Morgantown, Kentucky

Shy of twenty miles north of bustling Bowling Green is typical Morgantown. Typical in that it is similar in size to the rest of the towns that dot Kentucky outside of our dozen or so large cities. Kentucky lacks for a huge metro on the level of Chicago or Houston. Louisville is as big as it gets here. The Commonwealth is a wealth of the towns under 15,000. Or 7,500. Even under 2,500. My hometown county seat down in Hickman fits that bill. So too does Morgantown.

It welcomes you with a green sign off the William H. Natcher Parkway. Past the Butler County High School and another sign proclaiming itself as “Catfish Capitol of the World.” There’s a pull off drive at the sign for selfies or family photo. An old river town that hasn’t strayed. Grain silos dominate a side of the commercial strip opposite a Subway, McDonald’s, Family Dollar, Sonic Drive In, Dollar General Market, IGA, and other newly sprung establishments. An impressive spread for a town this size. It continues to the tiny cluster of downtown near the courthouse. Call it three blocks of the city center, give or take a half. Every other storefront full. Every other storefront empty depending on how you look. A few “coming soon” flyers in dusty windows. A Civil War solider statue standing guard over the whole scene. Progressive brickwork in the crosswalks. Honest to goodness stoplights.

Banks, a newspaper, a FM radio station, churches, library, men’s wear store, insurance office, therapists, pharmacy, and a couple of auto parts stores continue the layout. Then it’s back towards the next parkway exit. On the way, a Hardee’s, and other local restaurants including the Farmboy. An industrial spread with full parking lots and open gates shows a population at work, whether in the service jobs throughout town or assembly lines here. And not to forget those silos, the ever obvious farm economy present as well. A city, while not as booming as its southern neighbor, is not faltering either. Paychecks are earned here, and by the looks of things openly spent here.

I like the slow pace of the town. The lack of traffic on the main drag. The ease of a drive across town or a walk around. The friendliness of folks in stores where I stopped in. Those small town virtues lost on larger towns, no matter how much they strive to contain them.

To the next dot on the map…

Requiem For Rabbit Hash

A well-aged country store with whiskers is more than a part of the community it serves. It becomes the community. It’s the very identity of the geographic place. And the longer the establishment has been open, all the more meaningful to insiders and outsiders alike. To have to replace the structure or contents of the establishment would be the equivalent of tossing out a century old cast iron skillet and replacing it with shiny new Teflon. There is much to be said about place and continuity.

Rabbit Hash, Kentucky suffered a blow to its soul last Saturday night into Valentine’s morning. Its centerpiece country store, open since 1831 and only shutting its doors a few times when Ohio River floodwaters reached the rafters, burned to the ground in a couple of hours. A new chapter in its Legend that nobody wanted to read.

It had been the pattern for new tourist trap type general stores to follow. Because it was the real deal. No chain store ever came to town. No dollar stores with bright lights and fresh swept tile floors. For those people who called the backroads of Boone County home, the Rabbit Hash General Store was still the place for a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk before a snowstorm. That it had become a destination in itself for nostalgia seekers was a bonus. It wasn’t an arts and crafts store or an antique store or a t-shirt shop, though it contained those things. It was the Honest to God general notion and potion store for the hamlet.

Think of 1831. That’s when the place first opened for business. Much of western Kentucky was only a decade of so out of still being Indian Territory. Daniel Boone had only been dead for a decade. Lincoln was 22 years old. The Civil War was still thirty years out. Tiny stores sprang up a couple of miles apart same as church houses all over developing Kentucky. And only a handful of those stores made it as long as this one did. Through wars, through floods, through a Great Depression, through the changing tastes of the finicky public.

And now that collected history in a literal flash went from a material one to an oral one. The store is still alive in the hearts and memories of those it has touched over the decades. Perhaps it will return in a building similar to the one lost. Perhaps facades and signage can be duplicated. Perhaps a new cast iron skillet can collect fat into its pores slowly once again. We will all have to see. And then contribute what we can to their fresh next chapter.

Five Random Kentucky Places To See This Weekend!

Here are five random Kentucky places that you can travel to this weekend.

1. Dinosaur World, Cave City. Lot's of big Dinosaurs on display, it's a great place to bring the kids to, plus Funtown Mountain across the street will be open this weekend as well!

2. Any BBQ Place in Owensboro. If you haven't had the BBQ in Big O, you're missing out. Moonlite, Old Hickory, and several others in town offer the best there is. Go Hungry.

3. Daniel Boone National Forest. From the Big South Fork to the Rockcastle Narrows (pictured) the woodland runs over 250 miles across eastern Kentucky. Hiking, paddling, whitewater, and more await!

4. Stanford. Settled in 1775 in Lincoln County, it's one of the oldest towns in Kentucky, with several historic structures to enjoy, including the L & N Depot Museum.

5. Miguel's Pizza at Red River Gorge. Go take a hike or climb the cliffs at Red River Gorge. Then settle in for a great pizza and icy cold Ale 8 at Miguel's Pizza.

Five More Next Week! Have A Great Weekend!

 

The Pennyrile Forest State Park

At one time in its early history, Dawson Springs was full of resorts. Folks believed that spring water from a nearby well could cure the ailments of life, and tourists paid handily for a night’s stay and a swig of the good stuff. Two Kentucky State Parks joined the fray for a chance to attract those same tourists, and one of those is still serving its original purpose in the midst of the Pennyrile State Forest.

The place looks like Thomas Kinkade painted it himself. It takes a country drive off the parkways and through the forest to get there. Once over a hill on the park road, the stonework of the lodge comes into view. It’s quaint, rustic, and cozy, tucked into the woods with a tiny lake behind. On the walk from the car to the lodge door, a raccoon and beaver are spotted. Mallard ducks fly across the lake. It feels like a personal cabin.

This resort is like a step back in time. Several periods of times, in fact. The lobby with the large fireplace and seating reminds of a lodge in the early 1900s. The arcade game nook is right out of the 1980s. The overnight rooms, with authentic wood paneling, are very charming 1960s. It’s a theme found in several Kentucky State Parks, one that has come with decades of age, but interestingly niche at this point. Far from cookie cutter drywall 2015.

My girl and I did all of the things a couple might have done at the park in the 1950s. We sat a spell out on the back deck of our room and watched a sunset. We checked out a book from the library. We hiked a trail surrounding the lake. From an overlook of the lake we watched another couple on a paddleboat enjoying the day as well. We saw families on the trail. Boy Scouts in rank and file behind park staff were out working on a merit badge. And for those moments when we wanted to get back to the current day, satellite wifi provided signal for our newfangled phones all over the park grounds.

A Kentuckian’s goal should be to visit every state park at least once, and if possible, stay a weekend. And if you’re our guest from out of state, welcome to our home. We think you’ll enjoy what we have to offer.

Andyville: The Stull Country Store

By definition, a country store exists only in the country. That means, by definition, it’s in the middle of nowhere. Some call it BFE or the Boonies. In short, you won’t go there unless you’re going. Or happen to call those places home.

Andyville is best reached by helicopter. Far from a main road a few miles south of the Ohio River in remote Meade County, there’s not much around save the occasional tavern for the thirsty traveler on the way to the Yellowbanks Wildlife Refuge. In that midst, there must needs be a grocery store for the scant few who still have to eat. It exists in country store form. It’s called Stull’s.

The old style 1980s gas pumps sit outside an older brick building. Fields as far as the eye can see on the horizon. It’s quiet save for the exhaust from dually trucks coming and going for a lunch plate or vittles supply. It’s the only game in town. Well, not town, but you know what I mean.

Inside, things are a little intriguing. This isn’t the typical country store. It’s a hybrid supermarket. There’s a rocking chair at the front door next to a checkerboard, but what you notice is the checkout aisle. The little place has a one lane, conveyor belt, checkout aisle (that’s actually staffed by a human). That’s a first among country stores that I’ve seen. To the left of the checkout aisle is a produce section. Albeit small, tiny compared to the chain grocery, but with lettuce and tomatoes and cucumbers for the country salad need. About four rows of sundries line the shelves that stack chest high on wood floors. Canning and preserving salt noticed as something not found in citified places. A full on meat department, so called, is in the back like it would be anywhere. The whole thing is a tiny version of what the rest of us are used to seeing. There’s even four or five buggies at the door.

It’s the walls that make the place a destination, though. The store has been open since 1972, and with that an accumulated display of vintage signage hang on the brick. Shelves contain Tonka trucks and Radio Flyer wagons next to an impressive collection of trucker’s hats featuring logos for businesses long forgotten.


I had the BBQ that was cooking hot for lunchtime with a bottled Coca-Cola that needed an opener. Conversation was easy with the camo clad farmers coming in for much the same. It was the usual topic, the weather had turned for the better in mid January to nearly 60 degrees after a week near zero. Plus the sun was shining on Meade County. I took it all in, the scenery, the décor, the nostalgia, the ingenuity of the place to stay viable. These folks wouldn’t know what to do without their store if it ever closed. It’s like family. And it’s the old fashioned connection keeping the wooden screen door open for business.


Leaving after lunch towards the Ohio River I couldn’t help but say amen at the slogan printed on the backs of their Stull T Shirts: “Long Live The Country Store.”
 Sit a Spell online at www.stullscountrystore.com

Guthrie: Southern Roads

Then, there was the Pink Elephant. But that was midway through the trip. It started with a ride back in time.

Skirt the bottom edge of Kentucky west of Franklin in Simpson County, and the road turns into a one lane affair with curves, no, corners edging the ancient farm boundaries. Large trunked trees align the road with wide canopies that have roots under the pavement they’re so close. Red barns that sit so close to a car side view mirror one could touch an ant if he was climbing up the painted planks. The land of the Red River, southern version, and the early mills that made use of it. Both Price’s Mill and Logan’s Mill were along the route we took. Price’s still had some remnants of its building, but it was Logan’s that still had a beautiful long waterfall spread flat and even across the river where once the milling took place. Water was the foundation of any settlement in those days. Without it, there was no Kentucky.

That portion of Kentucky lays flat and reminds of the Midwest in places. Small towns can be seen afar off by way of their water tower. Adairville was the first of any size we passed after the mills. A town that shown signs of an early wealthy class, with a large fountain park in the town square that sat in the shadow of an empty grocery store and a deserted portion of the first Dixie Highway route. It was the place just down the road next to the border where Andrew Jackson in his younger days fought a duel and shot a man. The sign in tribute was on display in the park. It was a different sign we photographed today, however. The street signs at the corner of Prohibition Alley and Church. It just seemed poignant.

Off further west, we passed Dot, Kentucky, which at one time still had a lone store but had finally converted the building to a private residence, giving  up any semblance of a history of buying and selling in the spot. Keysburg was still holding on with a quick stop that offered tanning, however. Though it was a building with clear plastic sides akin to a tent one might see at a campground.

Guthrie was another water tower. Here was a place where the crossroads of all rail travel for the southern United States happened. Everyone had to go through Guthrie, which was soon named after the President of the L & N. A hundred buildings had lined the Main Street. A house resembling a castle shadows the Opera House. The trains seemed to never stop.

We all know they did. A jolt to the present day and all but a handful of buildings remain. The castle is still there, as is the Opera House sitting vacant. A million or so dollars has been injected to renovate a few of the remaining buildings that had started to fall in. Hopes for a travel museum highlighting the glory days of rail travel for the old drug store that still advertises Coca-Cola for a nickel on century old bricks. RJ Corman freight trains lumber by.

On the way out past the rest of the town, we passed a Pink Elephant outside a Phillips 66. I made a U-Turn to get the picture of the Route 66esk occasion. Onward to Elkton.

It’s the Todd County Courthouse that stands out rather than the water towers here. Since 1835 a token of justice and order, now a welcome center and small museum staffed with southern hospitality. Across the street, a meal at an old style soda fountain, L & R Soda Bar. More Coca-Cola signage. A working juke box with free plays. Ice Cream in delicious flavors. Burgers with bacon.

Go for the road. Go for the history. Go for the food. Take a picture of the Elephant.

Middlesboro: On The Move

Four hundred miles and six hours from the Western Kentucky Great River Road begins Eastern Kentucky’s fair portion of the Wilderness Road. Old US 25E used to run over the mountain at Middlesboro. Now, it runs right through it. There’s a tunnel there bored below the famous Cumberland Gap that settlers once flocked to for a chance at a new life in “Kaintuck” and beyond, beginning about 1775. Today, coming through the new tunnel, one lands off in a meteor crater where a town was settled some century or so later. Middlesborough, as spelled then, was an iron ore opportunity that flourished then failed when a London Bank had troubles at the turn of the 20^th Century. From there, the old business section eventually went quiet much like several once bustling towns. Lee Majors being born and raised there was a Six Million Dollar addition, of course.

Now, the town is giving off a resort feel and banking off being in the shadow of the Gap. It has become a regional hub for a three state area that comes together at the tunnel. All the normal chains and Wal-Mart across from major hotels and a mall still hosting anchor stores behind a new Cracker Barrel. Downtown is seeing the biggest renaissance, however. A group appropriately titled “Downtown Middlesboro” brought in a hired outsider to look things over, think outside the box, and start writing grant applications to slowly breathe life back into the old commercial district. Still, there are buildings vacant, for rent, for sale, or falling in. But for every building in that state, there are two others with new purpose. Old store buildings made into apartments. Clothing stores. The token coffee shop.

Then the details that make any old downtown look better than the rest. Crosswalks where the asphalt was replaced with brick. Trees lining the sidewalk alongside benches. Antique water fountains turned back on. And building sized portraits of notable figures in the town’s history visible from several blocks and similar to those seen in Louisville. One alley in particular where once a building stood has been converted to a simple gathering spot to enjoy the mountains that surround. Wooden spools turned over to make quick tables. A string of lights from one wall to the other for flair. The town’s history on signs tacked to the side of the alley, every few feet a good read and weatherproof pictures from founding to present. The lifeblood of any town is the pride from its individual history passed down the generations.

A downtown that now can compete for Kentucky mountain tourism right alongside Pikeville and Prestonsburg. A place worth the drive to have a cup of coffee and see progress happen by the month. Kentucky towns could take notice that the pride is in the details and delivery of history waiting to be retold.

 

For more on the progress of Middlesboro, visit: www.discoverdowntownmiddlesboro.org