I've seen the bend from the air and it was cool as hell to look at, but from a Google Earth perspective there's not much there, other than to say you've been there.
Western KY Recommendations Please
- Thread starter CB3UK
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Starnes is not the best BBQ in Paducah area but still better than Moonlite and other BBQ place but it has the toasted bread with Tom's chips and RC Cola and the best sauce, none of the mess you get out in Texas or NC. Good ole Paducah hot sauce vinegar with a bite.
Leigh's is better BBQ by far, Knoth's is good not my favorite, Smokey D's is good.
Doe's is good stuff, the original one in Greenville is miles better but this Doe's is very good. Doe's in Greenville is always voted as a top 25-50 steakhouse. It is good and I eat at the original 3-4 times a year.
Good food and good cold beer at an old honkytonk place- Kountry Kastle out on Beltline.
New Holiday Inn Full Service opened up on Paducah riverfront this week. Restaurant and Bar, 4-5 blocks from downtown area and Doe's
I grew up there so not a drive by review.
To each their own. I live in Paducah and,would drive out of Paducah to get bbq instead of,eating,starnes. Meat is too dry for me and im not a fan of their sauce. If I had to get Paducah BBQ I usually go to Harneds or Backwoods. Never had Leighs though.
I have done the trip from Lexington to Paducah hundreds of times and you don't have much time to do much but stop look and drive on to the next stop if it's just for a few hours. Everything people have said is a good thing to see from Kentucky and Barkley dam to LBL. Grand rivers to the river front in Paducah and the murals on the flood wall downtown are very interesting. As for eating, Patti's in Grand rivers is an excellent choice and but need reservations, kind of expensive, but if you want the best BBQ and I have eaten at all the above mentioned, Harned's in Paducah is the best by far in Western Ky. There are several Civil War stops like the one in Columbus KY where a huge chain was stretched across the Mississippi in an attempt to stop Union gun boats on the river. A portion of the chain is on display along with the giant anchor used. The trenches at Columbus are some of the most well preserved at any Civil war site. Also the General Lloyd Tilghman house is in Paducah downtown. There are a lot of things to do and lots of choices.
I love listening to you WK guys argue about BBQ. My vote goes to Pig in a Poke in Prestonsburg. LOL. Seriously, it is good, to my non BBQ palate.
What the hell is a ekywildcat doing in western Kentucky? Cumberland Falls is the prettiest place in the state. Drops over 60 feet, but probably was scary my first year in college when the flood had it only dropping about 6 foot, IIRC.
I do have to say I was impressed with Mammoth Caves though.
LOL
My mom told me a few days ago that Knoths was going out of business or already had. I hate to hear that. I grew up in that end of the state and still get back there to see our folks.
Agree. Saw it several times between DFW & CVG. Is really neat - and empty. Should be part of TN. 2010 Census said 18 !! people lived there.
That's good to hear, I hope they passed the sauce recipe on the the new owners. It's fabulous. I heard Paul Harvey mention Knoths on his radio show years ago when it was still in the tiny place that burned.
If you pass through Murray you might want to check out Fort Hymon in south eastern Calloway Co, was a Confederate outpost taken in 1862.
Correct, Hugh Edward Knoth is staying on til the new owners learn the recipe and the way things operate meaning not much should change. So if you have ever eaten there when you go back it should taste just like it always did.
Their is Fort Donalson in lbl. I remember gling to it decades ago. Im sure its still their, may be on tn side??
Their is the jefferson davis monument outside of hopkinsville. Cant miss it with it being over 350 ft tall. Amazing that something like that was built out their.
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/16473530.jpg
Their is the jefferson davis monument outside of hopkinsville. Cant miss it with it being over 350 ft tall. Amazing that something like that was built out their.
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/16473530.jpg
The river used to meander before the levees were built i think in the late 30s. If You Get on Google Maps and look at the area real close you can see where the river has moved over the centuries. You can see the little twist and circles in the Earth where the river used to run at and it would move whenever a flood occurred. or an earthquake like what happened in 1811 and 1812. The Mississippi River used to be where Reelfoot Lake was back then.
If you decide to eat dinner in BG, DO NOT eat at Miriahs. It used to be good, they moved down by the ball park, went to hell, closed for a while. It is nowhere near what is used to be. Go to 440 Main or Brickyard (Italian).
Go to Steamer (seafood) here in BG, and go to a Hotrods game if they are in town. Steamers is where the original Miriahs was right around the corner from the ball park. It is a nice stadium, it is only single A ball, but they are fun to watch, stuff for kids there.
If you come by Murray, you can check out a couple of nice restaurants. Mugsy's Hideout is great and Shogun is an excellent sushi/hibachi grill.
From there, you can choose to visit Clark's River NWR north towards Paducah, LBL to the east (my favorite is the Elk and Bison Prairie, although the many trails available are quite nice), the drive-in in Calvert City is nice, there are several great breweries and wineries in the Paducah area that you can tour, go fishing at the lakes, rent a boat, stay at Kenlake or Lake Barkley resorts, etc. There's no shortage of things to do here if you're willing to look for them.
From there, you can choose to visit Clark's River NWR north towards Paducah, LBL to the east (my favorite is the Elk and Bison Prairie, although the many trails available are quite nice), the drive-in in Calvert City is nice, there are several great breweries and wineries in the Paducah area that you can tour, go fishing at the lakes, rent a boat, stay at Kenlake or Lake Barkley resorts, etc. There's no shortage of things to do here if you're willing to look for them.
Jauk, I revisited the Fall's last week and very disappointed. It's not being taken care of and seems dirty. The restroom was so bad I had to hold my breath. The State's not doing much at all to keep the Park up to what it should be. Had been a few years since I had been there, but won't go back.
Probably not worth going out of your way, but I've stopped at the Bluegrass Restaurant in La Center and Betty's in Barlow when heading to Cape Girardeau, Mizzuruh for work. Both are no frills, greasy spoon places where I only had a burger, but it was just good country style food. Bluegrass has some great homemade desserts and Betty's had fried chikin on Wednesdays. I stopped on a Tuesday and I could see them back in the kitchen putting the chikin into 5 gallon buckets to brine. If you're taking the time to brine your chikin, I'm guessing it's going to be really good.
Sorry to hear that, made a trip back for our 5th (and last, probably) family reunion last summer and my daughter and young grandsons enjoyed it. Grew up close to there and been there lots of times, fishing and swimming in the river below the falls, etc, when I was a kid we were allowed to walk on the rocks and go behind the falls, but that ended long ago.
My dad had a story and picture in the New York Times in the forties about cutting down the biggest Poplar tree east of the Mississippi close to there. a sad thing to me but then I might have starved to death and never been heard from if he hadn't.
Well I made it back to Lexington after midnight. Up and at em now to head to work. Will report back on my escapades yesterday at break later on this morning!
I got to see quite a bit of the state yesterday. Hit Cracker Barrel here for a quick breakfast. After reviewing Google Maps, my gf and I saw we could go down to Bowling Green and then out to LBL, so that's what we did.
Bowling Green overall looked pretty nice. Drove around the campus, saw Diddle Arena and the football stadium. The parts of BG we saw reminded me a lot of how some of the outlying older neighbohoods in Louisville look.
We drove west through Russellville and Hoptown. Not much to say there other than they look like every other small town in Kentucky. Totally unplanned but a happy coincidence, on the way through that stretch of southern Kentucky lies the Jefferson Davis monument; so we checked that out. Definitely worth a stop if you're ever out that way, though Fairview and all that is definitely in the middle of nowhere. We didn't go up in the monument on the elevator, because honestly I can't imagine that there's much to look out over besides farmland. The musuem inside was $5, a few cool things inside to see but not a whole lot. If you're huge into the Civil War you might find it intriguing, if not then I'd say skip it as there isn't a ton of actual real pieces in there. I enjoyed it.
Land Between the Lakes is absolutely beautiful. We hit it in the middle at US68. Drove south to Tennessee and saw Fort Donelson and the Confederate trenches, as well as cannon fortifications there. Very impressive, and definitely worth the drive. A beautiful view overlooking the lake/river there as well. Stopped and ate a picnic lunch at Golden Pond in LBL. Drove the length of the Woodland Trace Pkwy through LBL north to the dams. We hit both dams at Kentucky and Barkley and wow......TVA really did an incredible feet with those. I didn't realize LBL was essentially a Fed land grab. That doesn't sit well, but it was for the benefit of the many at the expense of the few, so I suppose there is some justification for it. At any rate, being out there with no boat or RV was torture! Would have loved to spend the day out on the water.
After LBL we hit Paducah. We saw Harned's BBQ and stopped there on the way in because we were starving by this point. It was solid. I would have preferred it for lunch instead of dinner, but it was still good. It wasn't Moonlight though! Haha. Drove through Paducah which had several very rough looking areas before we found the nice setup they have on the waterfront down by 2nd and Water Streets. That was appealing. The huge flood wall obscured what could have been a gorgeous riverfront view for the city, but obviously I get that the flood wall is necessary.
From there we shot over to Illinois to Metropolis to see the Superman statue. That was pretty neat. If you're close to there it's worth shooting through for the 10 minutes it takes to get there if you have kids. They have a big gift store which we didn't go in, but I imagine for the young or young at heart it's worth looking inside.
At this point it was about 7:30 EST so we hit the interstate and hauled butt back to Lexington. I wanted to hit Murray, Mayfield, etc but just not enough time. Saw quite a bit of Kentucky yesterday I'd never seen and even parts of Illinois and Tennessee to boot. Not bad for one Saturday!
Edit: almost forgot we drove through Possum Trot. The true highlight for my gf from upstate NY who loves to make fun of our Kentucky ways of naming places
Bowling Green overall looked pretty nice. Drove around the campus, saw Diddle Arena and the football stadium. The parts of BG we saw reminded me a lot of how some of the outlying older neighbohoods in Louisville look.
We drove west through Russellville and Hoptown. Not much to say there other than they look like every other small town in Kentucky. Totally unplanned but a happy coincidence, on the way through that stretch of southern Kentucky lies the Jefferson Davis monument; so we checked that out. Definitely worth a stop if you're ever out that way, though Fairview and all that is definitely in the middle of nowhere. We didn't go up in the monument on the elevator, because honestly I can't imagine that there's much to look out over besides farmland. The musuem inside was $5, a few cool things inside to see but not a whole lot. If you're huge into the Civil War you might find it intriguing, if not then I'd say skip it as there isn't a ton of actual real pieces in there. I enjoyed it.
Land Between the Lakes is absolutely beautiful. We hit it in the middle at US68. Drove south to Tennessee and saw Fort Donelson and the Confederate trenches, as well as cannon fortifications there. Very impressive, and definitely worth the drive. A beautiful view overlooking the lake/river there as well. Stopped and ate a picnic lunch at Golden Pond in LBL. Drove the length of the Woodland Trace Pkwy through LBL north to the dams. We hit both dams at Kentucky and Barkley and wow......TVA really did an incredible feet with those. I didn't realize LBL was essentially a Fed land grab. That doesn't sit well, but it was for the benefit of the many at the expense of the few, so I suppose there is some justification for it. At any rate, being out there with no boat or RV was torture! Would have loved to spend the day out on the water.
After LBL we hit Paducah. We saw Harned's BBQ and stopped there on the way in because we were starving by this point. It was solid. I would have preferred it for lunch instead of dinner, but it was still good. It wasn't Moonlight though! Haha. Drove through Paducah which had several very rough looking areas before we found the nice setup they have on the waterfront down by 2nd and Water Streets. That was appealing. The huge flood wall obscured what could have been a gorgeous riverfront view for the city, but obviously I get that the flood wall is necessary.
From there we shot over to Illinois to Metropolis to see the Superman statue. That was pretty neat. If you're close to there it's worth shooting through for the 10 minutes it takes to get there if you have kids. They have a big gift store which we didn't go in, but I imagine for the young or young at heart it's worth looking inside.
At this point it was about 7:30 EST so we hit the interstate and hauled butt back to Lexington. I wanted to hit Murray, Mayfield, etc but just not enough time. Saw quite a bit of Kentucky yesterday I'd never seen and even parts of Illinois and Tennessee to boot. Not bad for one Saturday!
Edit: almost forgot we drove through Possum Trot. The true highlight for my gf from upstate NY who loves to make fun of our Kentucky ways of naming places
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If you want a great buffet in Murray, Stop in Sirloin Stockade. Good catfish places in Hardin and Draffenville/ KY Dam. Did we miss the Fancy Farm Picnic?
I got to see quite a bit of the state yesterday. Hit Cracker Barrel here for a quick breakfast. After reviewing Google Maps, my gf and I saw we could go down to Bowling Green and then out to LBL, so that's what we did.
Bowling Green overall looked pretty nice. Drove around the campus, saw Diddle Arena and the football stadium. The parts of BG we saw reminded me a lot of how some of the outlying older neighbohoods in Louisville look.
We drove west through Russellville and Hoptown. Not much to say there other than they look like every other small town in Kentucky. Totally unplanned but a happy coincidence, on the way through that stretch of southern Kentucky lies the Jefferson Davis monument; so we checked that out. Definitely worth a stop if you're ever out that way, though Fairview and all that is definitely in the middle of nowhere. We didn't go up in the monument on the elevator, because honestly I can't imagine that there's much to look out over besides farmland. The musuem inside was $5, a few cool things inside to see but not a whole lot. If you're huge into the Civil War you might find it intriguing, if not then I'd say skip it as there isn't a ton of actual real pieces in there. I enjoyed it.
Land Between the Lakes is absolutely beautiful. We hit it in the middle at US68. Drove south to Tennessee and saw Fort Donelson and the Confederate trenches, as well as cannon fortifications there. Very impressive, and definitely worth the drive. A beautiful view overlooking the lake/river there as well. Stopped and ate a picnic lunch at Golden Pond in LBL. Drove the length of the Woodland Trace Pkwy through LBL north to the dams. We hit both dams at Kentucky and Barkley and wow......TVA really did an incredible feet with those. I didn't realize LBL was essentially a Fed land grab. That doesn't sit well, but it was for the benefit of the many at the expense of the few, so I suppose there is some justification for it. At any rate, being out there with no boat or RV was torture! Would have loved to spend the day out on the water.
After LBL we hit Paducah. We saw Harned's BBQ and stopped there on the way in because we were starving by this point. It was solid. I would have preferred it for lunch instead of dinner, but it was still good. It wasn't Moonlight though! Haha. Drove through Paducah which had several very rough looking areas before we found the nice setup they have on the waterfront down by 2nd and Water Streets. That was appealing. The huge flood wall obscured what could have been a gorgeous riverfront view for the city, but obviously I get that the flood wall is necessary.
From there we shot over to Illinois to Metropolis to see the Superman statue. That was pretty neat. If you're close to there it's worth shooting through for the 10 minutes it takes to get there if you have kids. They have a big gift store which we didn't go in, but I imagine for the young or young at heart it's worth looking inside.
At this point it was about 7:30 EST so we hit the interstate and hauled butt back to Lexington. I wanted to hit Murray, Mayfield, etc but just not enough time. Saw quite a bit of Kentucky yesterday I'd never seen and even parts of Illinois and Tennessee to boot. Not bad for one Saturday!
Edit: almost forgot we drove through Possum Trot. The true highlight for my gf from upstate NY who loves to make fun of our Kentucky ways of naming places
You missed Monkey's Eyebrow!
On your next WKY trip, or anyone else considering one - tips for three off the beaten path things to experience. 1) A bunch of little old ladies sold cakes and cookies and collected aluminum cans (and got state money for the grounds) to erect one of the largest crosses on the Mississippi River at Fort Jefferson, atop a hill overlooking Wickliffe. Whatever your thoughts on it are, it is worth driving up to see. 2) The obelisk at Jefferson Davis's Memorial at Fairview in Todd County is not widely promoted, but also is worth the trip because it is sort of creepily jaw dropping; and then Murphy's Pond in Hickman County, which has the state's largest bald cypress swamp. These are not on a lot of destination itineraries, but they are worth taking in.
I have yet to eat at a BBQ restaurant in WKY that would make me drive six hours to just get a return meal. Most of them are pretty decent but not destinations in themselves, at least not for me. Every town has one or two.
I have yet to eat at a BBQ restaurant in WKY that would make me drive six hours to just get a return meal. Most of them are pretty decent but not destinations in themselves, at least not for me. Every town has one or two.
When you make a return trip with your dad, check out Columbus. Then go to Fulton and eat at Deno's BBQ. Best BBQ I have ever ate and blows Starnes in Paducah out of the water. Reelfoot lake is nice and just about all of it is in Tennessee. Real good catfish restaurants down that way. And agree with about everyone ITT about Patties. It is always good. Glad you came to wky.
PS
Don't know what year it was when the Brass Lantern won best restaurant in the state or whatever. But we have ate there once and was completely disappointed. Will never return.
PS
Don't know what year it was when the Brass Lantern won best restaurant in the state or whatever. But we have ate there once and was completely disappointed. Will never return.
Rock
Rock, go to Monroe County and make your choice of which barbeque place you want to eat. WKY barbeque can't compete with Monroe County Kentucky. My wife is from Hopkinsville and she agrees with me.
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