Public handprint exhibit displayed on tunnel walls near downtown.
were painted on the back of a very substantial concrete flood wall that protects the town when the river water rises. We glanced at the Ohio River as it sparkled innocently in the sun, and it was hard to imagine the water violently rushing and rising. However, catastrophic floods nearly wiped the town of Maysville off the map three times. The huge flood of 1937 swept away all the buildings overlooking the river on Front Street, and Terry told us that during the flood of 1997 he watched an intact house float by. Heading back toward town, we walked through a tunnel whose walls were lined from ground to ceiling with clay tiles bearing children’s handprints. These tiles were made by high school kids in the 1990s, and the ones closest to the ground had been stained by flood water. There was something very heartwarming about all these high schoolers participating in a project that put their personal stamp on
Boutique shops and restaurants near downtown.
the town and that also bore witness to the ongoing threat of floods. Community spirit like this is the very essence of Maysville, and we experienced that unique ethos ourselves the moment we walked into O’Rourke’s Pub for an end-of-the-day pint. A man sitting at a big round table with a group of friends suddenly stood up and greeted us, drew out a chair, and invited us to join him and his buddies at the table. We discovered he was the owner of the bar, Norbert Gallenstein. Over the next few hours, he introduced us to everyone who came through the door. We felt like visiting royalty, and by the end of the evening we’d met a complete cross section of Maysville society, from attorneys to workers at the local power plant to business owners. We even met the mayor. More astonishing than being welcomed into this group was discovering that most of them had grown up together since childhood. Many of their parents and grandparents had gone to kindergarten together too. Perhaps most significant, they had all worked in the tobacco fields as teenagers. It was a rite of passage that
The Parc Cafe features tasty muffins and coffee.
MAYSVILLE, KENTUCKY
COAST TO COAST MAGAZINE SUMMER 2024 | 23
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