Audubon State Park launches museum audio tour
Those visiting Henderson for the holidays may want to check out something new at Audubon State Park.
In mid-November the park launched a new audio tour for the Audubon State Park Museum.
The tour includes 40 different stations that go into greater depth than that what is written on the placards posted next to the displays at the Audubon Museum.
It was funded by the Friends of Audubon, said a post on the Audubon State Park Facebook page.
The audio tour is easy to use. With a paid entrance to the museum, a patron will receive a small, green hand-held device called Podcatcher Pro.
Around the museum, 40 different buttons are attached to the walls surrounding the exhibits. A visitor needs to hold the device close to the button. When the device senses the button, it buzzes and a voice begins an oratory related to the exhibit that the button coincides with.
On the weekend the audio tour debuted at Audubon, Drs. Mohammad Shamin and Yilin Zhang of the University in Kentucky were in town and checked it out.
Shamin described the recordings as “very detailed and thorough.”
Zhang agreed about the tour but seemed more taken with Audubon’s prints. They look “like live birds” and there was something about some of his paintings that reminded of the style of long-ago nature paintings in her native China, she said.
Building at Ninth and Elm demolished after fire collapses roof
A Nov. 19 structure fire at the building on the corner Ninth and Elm streets led to its demolition three days later.
According to the Henderson Fire Department, the roof of the building at 901 N. Elm St. collapsed during the fire. A day later, the city’s Code Enforcement condemned the property and ordered demolition, said Matt Anderson, HFD division chief.
He said the two-story sits close to both North Elm and Ninth streets, and because the roof had collapsed, officials were also fearful of a wall collapse which could spill into the streets.
On the night of the fire, HFD was dispatched at 5:16 p.m. and arrived four minutes later, Anderson said. The fire was contained by 7:02 p.m. and all fire units were clear by 9:20 p.m., he said.
Late last week, Anderson said the cause of the fire was still under investigation.
