Products

African Americans have lived in Boyle County, Kentucky, since the first settlement of the area in 1775. Mostly enslaved, by the Civil War, the county had one of the largest population of free Blacks in the area with the exception of Jefferson and Fayette Counties.

Their presence in Danville, the county seat, but also in population centers scattered throughout the county resulted in a deep and broad influence, much of which was lost in the early 1900s due to out-migration, deaths, and especially urban renewal between 1963 and 1975. Within Danville, the South Second Street area was the heart of the Black community. Restaurants, groceries, pool halls, barbershops, and beauty shops were the center of commerce from the 1890s until the 1970s. The Bate School also drew students from the outlying settlements that did not have high schools of their own. Today, the majority of the African American community continues to live in the city of Danville, with small pockets in Perryville and outlying areas of Boyle County.

Michael Thomas Hughes is a native of Boyle County and grew up in a segregated society. Michael J. Denis is a retired history teacher from Maine who moved to Boyle County and immediately fell in love with its history. The photographs in this book are mostly from the Danville Boyle County African American Historical Society Inc. collection (DBCAAHS), of which the authors are charter members.

Boonesborough is one of America's most historic and scenic places. In the spring of 1775, legendary frontiersman Daniel Boone led a party of settlers to this place on the Kentucky River. They erected Fort Boonesborough as headquarters for Richard Henderson's Transylvania Company. The fort withstood a siege by 400 Shawnee Indians in 1778. Two years before, the Indians had captured the daughters of Boone and Richard Callaway; Boone himself led a party on the girls' successful rescue. The year 1779 saw establishment of the Boonesborough ferry, the first in Kentucky, which continued in operation until replaced by a bridge in 1931. In 1905, the US Army Corps of Engineers erected a lock and dam at Boonesborough. A breaching of the dam uncovered a luxurious sand beach that became a beacon for visitors and a focal point of the Boonesboro Beach Resort, established in 1909. The resort was replaced by Fort Boonesborough State Park in 1965. That same decade saw Fess Parker bring Boonesborough to national recognition with his popular television series Daniel Boone . With the opening of the replica fort at the state park, visitors now have an opportunity to take a walk back in history--a journey to the western frontier of 1775.

Named for Revolutionary general Nathanael Greene, Kentucky's Green River begins a 384-mile journey at its source near Kings Mountain in Lincoln County, flowing through the Pennyroyal and Western Coal Field regions until its confluence with the Ohio River in Henderson County. Throughout the 1800s, the Green River was a lifeline for valley residents, both in obtaining supplies or transporting products to cities along the Ohio River and destinations as far as New Orleans. Flatboats moved lime, coal, tobacco, and whiskey out of the valley, while rafts of logs were floated to Evansville sawmills. In the 1830s, a series of locks and dams were built on the Green River, permanently raising water levels that finally allowed larger paddle wheel steamers to begin plying upstream, transporting passengers and freight into the river's upper reaches. Referred to as the "era of steamboating," these magnificent boats were numerous until the last of the fleet, the Evansville, burned in 1931. Today, commercial towboats continue moving numerous products along the lower segment of the river, while the upper portion of the river is known as the fourth-most diverse aquatic ecosystem in the United States, making it a destination for outdoor enthusiasts from across the country.

Kentucky bourbon is world-renowned, and the distilling of this corn-based liquor has deep roots in almost every corner of the state. Hundreds of distilleries dotted the landscape, beginning with the early settlements until 1920, when the vast majority were closed because of Prohibition. Many of the distilleries never reopened and became "lost," with only old photographs left to tell this story of dedicated craftsmanship. In some cases, distilleries reopened during a "bourbon boom" when Prohibition finally ended in 1933, only to falter a few decades later. Some of those distilleries were sold and portions of the properties, like warehouses, reused by the new owner. Despite everything, bourbon distilling remains a major industry in the state--and a world-famous icon for Kentucky. Kentucky's Lost Bourbon Distilleries is dedicated to the many people who worked at distilleries that may be "lost" but are not forgotten.

In 1790, when the pioneer settlement of Lexington, Kentucky, was still concerned with hostile attacks by Native Americans, the Lexington Fire Company was formed by volunteers to protect against fires.

The company was the first fire department west of the Allegheny Mountains. The first horseless fire engines were purchased in 1911, while the last horse-drawn hose wagon was retired in 1926. During 1949, under Chief Earl R. McDaniel’s direction, the city began allocating the funds to create a first-class fire department with modern equipment. In 1974, the county fire department was consolidated into the Lexington Fire Department under the merged government. Today, the department operates 24 firehouses, with over 500 sworn firefighters.

William M. Ambrose is a local historian and former chairman of the Lexington History Museum. Foster Ockerman Jr., a Lexington attorney, serves as chief historian at the Lexington History Museum. Authors’ proceeds from this volume will benefit the Firefighter’s Toy Program of the Lexington Fraternal Order of Firefighters.