Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
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www.kcd.org www.fndithere.org 38 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 10.13 can go no farther. Tere isn't water over the road; there is a lake over the road. A big lake. Te biggest lake I have ever seen on a road. So we turn away, but remain undaunted. I can see several more roads nearby on the GPS. A few miles later we face what looks like a swamp. I peer around for alligators. We have to back out a muddy path this time, and try yet another road, one that, the map shows, will take us straight to Hickman as it hugs the river. We end up at another waterfront viewing area, this time watching while an ATV with balloon tires churns through the lake toward us. OK, that means the water isn't so deep. We will chance it. I get out of the car frst to see what lies ahead, crossing a bridge covered with a dozen dead fsh with pointy, toothy snouts. Te fsh's failure to cross seems promising. Water used to be higher. So through the water hazard we go until we hit, not 100 yards away, another lake. Tis time, Joey backs us gingerly across the fshcovered bridge. We give up. We will take the road more traveled. As we drive down to the Hickman riverfront, there is a fancifully painted Victorian cottage, fulflling Hickman's promised beauty. Ten we reach the river: Promise broken. Oh boy, what a mess. Te place is falling apart. Buildings have vanished. Almost all are empty. Tere are a few tile-foor islands where buildings once stood. Te only open business is a gym. On its window, a handwritten sign warns patrons that they are being watched by video camera, and if they don't put the weights away where they belong, they will be kicked out of the gym. It's just that kind of welcoming place. Poor Mr. Twain's unforgettable face is painted on the bricks of one miserable building, as though this were all his fault. In fact, Mark Twain never said Hickman was the prettiest little town on the Mississippi; nor did he say it was the most beautiful. What he said in chapter 25, "Cairo to Hickman," was that the city was "a pretty town, perched on a handsome hill." He also seemed to predict the city's eventual economic collapse, noting that a railway built into the city robbed it of its once lucrative tobacco trade, sending it away with no proft to the town. And here's the truth: Tat's nearly all Twain says about Kentucky in Life on the Mississippi. Despite an entire chapter that seems to be devoted to our state, he doesn't really talk about it, but keeps his focus on Missouri, his home state. But we don't care. We'll deal with it. We're of to Mayfeld, Ky., where a dandy had his entire family memorialized in statues on his grave. Tere's always something to see in Kentucky. You just have to drive a bit.