Bucolic Birdsville, Kentucky

Birdsville Kentucky

You wouldn’t call Birdsville a town necessarily. There’s no post office, no stores, just a cute steepled church and pretty graveyard, surrounded by wild wisteria. What you would call it, is almost perfection. After the hustle and bustle of Nashville, TN, Birdsville was a wonderful place to decompress and just take some time to really relax and enjoy the peace of the Kentucy countryside. We were camped right on the Ohio river and the sunsets were absolutely spectacular!

What we really enjoyed about this location was all the river traffic in our backyard. There were tugs pushing barges of all different shapes and sizes and they ran 24 X 7. Surprisingly, the only thing you hear is a gentle rumble as they travel up and down the river. They provide a little wave motion against the shore and have a tendency to just quietly go by if you aren’t actively watching for them. Maybe they go slowly because we were just upriver of the Smithland lock and dam. We couldn’t really see it, or hear it, but it was just down about a mile from us.

Louisville District > Missions > Civil Works > Navigation > Locks and Dams > Smithland Locks and Dam (army.mil)

The one really interesting boat that went by us, was the American Countess. She’s actually part of a cruise line that “steams” its way from Minnesota to New Orleans and other areas in between. We had no idea these cruises even existed, so if you’re interested, here’s a link for more info about her.

Meet The American Countess™ – American Queen Voyages™ (americanqueensteamboatcompany.com)

Paducah, KY

The nearest town of any real size to Birdsville, is Paducah, KY. Dave and I did a day trip, although it’s only about 30 minutes from the campground. What a great little town. My aunt told me it was the Quilt capital of the US, and she wasn’t kidding. We were there during the yearly quilt show and they had over 20,000 attendees. There is a larger section that has all your shopping needs like Walmart, Lowes, a mall, etc. We primarily visited the historic downtown and were amazed at how beautifully preserved the buildings are in the city.

Historic Paducah has several restaurants, coffee shops and little souvenir shops in the area. An art gallery, the quilt museum and a beautiful center park area. Make sure you stop in the visitor center. Those ladies can tell you anything you want to know about the area and have wonderful information to share with you. My favorite though, was the flood wall murals. They were commissioned back in 1996 and they are continuing to add to them. I cannot believe how bright the colors are and I know my pictures will not do them justice. They take you through the history of the town and are stunning!

For more info, check out this link: Paducah Wall to Wall Floodwall Murals

Mantle Rock Nature Preserve

Our final big adventure was to Mantle Rock nature preserve. This is a nature preserve that houses a 188′ long, 30 ‘ high, natural sandstone bridge. It really is amazing to see this above your head when you are under it. It’s about a 3 mile walk through the whole park and parts of the trail include the trail of tears path that was used by Native Americans on their way out to Oklahoma. It was about 10 miles from our campground and worth every bit of the windy, curvy, crazy road we took to get there.

Mantle Rock Nature Preserve | The Nature Conservancy in Kentucky

We know there is so much more of Kentucky for us to see, but this was a good start for now. We truly enjoyed our time here and I can highly recommend this area if you just need a break. It’s only about 3 hours from Nashville and was definitely worth the stop.

Our next trips are all turn and burn as we are headed back to Minnesota. We’re hoping the ice is off the lakes for opening of fishing and the weather is finally starting to warm up enough that we don’t need to worry about freezing at night. Seems crazy, but when we checked last week, they still had lows of 19 degrees. Why am I suddenly missing the gulf?

Since our plans have changed so drastically this year, we’ll be in Minnesota until the first part of July and then head back to Florida for Dave’s shoulder surgery and hopefully, our first job as campground hosts? We’re looking forward to experiencing this type of work and if it means we can find someplace to winter that won’t cost us an arm and a leg, we are all in this year.

Look for future posts regarding Minnesota while we are there. Duluth is on our list for sure and hopefully a little side camping with some of our family members.

See ya on the road,

Dave and Theresa