In Kentucky
795 miles into my walk along the Mississippi River
Well, I guess this is kind of a milestone in my walk; I have never been to Kentucky before.
I’m on Sutton East Road heading into Hickman, Kentucky. I can hear the chimes from the distant Fulton County Courthouse clock; 7 chimes resonating along the river banks. It’s still early morning and the Hickman-Dorena ferry is carrying only a few passengers as I make my way down to Memaw’s Café for a hearty country breakfast.
I slept along the river last night. It was a clear and cold night and my sleep was disturbed by dreams. In my dreams I heard sounds coming from the forest near where I slept. I got up to explore and saw a bear fishing in the clear stream flowing from the bluff along the Mississippi. As I quietly made my way toward the sounds I saw a pack of wolves surrounding an injured deer, and I stumbled upon a fox sneaking through the thick under brush. I crossed the stream and saw a faint light flickering in the forest ahead of me. Crawling ahead slowly, quietly, I carefully parted the bush in front of me and looked out at a group of Indians surrounding a fire. These were the Chickasaw Indians and they were preparing to attack Fort Jefferson, a military outpost established by General George Rogers Clark during the American Revolution. I could hear distant screaming as the new settlers ran for the protection that the Fort provided. Then General Andrew Jackson, feared and respected by the Chickasaw, came and persuaded the Indians to sell the land. They really had no choice. The number of troops sent to Fort Jefferson were too many for the Chickasaw and they lost their hunting grounds to the United States in 1816.
The frigid air and the mournful cry of the Hickman-Dorena ferry shook me from my dream. I awoke famished and remembered being told in Tiptonville, Tennessee that MeMaw’s Café, down by the ferry landing, had the best food in western Kentucky.
As the waitress brings me my steaming breakfast, 3 scrambled eggs, 2 slabs of country ham, freshly baked whole meal bread, grits and a big mug of coffee, I look up the bluff and see the grand houses, graceful churches and the Fulton County Courthouse and I know why Mark Twain considered Hickman "one of the most beautiful towns on the Mississippi”.
When I’m done with breakfast I’m going to mosey on up to Clinton Street and visit Jim Henson's Broom Shop and his broom-making museum. The waitress told me that it’s a fun place to visit because Henson is a storyteller who holds his audiences spellbound. She told me that Henson recalls his grandfather advising him, "If you learn how to make a broom, you will always have a job". She also told me to look out for the LaClede Hotel while I was there. Though no longer open, she said it had an interesting architectural exterior and unusual horseshoe entrance.
Ahhh… but you know what? After that breakfast, I think I’m going to head down to the river, curl up under a tree and see if I can dream of yesterdays when the land was wild, clean and free.
The poem entitled IN KENTUCKY written by Judge James Hillary Mulligan:
The moonlight falls the softest
In Kentucky;
The summer's days come oft'est
In Kentucky;
Friendship is the strongest,
Love's fires glow the longest;
Yet, a wrong is always wrongest
In Kentucky.
The sunshine's ever brightest
In Kentucky;
The breezes whisper lightest
In Kentucky;
Plain girls are the fewest,
Maidens' eyes the bluest,
Their little hearts are truest
In Kentucky.
Life's burdens bear the lightest
In Kentucky;
The home fires burn the brightest
In Kentucky;
While players are the keenest,
Cards come out the meanest,
The pocket empties cleanest
In Kentucky.
Orators are the grandest
In Kentucky;
Officials are the blandest
In Kentucky;
Boys are all the fliest,
Danger ever nighest,
Taxes are the highest
In Kentucky.
The bluegrass waves the bluest
In Kentucky;
Yet bluebloods are the fewest (?)
In Kentucky;
Moonshine is the clearest,
By no means the dearest,
And yet, it acts the queerest,
In Kentucky.
The dove's notes are the saddest
In Kentucky;
The streams dance on the gladdest
In Kentucky;
Hip pockets are the thickest,
Pistol hands the slickest,
The cylinder turns quickest
In Kentucky.
Song birds are the sweetest
In Kentucky;
The thoroughbreds the fleetest
In Kentucky;
Mountains tower proudest,
Thunder peals the loudest,
The landscape is the grandest - and
Politics - the damnedest
In Kentucky.
