Wolfe County

When we left the house we knew we were going to go to Natural Bridge, head to Beattyville in Lee County and head on further south from there.  It didn't quite work out that way.  After we left Natural Bridge, we took Highway 11 towards Beattyville and crossed into Wolfe County.  Next thing I knew, we were stopping.  I'll fill you in as to why, after we get our history fix.

WOLFE COUNTY BACKGROUND

Wolfe County was formed in 1860 from parts of Breathitt, Morgan, Owsley and Powell Counties.  It was the 110th county created in the Commonwealth.  It was named for Nathaniel Wolfe, a member of the Kentucky Legislature.  The City of Campton serves as the county seat.

The original courthouse was a log structure, that burned in 1884.  The second courthouse was completed in 1885 but burnt in 1913.  The 3rd and current courthouse was completed in 1917 and is a beaux-art influenced design.

Unfortunately, after searching for quite some time, I have found very little information on the history of Wolfe County.  If you have any information or resource the could help us write a better background, please share them with us.

OUR VISIT

Like I mentioned earlier, we had no intention of stopping in Wolfe County on this trip.  But, as we were heading down Highway 11, we came across Torrent Falls Resort.  As we drove by it, all of us in unison said, "What was that?".  So we turned around to check it out. 

It turns out it is a rock climbing / rappelling adventure park.  We were met by a nice young lady that explained all of the programs and trails that were offered.  Knowing we were on a schedule, we picked up all the information we could and have added it to our "Gotta go Back" list.  She did allow us to walk around and see the property and get a closer look at some of the climbing trails.

I know it doesn't seem like much, but we decided this was enough to qualify as our visit to Wolfe County.  We have talked about this before, we are just going to have to sacrifice and limit our visits in some counties.  So, we headed on to Lee County.

But the story doesn't stop there.  When we left Beattyville, we came back up Highway 11 towards the Mountain Parkway.  Right as we were about to cross the county line from Wolfe County back into Powell County, one of the boys said, check out that waterfall.  I about wrecked the car trying to get it stopped and turned around.  It turns out it wasn't really a water fall, but the runoff for Mill Creek Lake.  It is a great roadside park.  We got out and the boys and I walked up and down the spillway and even skipped a rock or two.

Again, it seems like we really shorted Wolfe County, but we truly enjoyed our time there.  I wish we didn't have to make sacrifices, but if we want to finish this project, we really have no choice.

The good news is, with the visit to Wolfe County we are 20% of our way through the 120 in 12.  Before we write about Lee County, I will be posting a video of all the pictures we've taken on the second set of 12 and a posting a little bit of reflection on where we've been and where we're headed.

Powell County

We set out on this weekend, planning on seeing four or five counties.  But as I've said before, our plans have a way of changing.  We knew we were going to go to Natural Bridge, which is in Powell County, head south from there and see where we ended up.  The thing is, we didn't get very far.  But every part of this day was a tremendous experience that you have no way of planning.  So, after we cover a little background on Powell County, I'll fill you in on the way the day started.

POWELL COUNTY BACKGROUND

Powell County was the 101st county formed in Kentucky.  It was formed by an act of the Legislature on January 7th, 1852 from parts of Clark, Estill and Montgomery Counties.  The county is named for Lazarus W. Powell, the 19th Governor of Kentucky and later represented Kentucky in the United States Senate.  The county seat is Stanton, which was known as Beaver Pond until 1852 and was incorporated in 1854.  The name was changed to honor U.S. House of Representative Richard M. Stanton from Kentucky.

The Powell County courthouse was burned by CSA guerrillas in 1863.  The second courthouse was built after the Civil War and was torn down in 1890 and replaced by a 2-story Victorian style building.  The third courthouse was demolished in 1977 and replaced with the current building.


Powell County is home to one of Kentucky's most well known landmarks, Natural Bridge.  It is a sandstone arch that stands 65 feet tall and 78 feet long.  The property surrounding the bridge was acquired in 1889 by the Kentucky Union Railway which later became a part of the Louisville Nashville Railroad.  In 1926 the railroad donated the lands to the state park system and Natural Bridge became one of the four original Kentucky State Parks.

The Red River Gorge is also situated in Powell County.  The Gorge is a part of the Daniel Boone National Forest.  While natural bridge is probably the most famous of Kentucky's natural arches, Red River Gorge is home to over 100 sandstone arches.  There are literally hundreds of trails, arches, rapids, cliffs and waterfalls in the Red River Gorge.

OUR VISIT

I would assume it's pretty easy to guess, that our trip to Powell County included a trip to Natural Bridge.  That was going to be the only thing on our trip, but on our way there, mom said we might as well swing into Stanton and see downtown.  It must have been divine guidance, because we were really glad we stopped.

Across the street from the courthouse, they have constructed a very nice memorial to our Armed Services.  It's a small park area that has large monument wall and individual statues representing each of the various branches.  It also has a 10 Commandments monument as well.  Here are a couple of pictures from the park.

We walked over to see the courthouse and the historical markers that were there.  But, I have to be honest.  Not that there is anything wrong with the courthouse there, I just really like the old 100+ year old courthouses. 

After we left Stanton, we headed out to Natural Bridge.  We love it there.  This was our second trip there already this year.  We had been there earlier in the summer, before we decided to start the 120 in 12.  So instead of cheating, we thought we needed to go back.  As always though, we were fighting the clock.  So instead of hiking up to the bridge, we decided to take the chair lift.  Which is not cheap, by the way.  Being aggravated by the price didn't last very long though.  My youngest son rode with me and we had the best time both riding up and coming down.  We whooped and hollered and tried to hear our echos.  We spoke to everyone that passed us either way.  It was one of the few times on this journey that he said he had a great time. 

When we reached the top, we hiked over to the bridge looked around for a few minutes, snapped a few pictures and we were on our way.  I'm not sure I can say this enough, there is just not enough time!  The thing is though, we had a great time and unbeknownst to us, we were about to have few more. 

For those of you keeping track, Powell County is number Twenty Three.

Don't give up on us now, we're about to make an unplanned stop in Wolfe County.  See you on the road...

Anderson County

After a long and eventful day, we finally made it to the stop we had been waiting for.  We planned our outing around the Burgoo Festival in Lawrenceburg.  We knew we were going to want to eat while we were there, so we set it up so that we would end up there in the late afternoon.  Mom got her burgoo, but it wasn't all that easy.  I'll fill you in after we cover a little history.

ANDERSON COUNTY BACKGROUND

Anderson County was formed by the Kentucky Legislature in January of 1827 and was the eighty second county formed.  It was created from parts of Franklin, Mercer and Washington Counties.  The county is named for Richard Clough Anderson, a noted Kentucky legislator, U.S. Congressman and  minister to Columbia.  The City of Lawrenceburg serves as the county seat.

While doing research for this post, I have not been able to find much history on Anderson County, but I have found several "claims to fame".  The first of which is, it is the home of Wild Turkey Bourbon.  Wild Turkey has a heritage that goes back over 150 years.  The cantilever railroad bridge running into the distillery was built in 1889 is known as Young's High Bridge  and is one of the oldest still in use in the country.

Four Roses Bourbon, established in 1888, is also produced in Anderson County. 

The City of Lawrenceburg and Anderson County were the sets for several scenes in the well known 1967 film The Flim-Flam Man.  The infamous courthouse scene was filmed at the Anderson County Courthouse.

OUR VISIT

Well, we planned our entire day around the Burgoo Festival.  We finally made our way to Lawrenceburg after seeing 3 other counties earlier in the day.  Mom had talked about getting burgoo all day long!  The entire Lawrenceburg downtown was set up for the festival.  Main Street had lots of different vendors while a parallel street had all the food vendors and there were rides and games set up in a small park.  We wound our way around taking it all in before we comitted to buying anything.  The bad news, we only found one vendor that was selling burgoo!

As you can imagine, after seeing what burgoo is, the boys had NO interest in eating any.  So, mom and I got a bowl to share and the boys got roasted corn on the cob and a hot dog.  We found a spot to sit down and made quick work of the bowl.  It was really good, we were just hoping to sample several different kinds.  But it wasn't in the stars.  After we finished eating, we let the boys play a few games, in the carnival area and then it was time to head home.  Had we known we weren't going to sample several different varieties, we probably would have reversed our route and stopped in Anderson County first.

Even though we were a little disappointed in our meal, the over all trip was good.  We had had a very interesting day, and learned quite a bit of history.  We had already started planning our next outing.  Our plan is to head a little southeast.  Keep an eye out for us!

See you on the road...