Missouri 2008 Official Vacation Planner - (Page 120) SOUTHEAST ALISE O’BRIEN, VIVA CUBA MURALS Muralism on the March Detail of Cuba’s Civil War mural Muralism Rampant People leaving the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson find themselves staring at a giant mural of flinty Andrew Jackson, the town’s namesake. Citizens of Ironton daily confront a 480-sq.-ft. rendering of the Civil War battle at nearby Fort Davidson. And visitors to Mountain View are never far from a mural: the little town has 13. Cuba and West Plains Cuba, named 150 years ago after the big Caribbean island, exhibits 12 eye-catching murals along its historic Route 66 highway corridor. A new Cuba has sprung up around them, with a downtown park, broad sidewalks, restaurants and specialty shops. Cuba mural scenes include a 1940 campaign appearance by Sen. Harry Truman; a 1928 emergency landing near town by aviator Amelia Earhart; and a perturbed Bette Davis, who was harassed by a local paparazzo in 1948. Cuba, off I-44 at Exit 208, is Missouri’s official Route 66 Mural City. The major mural attraction in West Plains is Michael McClure’s “Family Portrait Album,” an outdoor collage of historical scenes and “snapshots” of local celebrities, including country music star Porter Wagoner and big league spitballing legend Edwin “Preacher” Roe. Visitors, especially baseball fans, like to study the big mural at West Main Street and Court Square. A NEW CUBA HAS SPRUNG UP A R O U N D I T S 1 2 E Y E - C AT C H I N G M U R A L S , W I T H A D O W N T O W N PA R K , B R O A D S I D E WA L K S , R E S TA U R A N T S A N D S P E C I A LT Y S H O P S . Cape Girardeau Gary Lucy, an outstanding visual interpreter of Missouri’s river heritage, has installed a finely detailed mural on the Left: A “Mississippi River Tale” on the Cape Girardeau floodwall 120 Missouri Vacation Planner 2008
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.