On our trips to St. Louis to visit Laurie’s
family, we always drive right past Paducah Kentucky. However the last time we made the trip I
decided that Paducah would be a good spot for us to get off the expressway and
take a break…
Being a bit of a railroad buff, I was
rewarded for my decision as I rolled into the downtown area of Paducah. This is the old Nashville, Chattanooga, and
St. Louis Railway Office and Freight House, known locally as the Paducah
Freight House. It now houses the Paducah
Chamber of Commerce and the Paducah Economic Development Agency.
This building was constructed in 1925 by
the N. C. and St. L. Railroad in hopes of future connections with other
railroads. Consequently, a larger
building was constructed than was needed…as those connections never happened. The railroad was absorbed into the Louisville
and Nashville line and that railroad moved their people to another Paducah
location in 1974. At one point, it was
used as an antique mall… This building is listed in the National Register of
Historic Places.
OK…time for lunch! The Whaler’s Catch looked promising and it
was busy… The building is more than 125 years old!
This is the bar in the restaurant…
This is the dining area. If you sit in the back of the restaurant, it’s
pretty dark. The restaurant is cut up
with walls and partitions but the seafood ambience was evident wherever one was
seated.
We started out with one of our favorites…fried
calamari! It was really tough and chewy
and not particularly tasty…
Laurie gave the shrimp bisque a try… She
didn’t care for it.
For her main course, Laurie had the
seafood sandwich with a side of potato salad.
I think that she described the meal as adequate…or just fuel.
I ordered the fried clams with a side of
coleslaw. There was a lot of breading…but
it was OK. The coleslaw was pretty
good.
Our waitress wasn’t very efficient and we
repeatedly asked for things that weren’t delivered the first time. It seemed
to take her a long time for her to deliver our requests. Also, it took quite a while for
the entrees to arrive at our table… All
in all, we were disappointed with our dining experience.
As I said in the beginning, Whaler’s Catch was busy and it
seemed popular… Maybe someone else can try it out and offer an opinion. The Whaler’s Catch is located at 123 North 2nd
Street in Paducah. Phone:
270-444-7701. Website: http://www.whalerscatch.net/homeabout.html.
Downtown Paducah does look pretty
interesting and it warrants further exploration on another of our St. Louis
trips! To learn more about this historic
downtown area, go to http://www.paducahalliance.org/downtown-paducah.
Also, there is a Farmer’s Market downtown from sometime in April on through
September of each year…
What really brought us to downtown
Paducah was The National Quilt Museum. (The sun even came out for us!) I’m
certainly not artistic but we own a few decent quilts, my mother quilted a bit
and both Laurie and I appreciate the art and effort that goes into a beautiful
quilt…
Located in a 27,000 square foot facility,
the Museum's three galleries feature exhibits of some of the best quilt and
fiber art in the world. The Museum
features three exhibit galleries. The Museum's exhibits are rotated 8 to 10
times per year. The primary gallery
features quilts from the Museum's collection which includes over 400 works of
art. The two other galleries feature
unique and diverse traveling exhibits.
Unfortunately, no photos are allowed in
the museum. I captured a couple of
pictures from the museum’s website just to give readers an idea of the variety
that might be on display.
The National Quilt Museum welcomes
visitors from all 50 US states and over 40 foreign countries from around the
world. The museum’s onsite and
travelling exhibits are viewed by over 160,000 people per year.
This isn’t your Momma’s quilt, that’s for
sure. It’s not really my ‘thing’ as I’m
really a traditionalist but I certainly can appreciate the work that went into
this creation in cloth!
If you have any interest in quilts…or art
for that matter…you should visit The National Quilt Museum! We certainly enjoyed it. It’s located at 215 Jefferson in Paducah
Kentucky. Phone: 270-442-8856. Website: http://www.quiltmuseum.org/.
Just click on any of the photos to
enlarge them…
Thanks for stopping by for a visit!
Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
With less than adequate service and mediocre food, I bet the Whaler's Catch won't be busy for long. Happy 4th of July to you both.
ReplyDeleteSam
Sorry to hear you found a bad one. If you grew up on McDonalds or always lived around Paducah and never had really good seafood, this place may seem pretty good. I fear the current generations who eat fast food or frozen or canned may not know what really good food is supposed to taste like.
ReplyDeleteHi There, Just stopping by to say "Happy 4th of July".... Hope you have an incredible weekend whether you are traveling, with family or friends --or like us, just enjoying being home! We hope to grill a couple of steaks tomorrow. Our weather here is awesome right now...God Bless American --and God Bless YOU.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Big Dude (Larry)... People in small towns love places like this --since there aren't many 'nice' restaurants in small towns... BUT--I understand where you all were coming from... Paducah looks like an interesting place for sure though!!!
Hugs,
Betsy