Bath County

We had already had a full day.  We had made quick stop in Nicholas County, mom fell in love with Fleming County and we had a good visit in Rowan County, but we had one more stop.  We were on our way to Bath County.  We had done some research and knew there was one thing we wanted to do while we were there.  The problem was, we had to keep from getting lost.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself, first we need to cover a brief history.

BATH COUNTY BACKGROUND

Bath County was formed in January of 1811, being cut from Montgomery County.  The county gets its name for the many medicinal springs that are found in the area.  The county seat is the city of Owingsville, named for Colonel Thomas D. Owings, organizer of the U.S. 28th Infantry Regiment.

In 1790, the Old State iron furnace was built.  During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, Bath County provided most of the iron needs of Kentucky as well as most other regions west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Olympia Springs, one of Kentucky's most popular resorts in the nineteenth century was located in Bath County.  It was actually a destination on the first stagecoach line out of Lexington in 1803.

The primary industry in Bath County has always been agriculture.  Crops include tobacco, hay and grain, as well as milk and beef cattle.  However, with the creation of Cave Run Lake on the Rowan County border and the completion of Interstate 64 through the county, tourism and industry has been on the rise.  Yet, as late as 1987, nearly 74% of the land in Bath County was devoted to farms.

OUR VISIT

We made our way into Bath County via U.S. 60.  The first little town we hit was Salt Lick.  My work had taken me there several time before, but mom and the boys had never been there.  It is such a quaint little town that looks like you picked it up out of the late '30s or '40s.  As I mentioned in my Nicholas County post, I love the old barn advertisements.  I also love old signs painted on the sides of building as well.  There is a great old Ale-8 sign on one of the buildings "downtown" Salt Lick.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, we tried every way in the world to get lost.  I use the GPS on my phone and out in areas like that, service is spotty at best.  We  were looking for one of the old iron furnaces from the 1800's.  We drove past the entrance several times.  I thought we were looking for a road, it was more like a driveway.  But it was worth the driving around after we found it.  It is the remains of this HUGE iron furnace.  There was a sign there, that said they produced up to 4 tons of iron a day at the expense of 35 cords of wood.  They has to clear hundreds of acres of forest each year just to keep up.  Another plus to this visit was, I took a small trail up around the back of the furnace and a found a $5.00 bill laying on the ground.  It's always a good day when you find a little green.

We probably spent more time at the Iron Furnace than we should have, but it was such a neat place.  When we left, we took 211 back into Salt Lick, where we hopped back on U.S. 60 to make our way to Owingsville.  We stopped downtown to check out the courthouse and see the sites.  With a population of just under 1,500 Owingsville is a small town.  But what it lacks in size it makes of for in charm.  On one the corners across from the courthouse, the Owingsville Banking Company has an old fashion street clock.  Like the painted barns and building, I love the nostalgia that things like the clock impart.

As usual, our time was running short.  It was time to head towards home.  We had had another great day getting to know Kentucky.  We have already come to look forward to our next trip.  Unfortunately we won't be travelling the next weekend and have not made plans yet for the one following that.  But rest assured we will be hitting the road.

And for those of you keeping count Bath County is number 18.  That makes us 15% of the way through.  We have along way to go, so we'll see you on the road...