American river town of Paducah, Kentucky.” There are a wide variety of categories of films (documentaries, features, narrative shorts, animations, etc.), and entrants come from all over the world, offering a global perspective to this small city.
u The Civil War Room at the William Clark Market House Museum includes furniture used by Ulysses S. Grant, a quilt made by Mrs. Robert E. Lee, and an 1858 flag once hidden in a bed to protect it from capture.
A Trip to the Museum Besides the National Quilt Museum and the William Clark Market House Museum, there are other worthwhile small museums in Paducah. The Lloyd Tilghman House and Civil War Museum is located in a Greek revival house now owned by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Confederate General Lloyd Tilghman lived here, and now the museum features exhibits about the area’s role in the Civil War. The Hotel Metropolitan is a 1908 historic hotel that has been restored as part of the “Save America’s Trea- sures” project. Now an African- American Heritage museum, the hotel hosted some prestigious guests, including Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, among others.
u The River Discovery Center has interactive exhibits as well as a film and a flood-and-water show to delight visitors and educate them about the history of the region.
the world. The permanent collection holds pieces by Matisse, Goya, Dali, Cassatt, and others. The Market House Theatre, the Yeiser Art Center, and the William Clark Market House Museum (a delightful collection of bits and pieces from Paducah’s history and
T H E E L K S M A G A Z I N E
lore) share the space of Market House Square, one of the lovingly restored and renovated properties of Paducah’s historic old town.
A more recent development in Paducah’s entertainment and cultural programming is the River’s Edge
And what more likely place would there be for museums that celebrate rivers and railways than Paducah? It’s no surprise, then, that here you’ll find the River Discovery Center, a hands- on, interactive museum experience in the oldest standing structure in downtown Paducah. The pilot-house simulator is a real draw, allowing visitors a glimpse of what it is like to see and experience a mighty river from the pilot’s vantage point. The Paducah Railroad Museum is presented by the Paducah Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society and has a good sampling of railroad artifacts and memorabilia. At the confluence of two rivers, this small city thrives quietly. Paducah, this place that celebrates art and culture and history, is a fine place to contemplate all that has gone before, to listen to the hushed rush of water that passes through the center of our country, carrying with it the stories of our past, and to see the vitality of our present and the endless possibilities of our future. ■
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