Karen
and Lee Duquette
enjoyed some oddities
in Paducah, KY
June 23, 2025
enjoyed some oddities
in Paducah, KY
June 23, 2025
Below: Giant Needle and Thread at 533 N. 5th Street, Paducah, KY
This is located Downtown on the south side of US-60 BUS/Martin Luther King Jr Drive, just west of its intersection with N. 5th St.
The chrome-plated needle is 22 feet high, and the attached red thread extends 46 feet, weaving in and out of the ground. Paducah is a destination for quilting. It was formally titled "E Pluribus Unum," and is the work of artist Michael Terra. It was commissioned to honor the quilting and crafts culture in Paducah, highlighted by "QuiltWeek," the city's annual quilt show.
Below: Notice how the thread weaves in and out of the ground.
Below: Paducah, Kentucky: Wacinton:
Carved Giant Indian Head
2915 Park Avenue, Paducah, KY
Directions: Bob Noble Park. Just west of US Hwy 45 on the north side of
Park Ave.
Free parking lot about 50 feet away from the Peter Toth carving of Wacinton.
The sculpture is in a beautiful city park space, and there is a historical
marker.
Chief Paduke was sculpted by Peter "Wolf" Toth in 1985 from a local red oak. The historical marker names him "Wacinton" (way-cheen-too) honoring the Chickasaw people. Part of his elaborate headdress fell off in a storm in Nov. 2015. In July 2016 Toth repaired it. Photos below are by Karen Duquette in 2025.
Below: Karen Duquette standing by the Chief Paduke sculpture.
Below: Time Paradox Lewis and Clark Scene on the lawn of the National Quilt Museum
Unveiled in 2006, "On the Trail of Discovery" features five bronze figures: Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, a generic Indian man and girl, and Clark's big explorer dog Seaman. It was funded by the founders of the Quilting Museum, on whose lawn the statues stand.
A plaque that accompanies the statues notes that Lewis paid four times as much his dog as Clark paid for the land that is now Paducah. It also states that sculptor George Lundeen used "artistic license" when he gave the 19th century Indian statue 21st century Sacajawea dollar coins as earrings.
Lundeen also placed a 21st century white girl into the buckskins of a 19th century Indian girl, who is holding Lewis and Clark's 1803 American flag. The effect is discombobulating, but makes "On the Trail of Discovery" more entertaining to visit.
