The first 12...

This is the first of 10 different videos from our travels.  I hope to post a video after every 12 counties we visit.

Whitley County

Our first stop this weekend was Whitley County.  The main stop on this trip was Cumberland Falls.  We decided to take a little more time here, since it is such a unique place.  But Whitley County also has some interesting history.

WHITLEY COUNTY HISTORY

Whitley County was formed in January of 1818, when it was seperated from Knox County.  The county was named after William Whitley, noted pioneer and indian fighter.  The intial plans for the city of Williamsburg, were layed out in June of 1818.  Williamsburg still serves as the county seat today.

Whitley County's growth was very slow during the first 50 or so years.  However, after the Civil War, it started to grow very quickly with communities springing up all over the county.

In 1883, the L&N Railroad completed it's line through Whitley County.  This has changed the make-up of the county ever since.  This allowed industry to grow and expand, as they could easily ship goods in and out.  The first booming industries were lumber and coal.
 

Cumberland College, now known as the University of the Cumberlands was formed in 1888.  It was the idea of 18 Baptist Churches from the Mount Zion Association.    The story of this university is so long and interesting that I could never fit it all in here.  If you haven't followed any of the links I have provided, I encourage you to follow this one.  I have visited numerous college campuses and there are very few as nice as Cumberland.  It sets on 70 acres and has 34 buildings and two sports complexes and has an endowment approaching $57 million.

 

Whitley County is also home to Kentucky Splash, a full service water park.  It has an 18,000 sq ft wave pool, a lazy river, a kiddie pool, multiple slides, mini-golf, batting cages and a lot more.

OUR VISIT

Like I mentioned earlier, we started our visit to Whitley County at Cumberland Falls.  It is the widest falls south of Niagra.  Cumberland Falls became a State Park at 1:30 pm on August 21, 1931 under the direction of Dr. Willard Rouse Jillson, who served as Kentucy's first director of parks.  Cumberland Falls is one of only two waterfalls in the world that create the effect of a Moonbow.  A moonbow is created during a full moon when the sky is clear. A "bow" is created from the base of the falls to spot downstream.  It is said you have to travel to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe to have this same experience.

Cumberland Falls truly is a natural wonder that we are blessed to have right here in Kentucky.  It has been visited by millions of people from all over the world.  If you've never had the opportunity to visit.  This is one place we highly recommend.

After we left the falls, we headed over to the University of the Cumberlands campus.  Just like in Georgetown, the school was still on summer break and there were no students around and the buildings were all closed.  But we enjoyed walking around and seeing the sites.  Roadkill seemed to like it too.

Since campus is so close to downtown, we headed over there next.  We walked around for a few minutes checking out all we could, on a Sunday afternoon.  The county is in the process of building a new judicial center across from the current courthouse.

 We had a great visit to Whitley County.  There is so much to do, this is one of those places we will definately visit again.

Roadkill

On our way through the great state of Tennessee, we came upon this lonely critter with the cutest little button nose and fuzzy striped tail. He said his name was Roadkill and he was looking for a ride. We told him we were the Jones family and that we were going.....well, just about everywhere! Everywhere around Kentucky, that is. We explained our 120 in 12 project to him and he begged to come along, saying he'd never been to Kentucky. He said he'd heard all about the horses, mountains, lakes, parks, college campuses, great food and good times Kentucky is known for and that BLUE was a much better color for him than ORANGE and he begged to come along.....mumbled something about it being his destiny and that we had to take him. What could we do? We felt like it was meant to be that Roadkill would become part of this adventure, so we agreed to let him come along. Turns out, he's a great road companion, but tries to worm his way into all the pictures! Sooooo........be watching for Roadkill the Raccoon in our 120 in 12!

What z thinks

I want to see all the things Kentucky has to offer and all the fascinating things that we have never seen. For example I hope to see things like Cumberland Falls, Mammoth Cave and all the State Parks. I love to take pictures, I will be taking pictures of everywhere we go. I will probably share some of them here.

I'm glad I get to do this with my family. I'm also glad I get to do this because I think it will be good experiences that I can remember for a long time. I think this is something that I will eventually be able to tell my kids about. I hope this will lead us to be able to travel to other states more and see all the things they have to offer and maybe even to other countries.

moms take on Project 120 in 12

My hope for this project is that our kids will learn some interesting facts about the state they live in......I want them to taste Kentucky, smell it, touch it and see it. I want this to be something they remember forever. I want to take pictures and make memories. I want them to learn to appreciate the beauty God has blessed us with in this great state....and I want it to be fun! I know some of this will be lost on them now, that the process may become dull and boring at times, but I hope they can recall this as they grow older with smiles, happy memories and historical facts. Who knows, maybe this could spark an interest to see more of the world in this same way for us and the kids. I want "My Old Kentucky Home" to mean something......

Here's the list...

For those of you that don't know them all, here is an alphabetical list of all 120:

1. Adair


2. Allen


3. Anderson


4. Ballard


5. Barren


6. Bath


7. Bell


8. Boone


9. Bourbon


10. Boyd


11. Boyle


12. Bracken


13. Breathitt


14. Breckinridge


15. Bullitt


16. Butler


17. Caldwell


18. Calloway


19. Campbell


20. Carlisle


21. Carroll


22. Carter


23. Casey


24. Christian


25. Clark


26. Clay


27. Clinton


28. Crittenden


29. Cumberland


30. Daviess


31. Edmonson


32. Elliott


33. Estill


34. Fayette


35. Fleming


36. Floyd


37. Franklin


38. Fulton


39. Gallatin


40. Garrard


41. Grant


42. Graves


43. Grayson


44. Green


45. Greenup


46. Hancock


47. Hardin


48. Harlan


49. Harrison


50. Hart


51. Henderson


52. Henry


53. Hickman


54. Hopkins


55. Jackson


56. Jefferson


57. Jessamine


58. Johnson


59. Kenton


60. Knott


61. Knox


62. Larue


63. Laurel


64. Lawrence


65. Lee


66. Leslie


67. Letcher


68. Lewis


69. Lincoln


70. Livingston


71. Logan


72. Lyon


73. Madison


74. Magoffin


75. Marion


76. Marshall


77. Martin


78. Mason


79. McCracken


80. McCreary


81. McLean


82. Meade


83. Menifee


84. Mercer


85. Metcalfe


86. Monroe


87. Montgomery


88. Morgan


89. Muhlenberg


90. Nelson


91. Nicholas


92. Ohio


93. Oldham


94. Owen


95. Owsley


96. Pendleton


97. Perry


98. Pike


99. Powell


100. Pulaski


101. Robertson


102. Rockcastle


103. Rowan


104. Russell


105. Scott


106. Shelby


107. Simpson


108. Spencer


109. Taylor


110. Todd


111. Trigg


112. Trimble


113. Union


114. Warren


115. Washington


116. Wayne


117. Webster


118. Whitley


119. Wolfe


120. Woodford

The "how" and the "why"...

I've lived in Kentucky my entire life and there are still about 25 or 30 counties I have never been to. All that is about to change! My hope is that, along with my wife and 2 boys we are able to visit all 120 counties in the next 12 months. Unfortunately we have to work for a living and are going to have to do most of this over the weekends. So, if we are able to hit the road every weekend, we will have to see 2.5 counties a week. And being a realist, I know that isn't ging to happen. That being the case, in some of them, we will only be able to cross the county line and call it being there. Once our "12" is over we'll try to go back and hit the ones we didn't get to spend a lot of time in.

After we have been there, I will post a short biography on the county along with a link to their local Tourism Commission or Chamber of Commerce as well as a few pictures and a short commentary on what we did. With a little luck, my wife and oldest son with have a short post on each county as well.

Wish us luck, and if you have any suggestions on What we should do in a certain county, please leave a comment and let us know and we will do our best to check it out.