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We went on a trip this weekend, just me and Bill. He wanted to punctuate finishing his book. It was a lot of driving, but nice places. We saw The Hermitage in Nashville--home of Andrew Jackson, a very beautiful Federal style house, very simple and delicate. I thought it was maybe the third best historical place I'd been in this country, after Monticello and Independence Hall.
Paducah was a very well-developed antique and crafts touristy town, with good old buildings for several blocks, a really good restaurant, and a flood wall (more protection on top of the levee) with more murals. This was my fall of murals--after the Mission in San Francisco.
Why does Paducah need a flood wall? It's very near the confluence of the two biggest rivers in North America--Ohio flows into Mississippi. We went there--it's very near Cairo, IL, another unusual town. It's almost dead except for one street of old mansions and the Customs House. There's a book about how Cairo and Kent, Conn, are both towns whose essence has been destroyed in two different ways: Far from Home, by Ron Powers.
The drive was long, but incredibly beautiful. It reminded me that I'd rather teeter on the broken edge of an Appalachian road than face Atlanta traffic.
Paducah was a very well-developed antique and crafts touristy town, with good old buildings for several blocks, a really good restaurant, and a flood wall (more protection on top of the levee) with more murals. This was my fall of murals--after the Mission in San Francisco.
Why does Paducah need a flood wall? It's very near the confluence of the two biggest rivers in North America--Ohio flows into Mississippi. We went there--it's very near Cairo, IL, another unusual town. It's almost dead except for one street of old mansions and the Customs House. There's a book about how Cairo and Kent, Conn, are both towns whose essence has been destroyed in two different ways: Far from Home, by Ron Powers.
The drive was long, but incredibly beautiful. It reminded me that I'd rather teeter on the broken edge of an Appalachian road than face Atlanta traffic.
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