The Pennyroyal Area Museum in downtown Hopkinsville covers the history of the Pennyroyal region of western Kentucky. Exhibits include the Black Patch tobacco wars of the early 1900s — when farmer vigilantes called Night Riders burned warehouses and threatened buyers — as well as displays on the Trail of Tears, the Civil War in Christian County, and the locally famous Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter.
The museum is small but earnest, and the tobacco wars section is genuinely interesting — it is a period of American history most people have never heard of. The staff are knowledgeable and happy to talk. Free admission, though donations are appreciated.