Paradise was a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in Muhlenberg County,

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It was located east-northeast of Greenville. Paradise was originally founded as Stom's Landing (sometimes incorrectly spelled Stum), in reference to its then-status as a trading post along the Green River, a tributary of the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

.Paradise in Kentucky KYGenWeb
Rennick, Robert M. (1984) ''Kentucky Place Names'', p. 226. Lexington, Ky: The University Press of Kentucky, The town and its surrounding area were subject to heavy

strip mining Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which ...

throughout the twentieth century and it later became the site of the Paradise Fossil Plant. Local residents were bought out in 1967 by the plant's operator, the

Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolin ...

, and the town subsequently demolished, citing health concerns and plans for expansion.

History

Paradise was settled in the early nineteenth century, known originally as Stom's Landing, for Leonard Stom who founded the ferry there. It may have once been named Monterey. The origin of its final name of Paradise, however, is unknown. It is postulated the name was descriptive, for settlers who considered the setting to be paradise when they arrived around 1797. A

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

was established on March 1, 1852, and it remained open until March 1967.A Creepy Ghost Town In Kentucky, Paradise Is The Stuff Nightmares Are Made Of
. ''OnlyInYourState.com''. June 7, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2023. Paradise was a coal mining town. Production of coal in the area dates back to the 1820s.

TVA coal-fired power plant

In 1959, the

(TVA) began construction of a coal plant on the original site of the town of Paradise, with the first unit of that plant being activated in May 1963. The coal-fired plants were controversial and were criticized by environmentalists for non-compliance with the Clean Air Act.TVA's Kentucky "Paradise" Coal-fired Plant Operating Permit Fails to Comply With the Clean Air Act
August 24, 2009 from The Center for Biological Diversity Since construction of new scrubbers on Unit 3 at Paradise, the plant's emissions from the massive unit have dropped dramatically in recent years; this in turn has led to a dramatic drop in toxic emissions from the plant overall. From 2017 through 2022, the plant was converted into a combined cycle plant that generates electrical power from

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

; the conversion was completed with the retiring of coal-fired Unit 3 in 2020.

Demise of the town

The town continued to endure after the

Pittsburg & Midway Coal Company The Pittsburg-Weir Coalfield, also known as Weir-Pittsburg Coalfield and Cherokee Coalfield, is a coalfield located in Cherokee and Crawford counties in the southeast corner of Kansas. The first underground shaft mine was built in the region in 1 ...

and Peabody Coal Company stripped the coal around it, albeit in reduced size. The Paradise Fossil Plant was initially erected with only two units; afterwards, the residents who were left in the village were bought out by the

after ash fall from the newly opened plant brought health concerns to the area. Soon after the TVA bought the town out, they tore down all the structures and constructed the largest cyclonic fired

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centra ...

in the world at the new "Paradise Unit 3". All that remains of the original town is a small cemetery at the top of a hill close to the plant. Some 800 residents lived in the town in its final years before it was disincorporated. The last of the town's residents were relocated from the area no later than December 30, 1967.

Geography

Paradise was situated on the eastern edge of Muhlenberg County along the Green River. Kentucky Route 176 is the only major thoroughfare in and out of the area, leading west to the cities of Drakesboro and Greenville. Prior to the early 1960s, KY 176 also traveled eastward across the Green River into Ohio County to connect the area to Rockport.Official 1957 Kentucky State Highway Map

Song by John Prine

The town is the primary subject of the 1971

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

song "Paradise" by artist

John Prine John Edward Prine (; October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music. Widely cited as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation, Prine was known for his signature blend of humoro ...

. The lyrics recall the singer's fond childhood memories of visiting Paradise and its surrounding areas, while at the same time lamenting that it has since been ravaged by the effects of

and deforestation. The Peabody coal company is specifically cited by the singer's father as having "hauled" the town away in coal trains. In the final verse, the singer states a desire to be cremated upon death and the ashes spread in the Green River, the method in which Prine was ultimately interred after his death in 2020. The song has since been covered by musicians such as

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American Country music, country and Folk music, folk singer, songwriter, and actor. He was one of the most popular acoustic m ...

Dwight Yoakam Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and filmmaker. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album ''Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.''. Yoakam had considerable s ...

, and

Sturgill Simpson John Sturgill Simpson (born June 8, 1978) is an American country music singer-songwriter and actor. As of June 2024, he has released eight albums as a solo artist. Simpson's style has been met with critical favor and frequent comparisons to ou ...

, as well as a number of other famed artists. A park overlooking the Rochester Dam near the Butler County line was renamed in Prine's honor in 2022, paying homage to his strong connection with the area.

References

External links

Ancestors of Robert Stom & Christine (Hilton) Stom

- links up old photos of the town to each line of the lyrics
An up-to-date picture of the TVA Paradise Fossil Plant
This plant is the second largest coal-fired plant in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), rated at 2,558 megawatts at Winter Peak. {{Muhlenberg County, Kentucky Ghost towns in Kentucky Geography of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky Populated places disestablished in 1967 1967 disestablishments in Kentucky Peabody Energy