News from April 8, 2003 issue


Museum on Bellville Street
As curator of the Crittenden County Historical Museum, Bernice Maroney is learning every day, a fact that never ceases to amaze and delight her.

"There was a man that came in here just yesterday who was telling me all kinds of things," Maroney, wide-eyed, said during a grand opening tour of the museum in its new home in the former Presbyterian Church on East Bellville Street. "He had to be 90-some years old, I think his name was Mr. Farmer, and he was telling me all kinds of things he remembered from when he was a boy.

"He remembered that the two United States senators who were from Crittenden County were actually good friends even though one was a Democrat and the other was a Republican. He saw that picture over there and pointed out a man who was a boyhood friend of William Howard Taft," she said, pointing to a group photo of grim-faced elderly gentlemen. "As far as the church goes, he said these stained glass windows were imported from Europe, and when they got here, they were insured for $1,000 each. I learn just walking around with people who visit, especially the older ones who remember so much of what it was like and remember what their parents and grandparents told them."

Maroney said moving the Bob Wheeler Museum from its cramped quarters across town to the more spacious accommodations of the historic church has been "amazing. This church is just a piece of history in itself," she said in awe. "And everything was getting so jammed up."

Where pews once filled the sanctuary, glass cases filled with heirlooms of Crittenden County history make the church a different kind of shrine.

There is a genealogy room where seekers of family roots can hunker down and study records; there is an array of military uniforms and accoutrement with photos from wars dating back to the 19th century; there is an assortment of clothing, household goods and furnishings, including a working loom and the piano from the original church; and an introduction to the Ollie James and Joseph Deboe, U.S. Senators who hailed from the county.

Upstairs, there is a school room, an assortment of farm and kitchen tools, the mailboxes from the 1893 Deanwood Post Office (known as Iron Hill). There is even a cross fashioned from two nails taken from the ruins when the Belles Mine Cumberland Presbyterian Church - built in 1836 ­ was torn down in 1998.

Maroney is hopeful that the museum's new home will help draw even more people.
"We get so many people from out of town, and we get a lot from May through July," she said. "We've had people from coast to coast... some who are from here and have moved off or some who come to visit people who live here. But I think there are a lot of people here who don't even know what we have."

That won't stop Maroney from enjoying her role at the museum.

The good thing about being the curator is all the people you get to meet," Maroney said. "I just love to hear them talk."


Backroads can't hand tank
As the finishing touches are put on plans for this year's Backroads Tour April 23-24, Marion Main Street Executive Director Rose Crider is urging home- and business-owners in the city and county to spruce up and decorate.

"We are asking people to clean up around their businesses and plant flowers and really get ready for spring," Crider said. "Company is coming."

Crider said quilts make an ideal item with which to decorate. The festival coincides with the annual American Quilter's Society Show in Paducah.

In addition to the long list of activities and attractions already planned, said Crider, recent additions to the party include a showing by Fohs Hall's artist-in-residence Donna Brooks and a booth set up by WKYQ's infamous deejays The Bear and Dr. Jeff, who will be preparing his secret recipe fried Twinkies and Oreos for sale. The radio station will donate proceeds from sales to buy tool boxes for the needy.

Crider also said visitors to the festival can register at the gazebo to win a stay at Myers Bed & Breakfast and gift certificates to participating local restaurants.

The troops struggling to get Marion and the county cleaned up for the annual Backroads festival will get some last-minute reinforcements from members of Kentucky National Guard's Bravo Company, 2nd, 123rd.

"We're going to be doing cleanup on Friday (April 23) and again on Sunday when it's over," said Sgt. Sarah Holler. "On Saturday, we're going to be out at the Backroads Ramble at Paddy's Bluff with some Humvees and a bunch of our guys."

Original plans to have a 60-ton M1-A1 tank on display during the Ramble had to be nixed, said company commander Capt. Fred Bates.

"There are a couple of bridges on the way to Paddy's Bluff that just wouldn't have held the tank," said Bates, who did a little "recon" of his own with the county road department to determine if the tank could travel safely to the site. "We went out and checked out the road and it's just too much weight. Most small roads aren't made to handle that much weight because they will never have to."

Bates said there are some curves that might have been too much for the tank to make as well.

"We could put it on a truck to move it in, but then you've got even more weight to deal with," he said.

Bates said the guard members are looking forward to using their training weekend to bond with the community.

"With the deployment, the last couple of years we haven't been able to doing this kind of thing, and we're glad to be able to do it now, especially because Backroads is getting bigger each year."