Author: thekaintuckeean

What is the coolest ‘abandoned site’ in Kentucky?

This weeks SOS question asks “what is the coolest ‘abandoned site’ in Kentucky?

This past week, the Kaintuckeean has highlighted two abandoned sites in Jessamine County (the Union Mill bridge and the Boone tunnel). One of my favorites was the old school in Frenchburg. But there have been many more.

Anyway, have you driven past something on Kentucky’s backroads that was formerly something grander? A town that is now a ghost town? All of these sites add so much to Kentucky’s rich history and heritage. Please share in the comments below.

No Destination: Union Mill

Abandoned Bridge, Union Mill (Jessamine Co.), Ky.

The Jessamine County community of Union Mill (on KY-169) once was home to a successful distillery operation, one of several that used to operate in the county. The beautiful Hickman Creek (pictured below at right) provided the necessary moving water for both the distillery and the gristmill.

The first gristmill was constructed and operated by Joseph Crockett, a Revolutionary War veteran, around 1800. By the middle of the 1800s, the distillery was operating and bottling “Old Lexington Club Whiskey.” The mills produced “Hickman Lily” and “Snow on the Mountain” flour. But Prohibition shuttered the distillery, and the mill and community followed. [cite, PDF]

An old 150-foot covered bridge once traversed the creek. According to some reports the covered bridge was replaced in 1915 (see comments to this post), while other reports indicate it was lost in to flood waters in 1932. Still visible below the abandoned four-span, steel bedstead and pony truss bridge that followed is the original stonework from the covered bridge. [Kentucky’s Covered Bridges (KY) (Images of America)]. All of this was abandoned when, in 1955, KY-169 was rerouted slightly to the west.

UPDATE: Immediately below is a picture sent to me by the author of Kentucky’s Covered Bridges, Walter Laughlin, which shows the old covered bridge in its heyday.

Union Mills Covered Bridge
Photo Courtesy of Walter Laughlin



ANOTHER UPDATE: I’ve seen it before, but never added it. From the old Sanborn insurance maps comes this gem, circa. 1903. It identifies the pictured covered bridge and the different buildings related to the distillery. The distillery was in operation daily, five months out of the year. Yield was 20 barrels. See photo below:

Sanborn Insurance Map, ca. 1903 of Union Mill (Source)

Additionally, check out my post from December 2010 wherein I reported on the ultimate demise of the steel pony-truss bridge.

No Destination: Boone Tunnel & Brooklyn Bridge

Travelling south/west on US-68 through Jessamine County is a beautiful, winding drive. When you reach the Kentucky River, you find a ‘modern’ bridge and cross the river. But if you carefully look to your left before reaching the bridge, you will see an old tunnel carved out of the Kentucky Palisades. The tunnel, Boone Tunnel, was the first tunnel in Kentucky constructed for highway traffic.

The tunnel provided access to a 250-foot iron-truss bridge that spanned the Kentucky River from 1871 until 1955. In that year, the bridge collapsed under the weight of a delivery truck and the deliveryman was badly injured. A judge awarded him $50,000, but the governor reduced the damages to $10,000 with the statement that “no man was worth $50,000.”

See also: Jessamine County’s Kentucky River Guidebook.

No Destination: The Pioneer Playhouse

Notable alumni of Boyle County’s Pioneer Playhouse include Lee Majors, Jim Varney and … John Travolta. I guess you could call it Kentucky’s Saturday Night Live as it has been a launching point for a few talented actors. 

Started by Col. Henson in 1950, it is the oldest outdoor theater in the state and was the first theater designated a “state theater” by the General Assembly (1962). According to its official history, Col. Henson used “unorthodox ways” to construct his playhouse:

He once bartered a fifth of whiskey for hand-hewn two hundred-year-old rafter beams and hired prisoners from the local county jail to help him lay the first foundations. 

I’d love to see a show at the Pioneer; the 2010 schedule is available here.

No Destination: Kentucky Fried Chicken

If you travel abroad and say that you are from Kentucky, the majority of people identify our home state with delicious, fried chicken. Colonel Harland David Sanders, a Colonel in the Order of Kentucky Colonels and which is not a military rank but rather a distinction for honored Kentuckians, moved from Indiana to Corbin, Kentucky in 1930 where a service station was opened. A lunchroom followed, and this was by continued expansion and growth of the Sander’s Cafe.

When the service station and cafe burned in 1939, Sanders rebuilt using a cafe-motel model. The Colonel operated the Sander’s Court and Cafe until the construction of I-75 took business away from the local roads. He auctioned the building and began to franchise his Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Today, the franchise is owned by Louisville-based Yum! Brands. Yum! also owns the old Court and Cafe and utilizes it as both an active franchise and a museum. Pictured above is a recreated kitchen from the days of the Court and Cafe. For more, check out Nate’s visit in January.

SOS: Should Kentucky eliminate references to dueling from its oath?

Should Kentucky eliminate references to dueling found in its oath of office? What are your thoughts on this?

I know that a state legislator is proposing its removal and if his bill passes, this same question will be posed in November to Kentucky voters. In the past year, I have twice taken Kentucky’s oath of office; once as a notary, the second time as an attorney. The solemn occasion of admission to practice law is held in the Supreme Court which is located on the second floor of the Capitol in Frankfort; admittedly, there was snickering during the “dueling” references.

Even so, State Sen. Julian Carroll notes that “[i]t is part of the history of this great commonwealth, and I don’t think that we ought to make any changes with respect to the reflection of that history.” What do you think? For more information, read or listen to a great story heard yesterday on NPR’s All Things Considered.

No Destination: St. Augustine Catholic Church

Although Lebanon was originally settled by Presbyterians, it quickly became a center of Catholic faith. The first Catholic Church organized here in 1815 and the first church was erected in 1825. In 1837, this church (then called St. Hubert’s) was rededicated to St. Augustine.

In 1871, the present church was completed and it certainly is a beautiful parish church. As is the case with Catholic churches generally, the doors are open during the day for people to enter and pray. [I wish this were the case with certain Protestant congregations, particularly those with historic and beautiful building!]  After praying, a snapped the picture [right] of this gorgeous house of prayer.

The church’s mission statement is great, honoring in its first paragraph both God and our great Commonwealth:

St. Augustine Catholic Church, located in the heartland of Kentucky’s holy land, being rich in history and tradition, is a diverse community of believers committed to serving God and neighbor. We are sustained by a loving devotion to the celebration of the Eucharist in fulfillment of our Baptismal call to proclaim the Good News of salvation.

See: A Short History of St. Augustine Parish.

Map Update

With my recent posts in south central Kentucky, I can now present this updated map on county visits for Nate and I:

For the Kaintuckeean, the tally is now 33 of 120 counties (27.5%). The Kentucky 120 Project remains ahead at 35 of 120 counties (29.2%). This coming weekend, we hope to target the following counties:  

  • Carroll County 
  • Henry County
  • Oldham County
  • Shelby County
  • Trimble County

Any offbeat places that I shouldn’t miss as I go with No Destination?

No Destination: Lebanon

Three miles from the middle of Lebanon is the geographic center of Kentucky, but this community of about 6,000 stands on its own. First settled in the 1700s, the town was incorporated in 1815. Named after the “Biblical Lebanon” because a number of cedar trees also grew in this area. Much of the communities growth can be attributed to the L&N Railroad that once rolled through town. The historic depot constructed in 1857 survived a burning by Gen. Morgan’s men during the Civil War, but it could not escape teenage arsonists in 1992.

The above-picture is clearly not the best, but it shows the route that the railroad once took a block north of Main Street. In the distance you can see the Marion County municipal building. A new courthouse is being built just to the south of this municipal building. Hopefully, the historic courthouse on Main Street will be preserved!

Bonus Kaintuckeean: J. Proctor Knott. A Kentucky Congressman, Governor and member of the 1891 Constitutional Convention during which he led the effort to keep Frankfort as Kentucky’s capital. He was also the first dean of Centre College’s law school. Knott County is named after him. [Marker 728]

No Destination: Gov. William Goebel

Outside Kentucky’s Old State Capitol is a statute of one governor. It isn’t Isaac Shelby (Kentucky’s first governor), but rather a man who served in office for only a few days. On January 30, 1900, shots rang out from the nearby state building striking Gov. William Goebel. A few days later, he was dead.

Goebel remains the only actively-serving governor of a U.S. state to be assassinated. Although the identity of the shooter will likely never be known, it followed the hotly contested gubernatorial election of 1900. For more, read here.