whitehaven welcome center

Not at all typical of your State rest stops, check this one out as you pass through Paducah, Ky. It is in a completely renewed old mansion type of home with all modern conveniences and a joy to just tour through as you refresh on your trip. History on display and friendly roadside help, directions and travel suggestions for the Jackson Purchase area..

Beautiful, especially at Christmas when they open it up more for viewing. So Lovely and well cared for. Thanks to all the volunteers who help sustain it. Made a special trip just to visit and was not disappointed. Add Patti's Settlement o the weekend and it can't be beat.

It seems a little crazy to review a public rest area, but this one is amazing. It is off I-24, and reasonably easy to get to. This is a rescued historical classic revival style home, and was restored a couple of decades ago after abandonment, neglect, and squatter damage. It is always very neat and clean! The bathrooms are constantly being cleaned, and they even have bouquets in them of flowers or greenery from the gardens/grounds. There is plenty of parking, picnic tables, and a little area for dog/pet use. There is historical natural landscaping too.You can actually tour the mansion in the afternoon, 2-4, M-F. The local garden clubs decorate all the rooms at the holiday time, and also during the annual Paducah Quilt Show time. There are a few vending machines for snack foods. My family has used this rest area since the 1980's, and we have always found it to be VERY CLEAN EVERY TIME.

This is possibly the most beautiful rest area in America. A refurbished antebellum Southern colonial mansion. A museum honoring Paducah son Alben Barkley upstairs. Always clean bathrooms...vending machines. near many gas stations, medical care, and fastfood restaurants off I24. Fresh flower arrangements in the ladies room last time I stopped. A nice place to enjoy a picnic lunch on a restbreak from a roadtrip or just pause to relax on a bench outside in one of the beautifully tended garden and lawn areas.

this a very nice rest stop for pictures friendly place to rest it is right off the interstate of i24 this house is over a hundred years old

Beautifully restored home.i love that it is a visitors center.you can get a little history lesson about the area you are visiting.

Stopped here many times with my husband and never knew there were tours available until reading it on Trip Advisor. We will definitely have to do it next time. We love stopping here for rest room breaks and to peruse the tourist literature and maps. Very informative. The grounds are lovely and well maintained. Staff members have always been gracious and helpful. A definite "must stop here" kind of place. Immaculately clean. This is a gorgeous mansion.

We found this Welcome Center to be very clean, full of helpful information, very friendly but with one huge problem. The restrooms are walk-in/doorless and very clean but the air blower hand dryer in the men's room is painfully loud, seriously! I commented to the nice lady (Jill Jones) that was staffing the center at the time, about the noise and offered sympathy to her. She graciously accepted it and said that she has had many complaints about it and that it is so loud throughout the whole lobby and office, that it makes working very difficult. Certainly some electrician can slow and quiet that thing down! Ms. Jones was very helpful and knowledgeable.

Stopped for Rest Area and discovered, surprised, there was a beautiful Southern mansion to visit!. The attendant was very friendly and she recited the story of the Mansion in five minutes. Unfortunately, they were working on the floors so we could not visit inside, but the grounds were beautiful. They had all kind of maps and visitors info

We pulled into this rest stop. What a beautiful place. The yards had lots of beautiful flowers and greenery. We took the tour, the house was amazing. Our tour guide was very informative. Very interesting. If you get a chance, stop and look!

While worth the stop, getting to this Rest Stop can be confusing and getting back on the Highway afterward is also a bit "messed up", so, tackle this with a GPS, patience, and a sense of humor. Stopped in during a relocation of a relative from North Carolina to Missouri. Drove into a parking area, locoed near the House, but found that the parking area did not favor the truck that I was driving, so I went forward, and found myself out of the rest stop without signage available. GPS got me back to the Rest Stop and a larger parking area. This location is a good example of the fact that people knowledgeable of the layout are not the best choice to create directional signage, rather someone unfamiliar should navigate and make suggestions. None the less, the building is well maintained, the restrooms large, clean, and functional. Tours are available for this structure which was furnished with period correct pieces. The grounds are spacious. This is well worth the "touch with history".

Beautiful building and gardens around the property. The restrooms were clean and well maintained, lovely flower arrangement at the sinks was really nice.

The building was nice to look at, but the person at the reception desk was not interested in helping, and we felt that we were disturbing her work on the computer. As a visitor center it was an useless

The State of Kentucky has refurbished the old Smith Mansion and made it a beautiful welcome center when you travel on I 24 into Paducah from Illinois. The only issue is the entrance. it is a bit confusing, but well worth the stop. it is beautiful...

a very clean rest stop, nice place to walk and retain information for your travels. They will help you with reservations and information needed for Kentucky