Tag: Bracken

No Destination: Augusta

Kentucky history laureate, the late Dr. Thomas Clark listed Augusta as one of Kentucky’s Eleven Treasures that Helped Shape the Commonwealth. Augusta is a fine town on the Ohio River of over 2,000 people. Because I arrived in Augusta in late afternoon, I plan to return so that I might spend more time in this community.

Augusta was the county seat of Bracken County from the creation of the county until the seat was moved to the more centrally located Brooksville in 1839. While this may seem unusual today, Bracken County was once quite large geographically. It contained parts of what is now Bracken, Robertson, Harrison (eastern), Bourbon, Nicholas (most) and Mason (southern) counties.

The town is in terrific condition (especially when compared to neighboring Dover). On a Sunday afternoon, tourists were in great number and shops were open. Though no longer the county seat, Augusta is the center of Bracken County life.

Augusta has much to owe its most famous residents: the Clooneys. Rosemary Clooney owned a summer home in Augusta, while her brother (journalist, newsanchor and gameshow host Nick) continues to live in Augusta. Of course, it is Nick’s son (actor George) who is today’s most well-known Clooney; George attended and graduated from the Augusta High School (pictured below).
Augusta is also the home of Miss America 2000, Heather Renee French (Henry).

No Destination: Arnold Gragston


Although not a destination, Arnold Gragston deserves a post. I learned of him from a historic marker in Germantown, Kentucky. First, Germantown is a fine community located on the Bracken-Mason county line. The community, though small, was laid out in 1784 and later settled by the Pennsylvania Dutch (recall that the Pennsylvania Dutch are of German descent).

Arnold Gragston was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Though a slave himself, he risked his own life by transporting other slaves from near the farm where he was in servitude (Germantown) to Dover and across the river to freedom in Ripley, Ohio. Gragston would make three to four trips across the river each month, always returning to his own servitude. It is estimated that he helped some three hundred slaves to freedom. Eventually, however, Gragston (believing he could be of no more good in Mason County) did not ferry himself back to Kentucky. Ultimately, he moved to but returned to Germantown in the 1880s. Gragston tells his story here.

Pictured below is the Ohio River from the port of Dover.