Rockcastle – The Kaintuckeean

Remembering September 11

It was my senior year of high school when a friend alerted me that a plane had struck one of the World Trade Center towers in New York. A few years earlier, that same friend and I had travelled to NYC. Though we didn’t ascend the twin towers on that trip, the iconic structures towered over other skyscrapers so that if you saw them then you would be able to figure out your bearings.

A few years before that trip, I remember walking the underground shops stories below the 110-story skyscrapers. September 11 was emotional for all Americans and we will not forget the tragedy of that day.

After 9/11, country musicians quickly wrote new songs. Some embraced a militaristic perspective, suggesting that the “American Way” was “putting a boot in your ass.” (Toby Keith). Others recognized the importance of the moment – like Pearl Harbor or the JFK assassinations for earlier generations – where all would remember where they were “when the world stopped turning, that September Day.” (Alan Jackson).

I was 18 – a senior in high school at Lexington Christian Academy. Between first and second periods, I dismissed my friend’s comment about a plane hitting WTC as probably just another accident. I thought of the Cessna that had hit the White House in 1994.

By the time I arrived in my second period class, the south tower had been struck by United Flight 175. I knew then that America was under attack and that this was no small accident. In horror, I sat in a classroom of scared 17 and 18 year olds as we collectively watched the south tower fall.

Some of us thought of a military response and were concerned about the return of the draft; several in my class have served in the years since 9/11.

Our school did not close on 9/11. A few teachers maintained ordinary class schedules, but the day was anything but ordinary. As you can image, a lot of prayers were offered. It was a day I will never forget.

In 2004, Mrs. Kaintuckeean and I visited NYC. During our trip, we stopped by Ground Zero. During law school, I twice ventured to New York City with a classmate (NRK, who helped me to get Kaintuckeean off the ground and remains a contributor). On each of those trips, we checked in on the progress at Ground Zero. By 2009, significant progress was underway on the One World Trade Center (construction took place from 2006 to 2013), but that was my last visit to New York.

But one of my other memories of New York City’s World Trade Center was found along a country road in Rockcastle County later in 2009. I happened upon the sleepy town of Livingston (which has since been reborn as a Trail Town) where a now-gone memorial to the twin towers took my breath away. I paused and remembered.

Today, we all will again pause and remember. #NeverForget

* The first picture above is also of the 9/11 Memorial that was once in Livingston. This post combines two earlier post about 9/11.

Livingston is a Trail Town … and it Can’t Hide the Pride

Marker at the old Livingston School which is being converted into a Visitor’s Center
after being closed nearly twenty years.

On one of my first jaunts, I visited the small Rockcastle County community of Livingston. Soon after, I found an article that validated my findings of Livingston as a once-vibrant, but long forgotten community.

But Livingston has no hotel, no drug store or bank or any of these sundry establishments. There was a time when all these and more were present. Not one, but four hotels and numerous boarding houses catered to temporary residents. Not one, but two doctors tended human frailty. All that remain now are ghosts, faint echoes of a once-prosperous past when Livingston was a busy and exciting place to live. Livingston’s Main Street, at the heart of the town, is a place of padlocked doors and boarded windows, of burned and sagging buildings, of broken glass and rotting timbers and unswept dust. (Focus, Winter 1999)

It was a sad indictment, yet even then there remained both a marker and a sense that Livingston “Can’t Hide the Pride.” So I returned last month to find a completely different place, except one thing had not changed at all. The Pride. It is almost as if the people of Livingston sought to fulfill my hope from September 2009, that “this community will again one day have a source of pride.”

As it turns out, Livingston has become its own Phoenix. On June 25 of this year, Livingston was designated the second Trail Town in Kentucky. This designation marks a major milestone for any small community.

The Livingston School (top) is being converted into a Visitor’s Center (middle),
while new opportunities are opening up throughout town (bottom).

Earlier in the year, my brother and I traveled by bicycle along a portion of the Great Allegheny Passage in southwestern Pennsylvania. There, strong industry used to keep employment high. But that industry vanished famished long ago. Yet through a committed citizenry and a group of elected officials with a forward looking vision, small communities have been reborn through increases in adventure tourism. Cyclists, mountain bikers, rafters, tubers, and kayakers all abound. These tourists also stay in locally-owned bed and breakfasts and hotels and eat at locally-owned diners and restaurants. It brings vitality and outside dollars into a small town, rather than seeing money only as an export.

And now, Livingston can share in this success. The old Graded School is being or has been converted into the new permanent trailhead. Along the S. Wilderness Rd. one can find directions to a canoe launch, the Wilderness Road Trail, and the Sheltowee Trace Trail. I could not be happier for Livingston.

The trailhead at Livingston

I pray that Livingston thrives on its new designation; if you haven’t been, go!

And the story of Livingston is a story that can be and should be told over and over again throughout Kentucky. The tourism dollars that flow into Kentucky represent a new form of industry that Kentucky has long allowed to go elsewhere.

The beauty of Eastern Kentucky could easily be a tourist’s paradise rather than the victim of mountaintop removal. Communities along the old Big Sandy Railroad – Winchester, Mount Sterling, Olympia, Morehead, Olive Hill, and Grayson – each stand to gain so much if the proposed rail to trail along that old railroad line between Lexington and Ashland were completed. It is this kind of new economy which encourages locally owned business, historic preservation, and landscape preservation.

The costs are relatively low, but it takes a vision. And it takes leadership.

Skaggs Trace, a tributary of the Wilderness Trail

Historic Marker for Skaggs Trace
Rockcastle County, Ky.

Just after crossing the Rockcastle River into the county of the same name along highway 25, one encounters a historic marker proclaiming “SKAGGS TRACE.”

The trace stretched north out of Hazel Patch to Crab Orchard where early pioneers would continue on via Logan’s Trace to the Falls of the Ohio (aka Louisville). Pioneers heading out of Hazel Patch on a more easterly track would have taken Boone’s Trace toward Boonesborough.

The two side of Marker #1622 read as follows:

This trail, from the Hazel Patch to Crab Orchard, crosses Rockcastle County. It was a widely used land route through Kentucky for several years and became part of the Wilderness Road. Daniel Boone crossed the Rockcastle River near here in 1775 in blazing Boone’s Trace from Cumberland Gap to Boonesborough. See over.

(Reverse) Skaggs Trace – This trace was named for Henry Skaggs, a Long Hunter. Many famous pioneers, including John Floyd, Benjamin Logan and William Whitley, traveled over it. On Oct. 21, 1861, the first Kentucky Civil War battle occurred near here at Camp Wildcat. This first Union victory took place in the Rockcastle Hills. Over.

It is important to distinguish this important path for Kentucky pioneers and note who is missing from the list: Daniel Boone. Despite our desire to treat him as such, Boone was not omnipresent. He took that easterly path out of Hazel Patch.

Rockcastle County Courthouse – Mt. Vernon, Kentucky

Rockcastle County is an interesting place. It’s one of two counties in Kentucky not named for a person (Okay Peter, what’s the other county?), as it’s named after the Rockcastle River, which is in turn named after the castle-like rock formations that surround it. One quarter of the county is in the Daniel Boone National Forest, and the drive through Rockcastle on the old Dixie Highway is pretty scenic. The most notable area of Rockcastle is probably Renfro Valley, a country music Mecca that I’ve really wanted to visit for a show, but have never found the time.
This courthouse seems relatively modern and pretty nondescript. I can’t find much information about it – the Kentucky Encyclopedia mentions that the first log courthouse here burned in 1873. Can anyone help me fill in the blanks?

No Destination: Livingston

Of the three incorporated communities in Rockcastle County – Brodhead, Mt. Vernon and Livingston – Livingston was my favorite. And I don’t know why.

According to the 2000 Census, the population was 228. The old graded school was boarded up and over 1-in-4 persons live below the poverty line. Even so, the man sitting on the steps of the school spoke fondly of what the town once was. He recalled his years at the graded school fondly and how the community had once been vibrant. I discovered the following:

But Livingston has no hotel, no drug store or bank or any of these sundry establishments. There was a time when all these and more were present. Not one, but four hotels and numerous boarding houses catered to temporary residents. Not one, but two doctors tended human frailty. All that remain now are ghosts, faint echoes of a once-prosperous past when Livingston was a busy and exciting place to live. Livingston’s Main Street, at the heart of the town, is a place of padlocked doors and boarded windows, of burned and sagging buildings, of broken glass and rotting timbers and unswept dust.

The last source of pride was the Livingston Graded School, which served the community from 1927 to 1994. It closed in the wake of school consolidation and budget cuts as Kentucky sought to modernize its education system.

There is a memorial park in Livingston with a memorial to the Graded School, saying “Can’t Hide the Pride.” Hopefully, this community will again one day have a source of pride.

Also in this memorial park is a beautiful 9-11 memorial. Standing at about 12 feet tall, it is a complete surprise and worthy of being found in a community/town/city of any size. Because in Livingston, you cannot hide the pride.

No Destination: Mount Vernon

As the county seat of Rockcastle County, I anticipated too much of little Mt. Vernon. In truth, it is certainly not a fault of the people. Walking through downtown, I passed the closed (it was a Sunday) Tea Cup Cafe (pictured in the saloon-looking structure) as the owners were exiting. A short conversation revealed that they are working hard to increase the image of Mt. Vernon. The sidewalks need fixing and other downtown improvements are needed – but the good news is that members of this little community recognize and desire these improvements.

On one end of Main Street is the courthouse and new judicial center – which I will leave for Nate to discuss. It was, at best, disappointing (though none of the citizenry seemed to miss the old courthouse either). The town is named after George Washington’s Virginia home; the county after an observation by a hunting party that a rock in the area resembled a castle.

One destination missed on my sojourn is Rockcastle County’s most famous attraction: Renfro Valley. Located two miles north of Mt. Vernon, Renfro Valley is Kentucky’s Country Music Capital is the home to a popular entertainment center and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame.

No Destination: Brodhead

Entering into the mountain region is simply breathtaking. Throughout the rest of the days’ drive, the scenery was beautiful.

The Rockcastle County community of Brodhead is the home of the Little World’s Fair. The Fair has been an annual event for over 100 years and is now a weeklong fundraiser for the Brodhead Volunteer Fire Department. A curve in the road, Brodhead is at the headwaters of the Dix River. Originally named Stigalls Station, the town was renamed in the late 1860s when it became a stop on the L&N Railroad.

I tend to do a little ‘Googling’ when posting about my travels, and I was surprised to find the following tidbit from Brodhead’s past: “Aug 10, 1993 – In Brodhead, Ky., a man who sat in a lawn chair guarding his marijuana field with an assault rifle was shot to death by police after a daylong standoff.” [And unlike Nate earlier this week in Campton, I felt perfectly comfortable in Brodhead.]