Tag: kentucky120

Muhlenberg County Courthouse – Greenville, Ky.

I attended a wedding this weekend in Hartford, Kentucky and decided to finally get some counties that are west of I-65. Being that some of my wife’s family is from this area, I was pretty comfortable with the roads and decided to see how many counties I could check off. It was a pretty great afternoon, as my wife, her grandfather and I traveled through the Green River counties. I learned a whole lot about these counties, as my wife’s grandfather told me all about the counties that he has lived in for more than 30 years.
Most people probably know about Muhlenberg County from the John Prine song “Paradise” which memorializes an old coal town that was torn down in the 60s. What I hadn’t realized before this trip was how literal this song is. As we traveled through Muhlenberg County, my wife’s Grandfather told me about the what at the time was the world’s largest shovel, which was brought in to strip out the coal. He told me that the shovel, which could fit 3-4 trucks in the bucket, had to be placed on the coal bed itself, because if placed on the earth it would sink.
When you drive through Muhlenberg County, the thing you really begin to realize is that much of the county is a huge swamp. My wife’s grandfather told me that years ago, after they built the major road through the county, it was discovered that the road went through a wetland, and the road construction had destroyed much of the habitat of local ducks. Dozens of ponds for ducks had to be built to rectify the problem.
The courthouse pictured above is striking and beautiful. As you can probably see, the windows and doors are boarded over. I hope that it is simply being restored in this picture, but I couldn’t help but notice a new judicial center next door.

Lee County Courthouse – Beattyville, Ky.


As I have mentioned before, my wife’s family is from Whitesburg, so I frequently find myself in Eastern Kentucky. I noticed the last time that I put up an update on my status that I had inexplicably failed to make it Lee County, which seemed like a huge hole in my map. So last evening, I was headed to Jackson to meet the in-laws halfway, and I decided that on the way back we would swing through Beattyville instead of Campton.
The drive from Jackson to Beattyville is spectacular. State highway 52 runs parallel to the railroad tracks, and the tracks run a considerable height above the roadway. This means that occasionally, a few really amazing old tunnels run underneath the tracks. I’ve never really driven side roads through the mountains, and after this trip, I can highly recommend it. The roads might be a little crazy at times, but you get a completely different experience than the one you get sticking to the Mountain Parkway.
Beattyville reminds me a lot of Morehead. The Main Street areas are just very similar. I’ve recently become a big fan of the Kentucky Explorer, a really interesting little magazine full of history and photos. According to a recent issue, Beattyville had a population of 400 in 1879, with a 4 lawyers, a couple of general stores, several hotels, a flour mill and a grist mill.
When I came up to the courthouse square, I immediately noticed a couple of buildings across the street that looked like they had been pretty heavily damaged by fire. I had forgotten about the Beattyville fire of 2009, which destroyed an entire block of the city that sits across from the courthouse pictured above.
So I was taking my pictures and walking around the courthouse square when I noticed a sign that stated that Beattyville is a part of Homeland Security initiatives, and any suspicious activity would be reported to local authorities. I started to ask myself what sort of suspicious activities might be happening in Beattyville, when the realization struck me that a stranger taking pictures of the courthouse was probably pretty unusual. So I got in the car pretty quickly.

Henry County Courthouse – New Castle, Ky.


New Castle always seems slightly depressing to me. My only experiences in the county seat of Henry County have been on depressing rainy days. And my last trip through Henry County was no exception. Don’t get me wrong, the courthouse above is a beautiful old building, but downtown New Castle could use a little TLC. It’s a downtown that could really use a little revitalization, as there are a lot of really interesting old buildings that are still standing. I’ve found that most people are surprised that the county seat of Henry County isn’t in Eminence, the larger community down the road.

Trimble County Courthouse – Bedford, Ky.


Trimble County is an interesting place. I think the courthouse in Bedford is one of the prettiest smaller courthouses in the state, and Bedford is full of history. Just outside of Bedford, the remains of the plantation where escaped slave and abolitionist newspaper publisher Henry Bibb spent years as a slave. I got the chance to visit the site a couple of years ago.
I really hope that they don’t end up building some huge judicial center to replace the courthouse pictured above. Peter will probably blog about this later, but I feel that I have to talk about the old County jail that sits in the courthouse square in Trimble. The jail is like something you would see out of the old west – a big stone block building with little slits in the side. And this jail was in use UNTIL 1983. Just think about that for a second.

Oldham County Courthouse – La Grange, Ky.

I love La Grange. I lived in downtown La Grange for three years, and La Grange is where I fell in love with small-town life. For those of you who have never been, you owe it to yourself to visit. Main Street La Grange is split by a train track that is still active – more than 30 trains run through La Grange every day. I used to do historic tours through La Grange, and you’d think I could remember more about this structure. If I remember correctly, this building was constructed in the mid 1870s, after a fire destroyed the previous courthouse in 1873. The circuit courtroom upstairs is a pretty amazing space. The county jail is connected to the courthouse just to the left of the picture, and the Oldham County History Center sits just across the street. Directly behind me in this picture is the old La Grange Opera House, which I’m hoping Peter blogs about later.
As an interesting aside, Peter and I were walking through La Grange when Kentucky pulled off its miracle comeback to beat Mississippi State in the SEC championship game. We watched the final two minutes of overtime in the La Grange McDonald’s.

Shelby County Courthouse – Shelbyville, Ky.

A few weekends ago me and Peter decided to combine our powers and take a Kentucky 120/No Destination trip through my old stomping grounds. For 3 years I lived in Oldham County and commuted to see my fiance every weekend in Lexington. Shelbyville was the mid-point of that drive, and I’ve always loved the town. I especially love Main Street, which looks like something out of a movie. On the west end of Main are some of the prettiest older homes in the Commonwealth, and at the center of town is the amazing Greek Revival courthouse you see above. It’s really unlike anything else I’ve seen in Kentucky. This courthouse was built in 1913, and displaced the unique Shelbyville fountain that Peter blogged about earlier.

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?

Campbell County Courthouse REDUX – Newport, Ky.


So if there is anyone out there that pays attention to these posts, you might remember that I have had the Campbell County Courthouse on here before…but it wasn’t in Newport.

So looking back, I was pretty tired when I photographed the Courthouse in Alexandria. And that town is still terribly depressing. But I should have remembered the courthouse picture above, which I have passed numerous times in Newport and thought that something must be amiss here.

So here’s the deal. According to an article by Jim Reis that has been published on Rootsweb, the county seat was moved to Newport in 1797. The land for this courthouse was given by James Taylor, the founder of Newport. The first courthouse was built in 1815. Now, some people wanted the county seat to be closer to the center of the county, so it was moved to a small rural community called Visalia. Visalia was apparently in the middle of nowhere, so the seat was moved back to Newport, where it remained until 1840. That was until Kenton County was carved out of Campbell County, and the legislature decided to make another move to the center of the county, establishing the county seat in Alexandria.

As Reis says “[t]he transition from Newport to Alexandria wasn’t smooth.” It actually took a court order and a visit from the sheriff to get the county clerk to go to Alexandria.

I know there are many who wonder why Kentucky has so many counties. The story of why there is still a courthouse in Newport is the perfect answer to that question. In 1883, Newport lobbied the legislature for an exception to the state law that required county business to only be conducted in the county seat. A special law was created, creating the Newport Court House District, which allowed for Campbell County business to be conducted in Newport. However, as was clarified by a recent court decision, Newport is NOT a county seat. County business is just conducted there.

Anyway, the above courthouse is where county business is conducted in Campbell County. I had to go to a hearing in this courthouse, and there is a great deal of construction going on behind and in front of the building. I am a big fan of this building, as I think it’s a striking building in a community that I love. I’ve always been a big fan of Newport, both for its recent revitalization, and for its seedy history as a den of sin.