Campbell County

The visit to Campbell County was a no-brainer.  We make this every year on the same day.  The Sunday before Labor Day.  We love the City of Newport and always make the trek there to watch the WEBN Fireworks.  We have made this trip probably 15 of the last 20 years.  And as always it was a great trip.  And as much as I want to tell you about it, first we have to cover the history.

CAMPBELL COUNTY BACKGROUND

Campbell County is one of three counties lining the northern tip of Kentucky south of Cincinnati.  It was formed in December of 1794 from parts of Scott, Harrison and Mason counties.  The county's namesake is Colonel John Campbell a Revolutionary War hero.  One of the unique features I noticed about Campbell County during my research is the number of times the county seat has been moved.  It was originally in Wilmington then moved to Newport, then Visilia, back to Newport and finally ended up in Alexandria.  Along with moving the county seat, in 1883 the Kentucky Legislature created a special law that allowed Campbell County to form a courthouse district.  This change in the law allowed the county to conduct county business in Newport, in addition to its legal requirement to conduct business in Alexandria.  As far as I can tell this is the only place in Kentucky where this is done.

Campbell County is home to Northern Kentucky University.  NKU is located in Highland Heights just seven miles southeast of Cincinnati.  The school started as an extension of the University of Kentucky in 1943.  After merging with the Salmon P. Chase College of Law in 1971, the school finally became known as Northern Kentucky University in 1976.  In recent years NKU has spent close to $100 million in expansion and building projects.

There are numerous cities and small town located in Campbell County.  However, none are as infamous as Newport.  It used to be said "before there was Las Vegas, there was Newport".  Newport used to be home to upscale casinos on Monmouth Street.  When investigations and charges of racketeering forced the casinos out, peep shows and strip clubs took over.  But revitalization efforts in the 1980's and 90's helped create a family friendly atmosphere.  In May of 1999 the $40 million Newport Aquarium and Newport on the Levee entertainment complex was opened.  Today it is a hot spot for kids and adults alike.

Campbell County and the community of Southgate were thrust on the worlds stage on Memorial Day weekend  1977.  The famous Beverly Hills Supper Club caught fire and burned to the ground that night.  The Club was a notorious nightclub and illegal gambling house since the 1930's.  It is believed that close to 3,000 patrons and 182 employees were inside the club on the night of the fire.  Before the night was over, 165 person were killed and over 200 were injured.   The Beverly Hills Supper Club fire is the 3rd deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history.  This tragedy changed building code enforcement nationwide.  It was also the first disaster case tried as a class action.

OUR VISIT

Our visit to Campbell County started as a drive north on US 27 out of Pendleton County.  As we were driving, looking at the map, I noticed the Campbell County Lake not far off of the highway, so we decided to check it out.  We had never even heard of the place and didn't know what to expect.  It turns out that there is all kinds of road construction in the area and I gave the GPS fits trying to get to where we wanted to be.  But we finally made it.  The lake is owned by the Campbell County Fiscal Court and the area serves as a recreation center for numerous activities, including fishing, soccer, golf and frisbee golf.  The facilities were very, very nice.  It makes me wish we had something like that here at home.  As you can tell by the picture, Roadkill loved the place.

After we left the lake, we decided we should stop at NKU.  We have seen so many other colleges and universities we thought we should see this one too.  That stop was one of the best decisions we've made since we started this adventure.  None of us had ever been the NKU campus before and expected it to be similar to all the others.  We were wrong!  It is a clean, beautiful, modern campus.  Being a holiday weekend there were not many people around, so we had the place to ourselves.  As you can see, we made some new friends.  Then, when it was time to leave the boys didn't want to go.  That has not happened much on the 120.

We got back in the car and jumped back on US 27.  Our final destination was Newport.  As we were driving along, I saw the Highway Marker for the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire.  I slammed on the brakes, did a u-turn and headed back to see it.  I was 7 years old when the fire happened and I remember the stories on the news and the attention that it drew.  I never really knew where it was, so I was interested in seeing for myself.  Today though, the driveway is gated and is grown over with weeds and bushes, but I got a picture of the marker and now know where it happened.

It had been a long day and we had not eaten lunch yet.  Everyone was starving!  The good news for me is, I can't hardly go to Newport and not eat at the Hofbrauhaus.  It is one of my favorite restaurants ever.  Surprisingly the wait wasn't too long, to be the afternoon of Riverfest.  The downside was it cost $20 to park.  Hofbrauhaus is such a fun place.  Everyone has a good time and the German food and music are top notch.  We sat there and enjoyed the food and atmosphere for almost an hour and a half.

Once we decided to leave, we headed over to Newport on the Levee.  A lot of the businesses had started to close in preparation of the night's festivities.  So, since we had a good parking spot (and had paid $20 for it) we headed back to the car and people watched until it was time for the fireworks.  With about thirty minutes to go we got out and headed toward the river.  After being run off by the police from our first spot we decided to grab a spot on the wall on Saratoga Street.  Launch time was 9:05.  We had a great view plus we were able to make a quick exit when it was over and beat the rush.  Like I mentioned earlier, the fireworks this year were the best I had ever seen.  They had over 7,000 shells and shot a third of those in the last 3 minutes.  The total show lasted a little over half an hour.  This trip is one of the highlights of our year, year in and year out.

When the show was over, we jumped back on US 27 and headed towards home.  Since Monday was a holiday, we were going to take advantage and try to see at least 4 more.  Stay tuned and we'll fill you in on Nicholas, Fleming, Rowan and Bath counties.

See you on the road...