I Visited This Kentucky River Town and Found Art Galleries, Bourbon Cocktails and a Welcoming LGBTQ+ Community

Driving through the pastoral farmland of Western Kentucky, hopscotching into nearby Illinois and Missouri, I would have never guessed that one of just nine UNESCO Creative Cities in the U.S. awaited around the river bend. At the convergence of the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers, flanked by lush forests and Native American mounds, Paducah was named a UNESCO City of Crafts and Folk Art in 2013. The designation recognizes the community’s preservation of historic buildings, as well as its Artist Relocation Program that kicked off in 2000, fueling a steady stream of innovative transplants.

While other river towns have ebbed with shifting economic tides, Paducah pivoted to the arts. Steamboats once chugged along Paducah’s shores, transporting travelers and tobacco. Today, while barges still tow goods like coal, the town is more of a port for creativity, making Paducah a haven for artists, as well as a LGBTQ+-friendly destination. From fiber arts to culinary art, here are our top picks for a weekend in Paducah.

Things to Do

Arts and Culture

Since Paducah launched its Artist Relocation Program, incentivizing artists with affordable housing and design assistance, art has been at the forefront of a community fluent in cultural investment. Home to many of those transplants, the LowerTown Arts District is lined with Victorian homes as colorful as the studios and galleries they contain, such as Aphrodite Gallery, Dixie Leather Works and Cowango Studio. The neighborhood also features the Paducah School of Art and Design, with its own galleries and rotating exhibitions. 

Downtown, the National Quilt Museum is among the nation’s premier destinations for contemporary quilting and fiber arts, displaying work by primarily women artists. Rotating exhibits appear alongside a permanent collection of all shapes, styles and sizes, including a life-size polar bear-clad quilt by Susan Carlson, and a Harry Potter quilt—complete with owls, wands, and potions—by Cynthia England. 

Along the rivers, Paducah’s Wall to Wall Floodwall Murals display more than 50 murals by Robert Dafford, commemorating the town’s history from past to present. The outdoor gallery is free to visit, and open 24/7. 

Tap into some of Paducah's musical history at Hotel Metropolitan, a restored 1908 property that was part of the historic Chitlin' Circuit in the mid-1900s, offering safe lodging for Black performers like Duke Ellington and B.B. King. Though guests can no longer stay there, it’s now a museum that offers tours on Fridays and Saturdays.  

Shopping

Downtown Paducah boasts a variety of boutique shops, specializing in everything from kitsch to Kentucky bourbon. For the latter, as well as other local souvenirs, check out With Love, From Kentucky, a contemporary mercantile stocked with snacks, art, bath products, bourbon, kitchenwares and more. 

Bricolage Art Collective ticks all the boxes, from vinyl records to vintage apparel. The inclusive gallery-storefront hybrid showcases goods by local artists, I was particularly impressed by the Kentucky-centric Pride collection (I snagged a pair of rainbow Kentucky socks, and a rainbow-rich “Y’all” sweatshirt). 

Feeling inspired by the National Quilt Museum? You can stock up on sewing supplies of your own—and attend a workshop—at Muppin’s Sewing Emporium. 

Outdoor Recreation

By land or by river, Paducah is awash in outdoor recreation. Great for walking, biking or running, the five-mile Greenway Trail is a paved pathway that winds along the river downtown, through tree-lined neighborhoods, and past city parks like Stuart Nelson Park—complete with an 18-hole disc golf course—and Noble Park, which has a seasonal pool. 

Just over the river in Illinois, Kincaid Mounds State Historic Site preserves earthen mounds built by Mississippian Native Americans up to 1,000 years ago. Made of soil and clay, some as high as 30-feet, the mounds were used as platforms for chiefs and foundations for temples and homes. Some of the remaining mounds are visible from an observation platform along Kincaid Mounds Road. 

Barges aren’t the only vessels on Paducah’s waterways. Lakeside Rentals, off the Cumberland River in nearby Kuttawa, Kentucky, provides kayaks and paddle boards, while Green Turtle Bay offers boat rentals on Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. 

Family Fun

Artists of all ages can flex their creativity at MAKE, a studio that offers workshops and art camps, with fun themes like Wicked Art Fun or The Great Magical Mini Puppet Theater. Adults, meanwhile, can sign up for abstract painting classes or stained glass lessons. 

With bumper cars and duck pin bowling, Atomic City Family Fun Center is a veritable wonderland for the young and young at heart. Go-Karts, laser tag, mini golf, and arcade games round out the fun, along with a food menu of family-friendly favorites like pizza, nachos and chicken wings. 

Families can travel back in time at the Paducah Railroad Museum, where a train simulator demonstrates what it was like riding vintage locomotives. Or you can try your hand at captaining a boat via a simulator at the River Discovery Center. 

Where to Eat and Drink

Breakfast

Follow the wafting aroma of fresh bread to Kirchhoff’s Bakery, a downtown institution since 1873. A morning ritual in Paducah, the bakery offers loaves, pastries and desserts like raspberry squares, praline bars, chess pie and Nura Lane cookies made with brown butter, chocolate chips and sea salt. Because chocolate chips are always part of a balanced breakfast. (Later in the day, Kirchhoff’s adds savory fare, including deli specialties like fried green tomato BLTs, turkey Reubens, and ham and Brie on cranberry-walnut bread.)

Lunch and Dinner

Just on the other side of Market House Square, Stella’s is an all-day tavern in a building so historic (built in the 1800s) that it’s allegedly haunted. Lunch and dinner menus are eclectic, with comforting dishes like bacon burnt ends, bone-in pork chops with bourbon fried apples, and pan-seared grouper with cashew cilantro rice and coconut lime beurre blanc. 

Located in a former railroad depot, Freight House is the handiwork of chef Sara Bradley, a Top Chef runner-up, and a 2025 James Beard Nominee for Best Chef: Southeast. The most pedigreed spot in town, the restaurant blends traditional Southern and Midwestern flavors with local ingredients and contemporary techniques. Guests can embark on a six-course tasting menu, or sample shareable plates like butter bean hummus with dandelion pesto; bologna fried rice; and blackened catfish with pepper jelly and cornbread croutons. In addition to a robust bourbon selection (this is Kentucky, after all), the drinks list includes cocktails like the Porch Pounder (with vodka, rosé syrup, strawberry, Pierre Ferrand Yuzu Curaçao, and lime) and Sara’s Dirty Deed (a martini riff with Kentucky-made Sacred Spring vodka, sweet pickle juice, and olives). 

Drinks

Paducah’s first craft microbrewery, Dry Ground Brewing Company, opened in 2015 and offers all different styles of beer—like Raspberry Tart Wheat Ale, Iron Tree English Porter and Ripple Effect Saison—from its taproom inside the historic Coke Plant.  

For mixology, stop off at The Foxbriar Cocktail Bar, shaking up some of the most whimsical drinks in town. The cozy spot rotates through immersive themed menus, including an Olympics-themed lineup (I loved the Opening Ceremony, made with croissant-infused cognac, raspberry syrup, blackened lemon bitters and sparkling wine), and a zoo-inspired menu, with drinks like Penguin (nori-infused vodka and olive oil-washed dry vermouth) and Cobra (coconut-infused Irish whiskey, cold-brew coffee, stout beer syrup and nutmeg). 

Barrel and Bond exemplifies Kentucky’s native spirit. Home to some 1,600 bourbons and whiskeys, displayed behind the bar like a boozy library, the watering hole offers tastings and flights, along with cocktails like Kentucky Mules.

Where to Stay

Nestled in downtown’s brick-lined historic district, the 1857 Hotel is a boutique gay-owned property that offers an intimate, homey ambience with 14 lofty rooms and three condo-style rooms. Each space boasts exposed brick and timbered ceilings, harkening to the industrial construction of the 19th-century building. 

In LowerTown, the Belle Louise Guest House is a bed-and-breakfast in an 1879 Italianate mansion. Ideal for couples looking for a cozy weekend escape, with a handful of luxe guest rooms and suites, the inn offers daily continental breakfast (plus specialty breakfasts on weekends and holidays), a Victorian parlor, crackling fireplaces and a Great Room shimmering with crystalline chandeliers. 

Mark Your Calendar

Quilters come from far and wide to attend QuiltWeek every April, with a full slate of classes and lectures, along with materials for sale at the Vendor Merchant Mall. In May, attend the only all-lesbian film festival in the U.S.: Cinema Systers Film Festival. Founded in 2016 by Laura Petrie, it highlights films made exclusively by lesbians, all screened at Maiden Alley Cinema. Come back in September for BBQ on the River, which has been happening for more than three decades. The annual event is the longest-running food festival and fundraiser in Western Kentucky, featuring over 100 vendors, live music and, of course, plenty of barbecue.