Historical Markers...

Those of you that live in and/or have travelled around Kentucky are familiar with the the bronze highway markers that seem to pop up everywhere.  What we have found on our journey so is, they are full of amazing facts and information about local history.  Of course for us trying to see all 120 counties in 12 short months there is no way we can see all of the markers. 

Having enjoyed reading all the ones we've seen, I started wondering if there was a website that lists them all.  And sure enough, there is.  It is maintained by the Kentucky Historical Society.  Follow this link to visit the page for yourself.  It lists all the markers in the state.  You can sort them by county, keyword or category.  Not only does it give you the title, but it also has all the information printed on the marker as well.

If you're interested in Kentucky History or the history of your local county, this site is a great place to begin you research.

Nicholas County

It's come to my attention that I'm not numbering our visits and some of you are having a hard time keeping up with the count.  So, going forward I will let you know what number we are on, with each new post.  That being said, Nicholas County is number 15.  Like every other trip on this journey, where we know we are going to see multiple counties, one or two have to have a shortened visit.  Like I've said numerous times already, time is our enemy.  On this trip, Nicholas County was the unlucky one.  Primarily because it is a neighbor of ours and it is so easy to go back there anytime.  I'll tell you all about our visit after a little background.

NICHOLAS COUNTY BACKGROUND

Nicholas County was formed in 1799 from Bourbon and Mason Counties.  I was the forty-second county formed in the Commonwealth.  The county was named after Colonel George Nicholas a Revolutionary War veteran and "Father of the Kentucky Constitution".   Nicholas County is located on the Northeast edge of the Bluegrass Region and the City of Carlisle has served as the county seat since 1816.  Prior to that it had been located in Lower Blue Lick and then moved to Ellisville in 1805 where there was a log courthouse.

The first settlement in Nicholas County was near Blue Lick Springs which is now in Robertson County.  The spring water from this area was world renown in the mid-1800's. I will discuss more about Blue Licks when we make a trip into Robertson County.

One of the notable attractions in Nicholas County, is the Clay Wildlife Management Area.  This is a 5,000 acre wildlife reserve that offer hunting, fishing and hiking and primitive camping all year round.  It is run by the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Department.  Another well known spot is Lake Carnico.  Carnico is a 150 acre lake that offers boating, fishing and an 18 hole golf course.  Finally, you can see Daniel Boone's last residence in Kentucky.  It is a small cabin at the intersection of U.S. 68 and Highway 36.

OUR VISIT

Like I said before our visit to Nicholas County was short, but we were able to see a couple of pretty neat things.  First of all, we headed out to Lake Carnico.  The boys had never been there and I have dozens of great memories of spending time there.  A good friend of mines family owns a cabin on the lake and I spent many a night there during my late teens and early twenties.  It's great place to fish, canoe or just hang out.  If you've never spent time at Carnico I highly recommend it. 

After we left Carnico, we headed into Carlisle.  I love the "town square" in Carlisle.  The streets are wide and everything faces the courthouse.  We spent quite a bit of time at the courthouse where we read all the historical markers that are on the grounds.  There is also an old weapon displayed at the courthouse as well.  Roadkill couldn't help himself and jumped right in the barrell and wanted his picture taken.

As we headed out of town, towards Fleming County, we saw something that seems to be dying away.  I remember as kid, everywhere you went "out in the coutry" the was a barn painted with an advertisement, like; "See Rock City", "Mail Pouch Tobacco", etc.  Although we still see them occaisionally, we saw one on Highway 32 that made us stop and take a picture.

Next stop Fleming County...

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...

Pendleton County

It seems like it has been forever since I set down here and posted something.  Time is the enemy even when we aren't on the road.  I can't seem to find time to write. 

But we finally made it out on Sunday afternoon over Labor Day weekend.  The problem is we didn't really get out of town until after 2:00 pm, so we started out short on time.  But we managed to get two counties in.  The first stop was up US 27 in Pendleton County.  I'll fill you in after we cover a little background.

PENDLETON COUNTY BACKGROUND

Pendleton County was formed in 1798 by act of the Kentucky General Assembly from parts of Bracken and Campbell Counties.  The county was named for Edmund Pendleton a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, the Continental Congress and Chief justice of Virginia. 

Falmouth is the largest city and the county seat. The city was founded where the South and Main Forks of the Licking River meet.  As a result, Falmouth has been known for its natural disasters.  Major damage was done to the cities of Falmouth and Butler when the river flooded 19 feet above flood stage in April of 1964.  Then in March of 1968 a large tornado caused extensive damage totaling nearly $7 million.  The worst devestation took place in the flood of March 1997.  That year, the river crested at 52 feet which is 24 feet above flood stage.  This left nearly 80% of the city under water.  In that disaster, five people lost their lives and over 600 homes were flooded.

Falmouth is known as the landing spot for Colonel Henry Byrd of the British army.  Col. Byrd commanded British, French and Indian force numbering close to 600 as they marched Ruddle's Station in Bourbon and Harrison Counties.

Pendleton County was one of the first counties in the Commonwealth to raise tobacco.  It was a heavy burley known as twist-bud and was used for chewing and snuff.

The Falmouth Outlook has been serving Pendleton County since 1907.  You can visit their website here.

The county is also home to Kincaid Lake and Kincaid Lake State Resort Park.

OUR VISIT

The first thing we did was visit a subdivision that some friends of mine developed in the mid 1980's.  Nothing really exciting to see there, just wanted to point it out to mom and the boys.  After that, we headed downtown Falmouth.  We spent some time checking out the courthouse and the surrounding square.  It is laid out differently than any other county seat we have visited so far.  It's very unique and has several different monuments and memorials there.

When we vere finished downtown we took a drive over one of the small bridges across the Licking River.  The problem was, it had us going the wrong way, so we turned around and headed back towards US 27.  We had a date to keep in Campbell County.

A little planning

Last weekend, we had every intention of visiting at least 3 counties.  The plan was, to head east.  But we ended up heading west.

West on I-64 until we reached the Kentucky State Fair.  For those of you that don't know, the State Fair hosts an exhibit they call "Main Street".  This year, 67 counties were represented.  So we had the opportunity to get information on 67 of Kentucky's counties.  We had a good time and met a lot of nice mpeople that we will try to look up on our travels.  Several of the counties went out their way to offer us ideas on what to do when we visited.  Some even gave us ideas that were not on the "beaten path".  We found out things to do in some places that only locals know about.

So, while we got a little behind because we didn't visit any counties, we now have the information we need to do some much needed planning.  But look at the mess of information we ended up with.

I do have one question, though.  Should we count the State Fair as our visit to Jefferson Couny? (By the way, my vote is NO.)

See you on the road...

Some thoughts after getting thru the first 12...

It's not taken long for us to learn a few lessons and to figure out just how the 120 in 12 is going to go.  We started this journey on August 1 and have to be finished by July 31, 2011.  In twenty one days, we have seen twelve counties out of one hundred and twenty.  I'm glad we have gotten off on such a good start, because life is about to slow us down.  School has started, soccer has started and basketball isn't that far off.  Our time is really going to be limited and we won't be able to see counties in groups of four or five like we have been.  The problem is, we have to average 10 counties a month.  Thats 2.5 per week and with all that is going on till the end of the year, we will be lucky to average 2 per week.  If that ends up being the case, we will be way behind by the first of the year.  But never fear, we will persevere and get through them all!  The map above shows the counties we have visited so far.

I'm not sure our rules for this project have been completely laid out, I will list them here, so as you read our posts you will know why we may have done what we did.

1. Put our feet on the ground in all 120 Kentucky Counties in 12 months time.
2. We don't have to visit anything in particular, just visit the county.
3. Take a few pictures to record our visit.

4. Lastly, we have to learn something we did not know about the county.

Pretty simple rules.  The down side is, some counties will really be shorted because of the time factor and others will see a lot more of us because there is so much to do or we have had something recommened to us.

If you've been reading all of our posts, I have been listing some of the issues we have faced so far.  The biggest issue is time.  Although it's not one of the rules, we want to take the road less traveled and avoid the Interstates or major highways as much as possible.  This truly allows us to see the counties we are visiting.  Unfortunately, traveling takes a little longer on these roads.

The other issue I have notice is, the first county we visit on a multiple county day gets the longest visit.  By the time we reach our last county we are out of time and have stop, look around, take a picture and head home.  Hopefully we will get better at planning our trips and distribute our time more evenly.  This will be a neccesity with the limited time we are going to have over the next few months.  My guess is, we will be making some short nearby county trips in the evenings to help keep our average up.

The last "problem" is the amount of time it takes to research the background info on each county.  I have up to two hours of writing time in each post.  A few of them are under an hour but the average is probably about 90 minutes.  I have to figure out how to become a better researcher.

Those are about all the issues we have experienced.  And those issues pale in comparison to the time we have spent together and the things we have learned.  I would rank this as some of the best Family Time we have ever had.

Just a few thoughts on the counties we have visited so far.  I have traveled a lot more than mom and the boys, so I have been to several of the places we have visited and will visit.  But there are a few that I had not been to and some things that have stood out to me.

One of the first things that comes to mind is, I had no idea there was a Federal Prison in McCreary County.  I had never been to the University of the Cumberlands campus.  I have been to Bell County and the Cumberland Gap, but I did not know that Middlesboro was built entirely in a meterorite crater.  Like I mentioned in my Laurel County post, I had eaten at the original Kentucky Fried Chicken before, but didn't mind doing it again with the boys.  That place is rightfully a National Landmark.  KFC is a huge part of American pop culture.  Living in Central Kentucky I have heard of Bybee Pottery and have even owned a piece, but had never been there.  I never realized the long history that they have.  What can I say about Rabbit Hash?  We loved it there!  It's places like that we wished we had more time.  Then there was the Jackass Farm.  How do we ever beat that?

Don't take it as these are the only places we have liked.  In fact, we have enjoyed each and every stop.  You'll notice on the right side of the page an ever growing list of places we will return to when this is all over.  I'm afraid by the time this over, that list will be over 100 items long.  This project could go on for years!

I hope all of you are enjoying this as much as we are.  I encourage you to sign up and follow the 120 in 12.  The response we have gotten so far has been amazing.  Everyone wants to know where we've been and where we are headed next.  I can't speak for the rest of them, but I love talking about it.  If you have any suggestions on places to visit, places to avoid, places to eat or if you want to join us sometime, please let us know.  For those of you who don't know us, I'm sure you'll recognize Roadkill if you see him.  If you do, come on over and say hello.

See you on the road...

Grant County

We didn't have to go very far from our last stop to make it into Grant County.  All we had to do was walk cross the street.  We opted to drive about a half a mile down the road, but we were still in Jonesville, the Grant County side.

Like I've said before the early counties get the long visits and the late counties get the short ones.  I'll tell you all about it once we cover the background.

GRANT COUNTY BACKGROUND

Grant County was formed by an act of the Kentucky Legislature in February 1820 and was the sixty seventh county formed in the Commonwealth.  The county was named for two brothers John and Samuel Grant from North Carolina.  Today, the county seat is Williamstown which was established in 1822.  The town was originally 25 square miles laid out in one-quarter acre lots.  A fire destroyed almost all of the buildings on Main Street in 1856.  County Judge O.P. Morgan traveled Central Kentucky raising fund to rebuild the city. 

I have to stop for a second and confess that the research for the background/history of each county we visit takes quite a bit of time.  I have to sort through all the information, decide what should be included in my post and then put it together in a way that makes some sort of sense.  I have learned quite a bit of information by going through this process.  But when researching Grant County I found something that truly stood out.  In 1876 the United States Congress asked every town and county in the country to write their histories and read them aloud on July 4, 1876 as Centennial celebration.  First off, I had never heard of this so I was surprised when I found Grant County's published online.  If you have further interest in the history of Grant County I recommend you follow this link and read the account written by R.H. Elliston in 1876.

OUR VISIT

We left the Jonesville Store which is in Owen County drove a few blocks and stopped at the Jonesville Park which is in Grant County.  This made our "family" adventure complete for the day, since we had been to Rabbit Hash and Jonesville.

Of course Roadkill wasn't going to let us get out of there without visiting the Williamstown.  Luckily for him we had to go that direction to hit the Interstate.  So we jumped on Highway 38 and headed on into town.

Williamstown is laid out a little differently than most of the other towns we have visited so far.   The streets come into downtown at an angle.  It's a unique design.  The next thing I know we find ourselves at the courthouse.  We take a few minutes to look around and snap a few pictures.  As always, time was working against us, so it was time to head towards home.

We had a full day!  We had seen several unique site and learned a few bits of information that we didn't know.  On the way home we already started planning the next outing.  If all goes well, we will travel east next weekend.  See you on the road.

Owen County

After a filling lunch at Jewell's on Main in Gallitin County we headed down Highway 35 towards Owen County.  We only knew of one thing we wanted to see for sure when we got there but decided to head into Owenton too.  Part of the fun of this odyssey is driving and seeing where the car takes us next.  As soon as we cover the background, I'll tell you all about our visit.

OWEN COUNTY BACKGROUND

Owen County was formed in 1819 from portions of Scott County, Gallatin County and Franklin County.  The county was named for Colonel Abraham Owen.  Colonel Owen was a member of the Kentucky Legislature and was the first Kentuckian to serve under General William Henry Harrison.

Owen County was the 62nd county formed in Kentucky.  The county seat is the city of Owenton.  However the original county seat was the city of Hesler but was moved to Owenton in 1822.

During the Civil War, the county leaned toward the Confederacy and they operated two recruiting camp there.  Although many resident joined the cause, there were no organized battles fought there.

Elk Creek Vineyards is located in Owen County and is the largest winery in the Commonwealth.  Elk Creek was opened in 2003 and offers a deli, an art gallery, a gift shop, live entertainment and a B&B.

OUR VISIT

Like I said before we had only one thing on our list for Owen County and that was to visit Jonesville.  After looking at the map though, to get to the road that took us there, we were only going to be about 5 miles from Owenton, so why not stop?
So stop we did, after waiting for about 200 motorcycles to pull out in front of us on some sort of poker run.  After we got moving again, we went straight downtown and found the courthouse.  Roadkill always wants to see those for some reason.  Needless to say that is where we usually end up.  We didn't really do much else while we were there, other than check out the downtown.  Unfortunately we didn't have much time.  We really want to see Elk Creek Vineyard but the clock was ticking.  Looks like we have another gotta back item.

After we left Owenton, we wound our way out County Road 36 towards Jonesville.  It is a great scenic drive.  For a couple of mile the road run along a ridgetop and you can see for miles.  When we finally got to Jonesville, we stop at the little store to get something to drink.  We knew we were headed to Grant County next, so I ask the girl working in the store how close we were.  She said you'll be in Grant County as soon as you cross that yellow line in the road.  It turns out Jonesville is half in Owen County and half in Grant.  We spent a few minutes on the Owen County side then headed on into Grant County.  Follow me on over to the next page and I'll tell you all about it.

Gallatin County

Like I said in our last post, we got behind from the very start on this trip. I had no choice but to shift it into high gear and get us to Gallatin County.  We took US 42 out of Boone County, which is not the straightest road I've ever been on.  But we saw some great sites along the way. I guess I would have fit right in at the Kentucky Speedway, as fast as we got there.  Before I tell you all about it, we'll cover a little background.

GALLATIN COUNTY BACKGROUND

Gallatin County was established in 1798.  It was the Commonwealth's 31st county and was formed from parts of Franklin and Shelby Counties and is situated in northern Kentucky along the Ohio River.  Over the years, parts of Gallatin County were carved off to create three other counties, Owen County in 1819, Trimble County in 1836 and Carroll County in 1838.  After these reductions, Gallatin County today is only one tenth of its original size. Today, Warsaw is the county seat, it was originally founded as Fredericksburg.

During the early nineteenth century,  there was a brisk river trade route between Gallatin County and New Orleans.  Producers shipped numerous products from there, including soap, hemp, furs, produce and salt pork, to name a few.  Although there are large sand and limestone deposits in the area, agriculture remained the primary economic resource.  As late as 1987, over 80% of land in the county was used for agricultural purposes.

Gallatin County was also a hotbed of activity during the Civil War.  There were several skirmishes within its borders.  It has been reported that in September of 1864 George M. Jesse and his Confederate troops controlled Gallatin as well as a few other Kentucky Counties.

In December of 1868 one of the worst steamboat accidents in history happened near Warsaw.  Two separate passenger steamers, The America and the United States collided in the middle of the night.  The America rammed the United States setting the kerosene it was carrying on fire.  Flames consumed both boats and spread over the surface of the river.  One hundred sixty two people lost their lives in this tragedy as well as over $350,000 worth of property.

As time moved on, river trade began to decrease and the age of the riverboat was gone.  Today though, Interstate 71 runs through Gallatin County, connecting Cincinnati and Louisville. 

In 1956 the Army Corps of Engineers began construction on the Markland Lock and Dam, that connects Gallatin County with Switzerland County in Indiana.  The dam was placed in operation in 1959 and was completely finished in 1964.  Today, Duke Energy operates an 81,000 kVA electric generating facility at the dam.

One of the biggest draws to Gallatin County has to be the Kentucky Speedway.  It is located just off of I-71 in Sparta.  The track opened in 2000 and will finally host a NASCAR Sprint Cup Race in July of 2011.  As of today, construction has begun to expand the facility and add 50,000 more seats.

OUR VISIT

The first stop on our visit to Gallatin County was the Kentucky Speedway.  As luck would have it and like several other stops on the 120 in 12, the track was closed and we could only see from the road.  We did however drive around the perimeter to get a good look at the facilities.  With the announcement of the NASCAR race next year, the construction work has already started. 

Because we were running behind, we were going to let that be our only stop in Gallatin County, but gawking at the racetrack and stopping to take pictures every few hundred yards, we made a wrong turn.  So we headed on into Warsaw, and man are we glad we did.  It is a quaint little town of just over 1,800 people.


We headed straight downtown and parked.  I got out to take a picture of the Courthouse, when this guy came up to me, laughed and said, you know all pictures are $5.  We had a good laugh and I asked him if there was any where good to eat nearby.  It was lunchtime after all.  He said there sure is, it's right behind you, and they should open in about 5 minutes.  So we walked around downtown and took a few more pictures, while we waited for Jewell's on Main to open.

Jewell's on Main was your typical small town diner/restaurant stepped up a level or two.  I guess you could call it more of a casual dining restaurant.  I had the catfish, mom had the chicken salad and z had chicken strips.  None of us had any complaints.  It was just good old home cooking.  Mom and z also shared an order of fried green tomatoes.  The decor was very simple but otherwise appealing.  If I have one complaint, it would be that we weren't greeted real warmly.  We were obviously "strangers" in town, by the looks we were getting.  I was hoping the owner would come out and introduce himself, but he never did.  Other than that I would give the place two thumbs up.  If you ever find yourself in Warsaw, Kentucky I would recommend stopping by Jewell's on Main for lunch or dinner.

After taking an hour for lunch, we were really running out of time fast!  I had every intention of getting us to a total of 12 counties by the end of the day if it killed us.  So, we scooted out of town down Hwy 35 towards Owenton in Owen County.  Stick around and we'll see you there.

Boone County

What a day we had on Saturday!  We got started a little later than we had planned, but had a great time nonetheless.  No one seemed to want to get out of bed on time except for mom.  Then, when we got out of the house we realized we had left Roadkill at home, so we had to go back and get him.  Good thing too, he had a good time this weekend as well.  He was jumping in pictures everywhere we stopped.  Our first stop was in Boone County.  I can't wait to tell you about it, but first we have to cover the history.

BOONE COUNTY HISTORY

Boone County was established in 1799 after the Kentucky Legislature approved its forming in 1798.  At that time less than 200 men owned all the land in the county.  The county is located in the largest bend in the Ohio River and has over 42 miles of waterfront along the Ohio to the north and west.  Historically, Boone County's economy has been driven by agriculture with such crops as tobacco, soybeans, corn and livestock.  However, with the construction of the airport in the late '40s and I-75 in the late '60s, Boone County has seen the addition of other industries.  The county was named for frontiersman Daniel Boone and the county seat is Burlington.  There are several other well known cities located throughout the county, including Florence, Hebron, Union and Walton.

Boone County is known to be home to several prehistoric sites dating back to 1150 A.D.  The first European likely to have visited the area was a Frenchman who sailed down the Ohio River in 1729.  The area of the map that is now Boone County has an inscription that says "where they found the bones of an elephant".  This eventually led to further exploration of the area that is now Big Bone Lick.  Big Bone Lick is an ancient swamp that had a combination of water and minerals that large prehistoric animals could not resist.  Bones of mammoths, bison, mastodons, stag-moose and giant sloths have been found there.  The specimens that have been obtained from this area are world renowned.

The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is located in Hebron and is the 5th largest Delta Airlines hub in the country.  The airport was completed and saw its first landing in January of 1947, an American Airlines DC-3.  The airport has 4 runways the largest of which is 12,000 feet long.  The airport sees over 247,000 flights annually.  Comair, a division of Delta is based at this airport.

The Florence Mall was opened in 1976.  It is a two-story facility that has seen several renovations over the years.  It currently has 130 tenants and is the largest mall in Northern Kentucky.  The mall is located just off of Interstate 75 and is known for the water tower on the front of the property that says "FLORENCE Y'ALL".

One of the more colorful areas of Boone County is Rabbit Hash.  There are several versions on where the name Rabbit Hash came from.  In one version the name is based on a local legend that says the town was well-known on the Ohio as having great rabbit hash and was often visited by river travelers.  The legend continues that in 1831 a pirate ship docked and entered the town and killed all the residents and burned all the buildings.  The next steamboat to stop for hash saw a 3 foot sign that said Rabbit Hash on the only building left standing, so they thought it was the name of the town.  Since the town is currently unincorporated, the exact boundaries are unknown.  Because of the this, the population is estimated between 4 and 40.  Its also fun to note, the residents elected a dog as mayor in 1998.  They have even made a movie about it, Rabbit Hash: The Center of the Universe.

OUR VISIT

The first place we visited was the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.  We have been there several times but we thought it would be a good place to start and work our way back towards home.  Since I have flown out of there a few times, we decided to visit the airplane viewing area off of Donaldson Road.  We set there and watched the planes land for a few minutes and took a few pictures as well.  There is a Historical Marker there that says the Center of the US population was in that spot in 1880.  The population at that time was over 49.3 million.

We knew we wanted to go to Rabbit Hash, since moms maiden name is Hash.  So when we left the airport we headed back through Florence towards Rabbit Hash.  We had to go back into town, because one of the boys needed some allergy medicine.  So we had to stop by Wal-Mart.  I  haven't mentioned it before, but this is not the first Wal-Mart stop on the 120 in 12.  I think that mom and the boys have another plan on top of the 120 in 12.  I think they are trying to see every Wal-Mart in the state as well.  Anyway, on our way, we passed Turfway Park.  One of the boys asked what it was, so we told them it was a racehorse track and decided to stopped for a picture.  Of course Roadkill had to jump right in it.  Then as we were trying to get out of town, z sees a factory where they make Airheads and mentos.  Naturally he wanted a picture of that too.  So we went back and snapped a quick one.

From there, we jumped on Highway 18 and got off on Lower River Road and followed the Ohio River for several miles, until we reached Rabbit Hash.  The turn off is marked with a sign denoting its listing on the National Historic Register.  We loved this place as soon as we rounded the corner.  It's a collection of maybe a half a dozen buildings, including the Rabbit Hash General Store, The Old Hashienda, an antique store and a few other buildings.   We visited the General Store and spent half an hour looking around and talking with who I assume was the owner, Teri.  We talked about the store and she told the boys a few secrets and we told her about our 120 in 12 adventure.  She loved it and asked if she could have her picture taken with Roadkill.  Of course, we obliged.  This is one of the places we decided we needed a souvenir from, so we picked a few things. We spent a few more minutes looking around "town" and taking a few more pictures.  They even had a his and hers public outhouse.  We could have stayed there all day, but the road was calling and we had at least 3 more counties to see.

We left Rabbit Hash going up Rabbit Hash Hill Road.  We hadn't driven very far, when I saw a sign and surprised at what it said.  I thought there is no way there is really such a place.  I thought I might wreck from laughing.  So we turned around and went back.  Sure enough, it said exactly what I thought it did.  If we hadn't had any photo opportunities up to this point, we had one now!  I'm of the opinion this might be one of the most unique things we will see on the 120 in 12.  Yes, that's right, it is a Jackass Farm.

As we were headed out of Boone County towards Gallatin County, we happened to drive by Big Bone Lick State Park.  Mom and I had visited there several years ago for a cookout with friends, but the boys had never been, so again we made a quick stop.  We were there just long enough for Roadkill to get his picture taken again.

I've already started to see another pattern emerging.  The County that is the first one on the list for the day gets the longest visit.  We had planned on the airport and Rabbit Hash, but ended up with four other stops.  Now we were really running behind.  Good thing we were on our way to The Kentucky Speedway, because I was flying!