To
those who read and/or follow this blog, I’ll bet that you thought that our
May/June trip to visit family and friends in Paducah Kentucky, St. Louis
Missouri, Kansas City Missouri and Omaha Nebraska would never end!
Well good news! This is the last posting that features that
trip along the back roads and byways of the Midwest…
This is
the former Pennsylvania Railroad passenger depot in Madison Indiana. This beautiful as well and uniquely designed
depot was built in 1894. Now it serves
as the Jefferson County Historical Society’s Museum. To learn more about the Historical Society
and this museum, you can go to http://jchshc.net/index.php.
If you
haven’t visited Madison Indiana down on the Ohio River, and you like historic
old towns as well as dining and shopping, this is a town you should go out of
your way to visit! The town’s population
is just over 12,000 and it’s the County Seat for Jefferson County. Over 55,000 people live within 15 miles of
Madison and it isn’t very far from Louisville Kentucky.
Most of Madison's downtown area has been designated
as the largest contiguous National Historic Landmark in the United States. One hundred and thirty three (133) blocks of
the downtown area is included in the Madison Historic Landmark District.
To view
and learn about some of the historic buildings in the Historic Landmark
District, go to http://www.oldmadison.com/homes/.
Factoids:
· The Madison Hydroplane (powerboat) Regatta
is held here on the Ohio River every July.
It draws up to 100,000 spectators.
· A couple of movies have been filmed in
Madison. One was “Some Came Running”
with Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine and Dean Martin. The second was “Madison” with Bruce
Dern. The latter film was about the
hydroplane races.
This is
the former combination freight and passenger Louisville and Nashville Railroad depot
in Eminence Kentucky. It’s now being
used as the town’s municipal building.
Eminence
was incorporated in 1851. Eminence,
which means “high place”, is the highest point along the railroad between
Louisville and Lexington at 900 feet above the sea level. The town is located in Henry County. The county was once a focal point for several
railroads and it boasted 7 depots. This
is the only one still standing… Today, there isn’t any rail traffic of any kind
anywhere in the county.
Factoids:
· Eminence was the first town in equine
centric Kentucky that had an annual combination sale of saddle and harness
horses.
· Eminence is the only "wet" city
in Henry County. The rest of the county
does not allow the sale of alcohol.
· The town hosts The Highland Renaissance
Festival, which runs from May through July.
In September it is also the site of an annual Celtic Fest.
This
was our final stretch of 2-lane highway as we neared our home in East
Tennessee. It was a beautiful day and we
could see the Smoky Mountains off in the distance…
We were
welcomed home by some of the locals, a number of whom had missed us only
because the bird feeder hadn’t been in place for their dining convenience! The doe didn’t mind one way or the other
because she just keeps on munching on whatever takes her fancy whether we’re
home or not!
Our owner and master of the house, J.D., was very glad to see us as well! He demanded to know where we'd been all this time and insisted on several of his favorite treats before he was mollified and his unhappiness was sidetracked...
In
August, we witnessed the ‘blue moon’ phenomenon. Two full moons in the same month only happens
“once in a blue moon”. This phrase has
nothing to do with the actual color of the moon although a literal "blue
moon" (the moon appearing with a tinge of blue) may occur in certain
atmospheric conditions such as when there are volcanic eruptions or when
exceptionally large fires leave particles in the atmosphere. To learn more about the ‘blue moon’ and the
origin of this terminology, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_moon. Laurie captured this image after we drove
around looking for a good vantage point away from the lights of civilization…
Just
click on any of the photos if you’d like to enlarge them…
Thanks
for stopping by for a visit…and for sticking with me as I recounted our early
summer road trip!
Take
Care, Big Daddy Dave
Sounds like you had a great time on the kind of trip your guys enjoy. Always good to get home and have the locals greet you.
ReplyDeleteSince I grew up in Louisiville, I know the area you wrote about. Funny, Louisville is in Jefferson County, KY. Looks like you have your share of critters lingering about too. Glad you had a great fun trip! Have a great week!
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