I will need to have been within the incorrect place. All of the freeway indicators on Interstate 24 pointed towards a welcome heart with restrooms. However after parking my automotive, I seemed by way of the windshield at an enormous three-story antebellum house. Elaborate Corinthian columns supported a towering portico. Wood shudders flanked double-hung home windows. The bricks had been painted a superb white.
I should have been within the incorrect place.
However after getting out of the automotive, I discovered the restrooms and the racks stuffed with tourism brochures. A map on the wall pinpointed my location in Paducah, Kentucky. I heard the acquainted plop from close by merchandising machines.
This was a welcome heart. The Whitehaven Welcome Heart. And it’s the one welcome heart within the nation in an antebellum house.
Historical past of Whitehaven
In 1865, Edward Anderson constructed a two-story brick farmhouse. Typical of the development strategies on the time, the bricks had been fired in a kiln on web site.
In 1903, the Anderson household bought the home to Edward Atkins. Atkins employed his good friend, architect Alda Lafayette Lassiter, to transform the brick farmhouse within the Greek Revival type. Lassiter added the entrance portico supported by eight Corinthian columns, intricate crown molding, and constructed a grand staircase within the heart of the home. Atkins painted the brick home white and named it Whitehaven.
After the loss of life of his spouse, Atkins bought the home to James Smith, the ninth mayor of Paducah, in 1908. James and Nell Smith had six kids and wanted extra room in the home. The attic was transformed into a 3rd ground with bedrooms, and a big kitchen was hooked up to the again of the home. Nell renamed the home “Bide-A-Wee,” a Scottish phrase which means “Keep awhile.”
In 1968, the final member of the Smith household moved out. The household employed caretakers to take care of the property, however as an alternative, they started promoting something of worth and pocketing the money. When the final caretaker moved out in 1979, squatters promptly moved in. Practically each window in the home was damaged, the flooring and ceilings rotted, and a portion of the east wall collapsed.
In 1981, the Smith household bought the 32-acre property and the home to the Paducah Junior Faculty. The small school wanted land to increase its campus however had no real interest in the home. The luxurious mansion continued to deteriorate.
Whitehaven Welcome Heart
Whereas visiting the world in 1981, Kentucky Governor John Y. Brown Jr. realized in regards to the historic home on the facet of the lately accomplished Interstate 24. Together with Secretary of Transportation Frank Metts, Brown determined the home could be the right location for a welcome heart for southbound visitors from Illinois.
The state bought the home and a small tract of land from the Paducah Junior Faculty. The home was restored to its early 1900s glamour that includes a Greek Revival type. The kitchen wing behind the home was renovated to function the restrooms and welcome heart. The second ground was transformed right into a museum displaying memorabilia of Vice President Alben Barkley, a Paducah native who served within the Truman administration from 1949 to 1953.
The unique carriage home, storm shelter, and gazebo had been additionally restored and repurposed for storage. Picnic tables had been put in beneath just a few timber close to the carriage home. And an entry ramp for southbound visitors was constructed on to the welcome heart.
On June 23, 1983, the Whitehaven Welcome Heart was open, the one customer heart within the nation situated inside an antebellum house.
Guided Excursions of Whitehaven
The Whitehaven Welcome Heart has clear restrooms, outside picnic tables, a spot to stroll the canine, and racks of journey brochures. In some ways, it’s similar to some other interstate welcome heart.
However guests can even take a guided tour of the historic home.
Excursions start on the prime of each hour, and I used to be just some minutes early. I waited within the small foyer as a gaggle of 5 further guests gathered. The tour started in a room with a beautiful white brick hearth and grand piano. The tour information defined that authentic supplies had been used throughout restoration within the Eighties.
The tour included the lobby with daylight pouring by way of the big glass doorways and home windows, built-in benches, and the grand staircase. Upstairs, rooms had been adorned with interval furnishings, though not authentic. The Barkley Room displayed Alben Barkley’s desk used whereas he was a congressman and one other desk used whereas vp.
The tour lasted solely half an hour. However I had by no means been on a guided tour at a welcome heart earlier than, so it was already higher than most.
And I had by no means seen a welcome heart inside a historic antebellum house.
