Rowan County

I hope everyone enjoyed mom's post on Fleming County.  She claims that has been her favorite so far.  I think it was the covered bridges.  It was all I could do to get her moving towards Rowan County.  Wouldn't you know it, we were about to visit another college.  Hopefully the boys will get the hint and start planning now!  I can't wait to tell you about our visit to Rowan County, but first we will cover a bit of history.

ROWAN COUNTY BACKGROUND

Rowan County was formed in 1865 from parts of Fleming and Morgan counties.  It was the 104th county created in Kentucky.  The county was named for John Rowan, who served the Commonwealth in both the U.S. House and the Senate.  Morehead serves as the county seat, which was formed in 1865 but was not incorporated until 1869.  Most of Rowan County is within the Daniel Boone National Forest and over 35% of the county is government owned.

Uniquely, Rowan County has a claim to fame regarding "My Old Kentucky Home".  As most loyal Kentuckians know, My Old Kentucky Home is located in Nelson County, some 125 miles from Rowan County.  However, Rowan County's namesake, John Rowan was the uncle of Stephen Foster, the author of the song My Old Kentucky Home.  John Rowan was the founder and establisher of the home that inspired Foster to write the classic.

In the early years, timber, stone and coal were the primary resources of the county.  However, the resources were quickly diminished.  As those commodities became less abundant, the primary industry moved to clay mining and brick making in the early 1900's.

Rowan County is also home to Morehead State University.  The school began as the Morehead Normal School in 1887 by Phoebe Button with donations from a former Confederate soldier. The school was taken over by the state in 1922 and finally after several name changes became Morehead State University in 1968.  Today, Morehead offers almost 80 degree programs through four different colleges.

The Kentucky Legislature threatened to dissolve the county in the late 1880's because of the Martin-Tolliver feud.  The feud was also known as the Rowan County War lasted three years and finally ended in June of 1887 after a bloody gun battle in Morehead.

OUR VISIT

Our visit to Rowan County with quick drive through the community of Farmers.  (By the way, Farmers was the first established community in the county.)  After that we headed on into Morehead.  We spent some time driving through town and seeing the sites.  We finally decided to stop at Morehead State University and take a look around.
 
Morehead is a nice campus nestled against the mountains.  We had spent quite a bit of time walking around the main part of campus when I mentioned Eagle Lake.  Mom and the boys could not believe there was a lake up the mountain.  So we jumped in the car and I took them up there.  It's one of the great places that is tucked away from everything else.  It's been the site of recreation for MSU students for years.  Roadkill even wanted to get out of the car to see that!

We tried to get up to the Morehead Astrophysical Observatory, bu the gate was closed and locked.  So we found our way back down the hill and decided to stop at Dairy Queen for a quick bite to eat on our way to Bath County.

Rockcastle County

Then next stop on our journey was Rockcastle County, home of the world famous Renfro Valley.  We crossed the county line both in and out, on the interstate, so we were unable to get a picture of the green highway sign.  It made me realize we have to do a little better planning from here on out, so that we can get a picture.  But we we found the sign pictured at the left, downtown Mount Vernon.  As usual, we will cover a little background on Rockcastle County.

ROCKCASTLE COUNTY BACKGROUND

The county seat is Mount Vernon, and is named for George Washington's home.  The area was originally settled around 1790 and was a stop on the Wilderness Road by 1792.  The surrounding area was originally swampland. 

The county was formed in 1810 from portion of Lincoln, Madison, Knox and Pulaski counties.  Rockcastle was the fifty-second county formed in Kentucky.  The county shares its name with the Rockcastle River which was named by explorer Isaac Lindsey in 1767.  The name comes from the large cliffs along the river the Lindsey described as castles.  Almost one fourth of the county lies within the Daniel Boone National Forest.  The county has seen its population grow by almost 50% since 1970.

The extraction of saltpetre from the Great Saltpetre Cave was one of the first industries in the county.  Saltpetre is used to make gunpowder.  The cave also served as shelter for both Union and Confederate troops during the Civil War.

Rockcastle County is also home to Renfro Valley.  It is the site of the "Renfro Valley Barn Dance" national radio program.  This show was started in 1939 by John Lair.  Refro Valley still hosts several shows a week, ranging from local Bluegrass talent to major country music recording stars.

OUR VISIT

Our visit to Rockcastle County was unfortunately pretty quick.  We jumped off of I-75 and headed into Mount Vernon, the county seat.  We parked on Main Street and took a few minutes to check out downtown.  The more of these towns we visit, the more I enjoy the "small town" atmosphere.  There wasn't much going on, so we head on out to Renfro Valley.

We were expecting to see a crowd out there, but being a monday afternoon, nothing was open.  We were the only ones there, except for a few workers.  But we were able to get a few pictures and we can say we have been there.  None of us are really country or bluegrass music fans, but it's one of those things, that speaks to our Kentucky heritage.  Renfro Valley is the home to the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and as luck would have it, they were closed on Mondays.

It was a short trip, but a good trip.  My guess is, we will head back that way to see a show at Renfro Valley, like I said, it's just part of who we are as Kentuckians.