River Discovery Center

As you steer the towboat and its string of barges along the Ohio River, suddenly your brain shouts, “You’re gonna hit the bridge!” It seems very real as you stand in the pilothouse, struggling to handle the controls of a navigation simulator at the River Discovery Center. The simulator is a big hit at this museum, where the focus is on the Ohio River and others like it in the country.

Paducah itself is situated at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers (with the Cumberland and Mississippi rivers nearby). River lore, ecology, pioneer exploits and tragedies — such as the great Ohio River flood of 1937, which inundated Paducah and other nearby cities — are among some of the topics that the museum highlights.

Rivers were vital to developing America’s interior, and the stories of commerce, warfare and recreation are on full display at the River Discovery Center. Exhibits showcase the downhill ways of the waters that create the Ohio River, as well as the interconnectedness of America’s major waterways and the role river traffic still plays today.

The steamboat era gets plenty of attention as well. Visitors can learn about famous captains — including Captain Mary Miller, who in 1884 became the first woman to earn her steamboat master’s license — while pausing for recordings of period riverboat music. 

A model of the famous Delta Queen riverboat, built by a man who never saw the paddle-wheeler, is also on display. To round out the experience, river habitat and floodplain exhibits showcase ecological phenomena and help shed light on the massive mural-covered floodwalls directly across the street from the center. 117 S. Water St., Paducah, Kentucky 41002, 270/575-9958, riverdiscoverycenter.org