South

“Honey, if cookin’ is a chore, then you ain’t been doin’ it right.”--author and Lord Honey chef Jason Smith

From Kentucky ’Nanners Foster Waffles to ’Lasses-Glazed Carrots to Sweet Tea and Bourbon Fried Chicken, celebrate the art of “Country Bling” cooking with recipes that will have you digging out the cast-iron skillet and running to the store for some butter. Complete with colorful descriptions, accessible ingredients, simple directions, and helpful tips, this book will teach you everything you need to know about cooking with love. Kentucky born and bred, Lord Honey Chef Jason Smith honors his roots and, at the same time, refashions cherished classics. Enjoy beloved Southern traditions and odes to the homespun—dishes always perfect just the way Granny did it—but with a twist. Some of these recipes have won awards, and others haven’t made it to the competition yet, but all of them are just right for a sit-down with family and friends.

The initial edition of Images of America: The Kentucky Bourbon Trail was published in 2009, and since then, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® tourist attraction has grown to include 10 of the state's largest and most famous distilleries along with members of the new Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour®.

This revised edition contains nearly 100 new images of the bourbon industry, past and present, making it an essential companion for bourbon enthusiasts as they visit the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® distilleries. Along the KBT™, tour guides and exhibits offer visitors a variety of interesting facts and often a taste of this uniquely American spirit. This book offers a look back at some of the pioneers of whiskey distilling, the distilleries that have come and gone, and the history of those brands that carry on the craft today. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail® and Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour® are experiences that rank among Kentucky's most famous and fastest-growing tourism attractions, with over 3 million visits in the last five years

Kentucky's motto may be ""united we stand, divided we fall,"" but during the civil war, brother fought brother to the bitter end.

The Civil War sharply split the Bluegrass State. Kentuckians fought Kentuckians in some of the bloodiest battles of America's bloodiest war. The names and faces of the winning and losing generals of those battles are in most history books. But this book is not like most history books; it is about hidden history. Most of the stories are not found in other books. Some are proof that the Civil War was truly ""a brother's war"" in the home state of Lincoln and Davis. From the Graves County gun grab to pirates in Paducah to dueling gunboats on the Mississippi, this one-of-a-kind collection of little-known tales by Kentucky historian Berry Craig will captivate Civil War enthusiasts and casual readers alike.

On January 19, 1862, Confederate and Union forces clashed in the now-forgotten Battle of Mill Springs.

Armies of inexperienced soldiers chaotically fought in the wooded terrain of south-central Kentucky as rain turned bloodied ground to mud. Mill Springs was the first major Union victory since the Federal disaster of Bull Run. This Union triumph secured the Bluegrass State in Union hands, opening the large expanses of Tennessee for Federal invasion. From General Felix Zollicoffer meeting his death by wandering into Union lines to the heroics of General George Thomas, Civil War historian Stuart Sanders chronicles this important battle and its essential role in the war.

How the Bluegrass State Helped Win a War

While not a single battle of the War of 1812 was fought on Kentucky soil, Kentuckians were involved to the very end. Henry Clay and his War Hawks convinced Congress and President Madison to declare war, and helped negotiate the Treaty of Ghent that ended it. After two massacres of Kentucky militia on the Northwestern front, Governor Isaac Shelby, still the only sitting governor to lead troops into battle, more than 4,000 locals and a pig marched to Canada to defeat the British and kill Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames. Author Doris Dearen Settles explains how Kentuckians won the war of 1812 and why it is far more significant than textbooks record.p/>

Marking the ridgelines and hearts of the Appalachians during the Great Depression, packhorse librarians delivered hope, one book at a time.

When the Great Depression started, folks stumbled on hard times. Many lost their jobs and homes, and they struggled to support their families. But people craved hope for the future, and hope arrived with the packhorse librarians through Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1933. Each week, children, families, and schoolhouses celebrated when their packhorse librarian arrived at their doors with books. After being handled by many cherished hands, reading materials needed to be taken out of circulation. The librarians constructed scrapbooks and filled them with beloved items—recipes, quilt patterns, pictures, and stories. Challenges awaited the librarians at every pass. From muddy creeks to snowy hillsides, the packhorse librarians delivered books and hope to their patrons. Although the program ended in 1943, the lasting effects on literacy and the communities these packhorse librarians visited can still be seen today.

Author Nicki Jacobsmeyer lives in rural Missouri, where she writes fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. She inspires others to discover and dream through reading and believes books are windows to the world. 

The Derby City's Dark Side

Louisville has a long history of violence and murder. Editor Godfrey Pope shot Leonard Bliss over a political joke. A hanged man was allegedly revived with electricity. Josephine Lawrence was a sex worker bent on revenge with unfortunate bad aim. Two locals engaged in a feud that resulted in one man’s death and the other’s marriage to the dead man’s widow. A United States president had a direct descendant arrested for committing a murder near the city. Author Keven McQueen details twenty-four little known homicides that rocked the city from the 1840s to the 1920s.

Go inside the story of the battles for Midle Tennessee in late 1862-63 through letters, reports and memoirs.

After the Battle of Perryville in October 1862, the focus of the Civil War in the West shifted back to Tennessee. The Union Army of the Cumberland regrouped in Nashville, while the Confederate Army of Tennessee camped 30 miles away in Murfreesboro. On December 26 the Federals marched southward and fought a three-day brawl at Stones River with their Confederate counterparts. The Confederates withdrew, and both armies spent the winter and spring harassing each other and regrouping for the next round. In the Confederate camp, dissention corroded the army's high command. The critical engagement at Stones River (by percentage of loss the Civil War's bloodiest battle) and the masterful Tullahoma operation will receive detailed attention in this journey through the historic moment in time.

Take a visual, historic tour of the world's longest known cave system with caving enthusiasts Bob and Judi Thompson.

Mammoth Cave National Park is made up of more than 53,000 acres. The region is characterized by what geologists call karst topography, a landscape dotted with sinkholes and caves. One of America's first tourist attractions, the cave was opened to the public in 1816, and was preceded in popularity only by Niagara Falls. The park was established as a national park on July 1, 1941, a World Heritage Site on October 27, 1981, and an international Biosphere Reserve on September 26, 1990.

The 200 vintage images found in Images of America: Mammoth Cave and the Kentucky Cave Region represent a look back at over 100 years of photography and tourism at Mammoth Cave and other caves that make up the Kentucky Cave Region. Rare images of early transportation, hotels, cave guides, cave tours, as well as important cave discoveries, and cave explorers such as Floyd Collins, are shown throughout the book.

Ercel Ellis Jr. was born into the Thoroughbred horse business and has worked in it for seventy-five years.

He has been an owner, breeder, trainer, writer and radio broadcaster. His radio show, Horse Tales, has run for twenty years. For all his work, he won the Charles W. Engelhard Award for contributions to the industry. During his life, Ercel has amassed a trove of stories on some of the biggest names in Thoroughbred racing, like Mata Hari, Spy Song and world-famous Man o’ War. He also includes stories of lesser-known horses like Dark Mirage, El Chico, Blue Peter and By Jimminy. Join Ercel as he entertains with fascinating stories from more than seven decades with Thoroughbreds.

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.

The railroads and coal industry permanently changed both the economy and culture of Floyd County, Kentucky.

Floyd County, named for Kentucky pioneer John Floyd, was formed in 1799. Originally encompassing all of the Big Sandy River Valley and much of eastern Kentucky, the boundaries included portions of what are now Pike, Martin, Knott, Magoffin, and Johnson Counties. Because of its river access, Floyd County developed earlier than many counties in eastern Kentucky; Prestonsburg, the county seat, became a major river port and center of trade in the region. With the coming of the railroad in 1903 and the coal industry, the county rapidly grew, in no small part thanks to the rapid rise in population due to the migration of white Americans from around the country, European immigrants, and African Americans from southern plantations and coalfields. What had been an agrarian, white population suddenly took on a whole new face, one more reflective of the nation. The history of coal production plays a large role in this book, particularly the Wheelright Coal Camps, but we know how much Kentucky has given to contribute to the story of America.

Located in Northern Kentucky, Newport is a small, historic river town bustling with business in a respectful and developing community. While it is now known for its charm, Newport once had a dark and sinister past known as its Sin City years.

Newport earned its reputation for vice, crime, political corruption, bootlegging, casinos, brothels, and bookie joints early in the city's history. During the Civil War, soldiers stationed at the Newport Barracks were offered entertainment from various saloons and bordellos located in the city. At the turn of the 20th century, John Thompson, a Newport native, invented the Thompson Machine Gun. The tommy gun was made infamous by gangsters during Prohibition. Citizens of Newport, fed up with the city's sordid reputation, eventually banded together to drive out the vice and reclaim their city. After a long struggle, Newport is now a pleasant and enchanting community.

What makes western Kentucky so unique? Sometimes it seems as if the history of this distinctive region lies buried deep within its awe-inspiring cave systems.

Join western Kentucky historian Berry Craig as he penetrates the depths of the region's lesser-known history and brings to light the people, places and events that have shaped Kentucky's west. People like Fate Marable, the Paducah-born jazz innovator whose roving Kentucky Jazz Band featured a young Louis Armstrong. Places like Wheel, the tiny town in Graves County that gave birth to a vice president. And forgotten feuds like the 1900 Christmas Eve shootout in Mayfield that left a deputy dead. These stories, and many others, ensure that western Kentucky's hidden history will no longer linger in the shadows.

A Major Influence in Kentucky Life

Founding Father Thomas Jefferson had a strong but little-known connection with the constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He had personal and politically motivated influence on the 1792 charter and secretly wrote some controversial state resolutions. Author Denis Fleming draws on firsthand accounts from Jefferson, John Breckinridge and the rarely used papers of George Nicholas, the brain behind Kentucky’s first constitution, to uncover a huge influence from these men. He also demonstrates that modern reforms in job creation, education and the structure of government are rooted in parts of the document favored by Jefferson but dramatically interpreted by today’s governors, legislators and judges.

Northern Kentucky serves as the gateway between the North and the South. Explore its many places long-forgotten with Lost Northern Kentucky.

Many of Kentucky’s historic businesses, religious structures, homes and buildings were lost to time. Just after the Civil War, Daniel Henry Holmes purchased a large Victorian-Gothic house he named Holmesdale, better known as Holmes Castle. By the 1890s, the Latonia Racetrackhad two hundred stables to accommodate horses and space for one hundred bookmakers. The Motordromeat the Ludlow Lagoon Amusement Parkhad seating for eight thousand people.

Authors Robert Schrage and David Schroeder detail the fascinating history of Northern Kentucky's lost treasures.

Floyd Collins is perhaps the most famous person you've never heard of, but this young man's tragic death made him celebrated as the Greatest Cave Explorer Ever Known.

Collins was a Kentucky cave explorer in the early part of the 20th century, characterized by his lack of fear when exploring the most difficult cave passages, and few people could match his persistence and endurance. In the winter of 1925, Collins became trapped for more than two weeks in a cave located within the boundaries of what is now Mammoth Cave National Park. The story of Floyd Collins becoming trapped and ultimately dying alone in a cave held a powerful grip on the hearts and minds of people the world over. The resulting media coverage put Mammoth Cave on the map and helped usher the actual designation of Mammoth Cave as a national park. His explorations laid the foundation for others to later discover the truth of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave in the world.

Interesting tales of beauty, progress, intrigue, and murder are chronicled in this volume on Breathitt County, Kentucky.

Settled by English and Scotch-Irish descendants who ventured ""over the mountains"" in search of adventure, land, and fortune, Breathitt County, Kentucky, has a long history. ""Bloody Breathitt"" was the site of a long series of feuds that lasted from the early days of the ""Cattle Wars"" until the 1970s and beyond. Through the years, the city of Jackson and Breathitt County have experienced booms and busts centered on its natural resources, which included salt, timber, oil, and coal. Since its establishment on April 1, 1839, the county has been a place of educational opportunity through community schools, school districts, Lees College, and a vocational school. From its rugged mountain roots filled with feuds to a community working to embrace new technology and the reemergence of timber and coal industries, Breathitt County has always been in transition, and its continued growth must be grounded in a firm understanding of its past.

Join native Kentuckian Deborah Adams Cooper as she retells the rich history of Letcher County using vintage images.

Since 1795, when Peter Whitaker built the first known settlement on what is now Linefork Creek, Letcher Countians have demonstrated the perseverance and fortitude for which Appalachian people are known. The majesty of Pine Mountain in the south of the county or the rare beauty of old-growth forests that became Lilley Cornett Woods must have brought Daniel Boone to seek a paradise in ""Kanta-ke."" Whitesburg and Letcher County have seen their resources of timber, oil, and coal bring growth, as well as decline. With the rise of the coal industry before World War I came a steady flow of Eastern European immigrants who contributed a new and exciting perspective on life, business, and art. It was Italian stonemason John Palumbo Sr. who led other Italians to Whitesburg because the beauty of it reminded him of his home in the Campania region of Southern Italy. The churches, homes, and buildings they established stand in homage to their energy and skill.

The Eerie and Ominous in Kentucky 

Kentucky is no stranger to strange occurrences. From weird encounters with the Grim Reaper to local graveyard dogs, the Bluegrass State has its share of odd stories. Learn about local ghosts who’ve haunted areas for years. Encounter body snatchers and some very odd modes of death. Go on the hunt for Daniel Boone’s bones and witness the marvelous twisting tombstone. Witness the people who uncannily predicted their own death. Author Keven McQueen details these creepy stories and more. 

Immerse yourself in Kentucky’s largest battle, Perryville, with author Christopher Kolakowski. A must-read for Civil War and Kentucky History enthusiasts.

Desperate to seize control of Union-held Kentucky, a border state, the Confederate army launched an invasion into the commonwealth in the fall of 1862. The incursion viciously culminated at an otherwise quiet Bluegrass crossroads and forever altered the landscape of the war.

The Battle of Perryville lasted just one day yet produced nearly eight thousand combined casualties and losses, and some say nary a victor. The Rebel army was forced to retreat, and the United States kept its imperative grasp on Kentucky throughout the war. Famous Confederate diarist Sam Watkins, whose Company Aytch journals were featured as a major narrative thread in Ken Burns’ award-winning Civil War documentary series, declared Perryville the hardest fighting that he experienced. Indeed, history would record that Perryville the second bloodiest battle of the Western Theater after Shiloh.

Few know this hallowed ground like Christopher L. Kolakowski, former director of the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association, who draws on letters, reports, memoirs and other primary sources to offer the most accessible and engaging account of the Kentucky Campaign yet, featuring over sixty historic images and maps.

Over the years, Bobby Mackey's Music World has played host to countless real-life horror stories and a string of criminal activity. Illegal gambling and liquor abounded when it later served as the Bluegrass Inn.

The site has been the location of death and destruction since the nineteenth century, including illegal lynchings and a bridge collapse killing forty-one men. In more recent years, mafia bosses turned it into a mafia-controlled nightclub known as the Latin Quarter. Beginning with the caretaker who fell under a demonic possession to more recent encounters between patrons and the paranormal, author Dan Smith revives the chilling stories that make it the most haunted nightclub in America.

Located in the heart of the famed Bluegrass Region, Woodford County is one of the oldest counties in Kentucky.

Prominent citizens met in 1788 to create a new county government before Kentucky was a state and the area was still part of Virginia. These individuals included attorney and minister Caleb Wallace, who would be the founder of several colleges, and Thomas Marshall, the father of US Supreme Court chief justice John Marshall. With some of the finest pastureland in the world, the nearby Kentucky River for transportation, and an enterprising and industrious population, Woodford soon became one of the more prosperous counties in the state. Today, Woodford County is a community of the 21st century, but it is still known for its Thoroughbred horses, bourbon distilleries, rolling landscapes, and stone fences.

The Woodford County Historical Society, Inc., has searched its collections to present a pictorial history of the county from the mid-1800s through 1950. Woodford County Historical Society, Inc., was founded in 1966 with the mission “to engage people in the discovery, interpretation, and excitement of Woodford County’s past.” To carry out its mission, it operates a research and genealogy library and a small museum in downtown Versailles, Kentucky.

Lake Cumberland is a premier vacation destination for millions of people each year. Before Lake Cumberland became a recreational paradise, the wild and wondrous Cumberland River ruled the land.

With its 1,255 miles of federally protected shoreline, an average depth of 90 feet, and a surface area of more than 60,000 acres, Lake Cumberland is one of the largest man-made lakes in the United States, yet visitors may not realize the storied history that lies beneath the deep water. Although plagued by spring floods, towns and communities prospered along her banks. In an effort to control the Cumberland River and reduce flooding, Wolf Creek Dam was constructed following the Flood Control Act of 1938. With the dam in place, Lake Cumberland began filling in 1951. The dam offered protection to South Central Kentucky, but it drowned or forever changed many thriving towns and communities. Images of America: Around Lake Cumberland shows what life was like along the banks of the Cumberland River before Lake Cumberland was born.

LaGrange, Kentucky, was founded in 1827 with a mainline railroad track running down Main Street. Home to many farmers and industrialists, the city has a rich history and is even tied, in a way, to the Marquis de Lafayette. Join author Nancy Stearns Theiss as she details the deep history of the Kindness Capitol of Kentucky.

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.

Maysville, Kentucky, and the seven counties surrounding it are represented in this book. Sitting beside the swift currents of the Ohio River about 60 miles east of Cincinnati, Ohio, Maysville was established in 1787 by Simon Kenton and Daniel Boone and was originally named Limestone, later to be named Maysville. A shipping port for bourbon, wrought iron, and tobacco in the early years, it later became both a manufacturing hub and an agricultural community known as the world’s finest tobacco market. Today, Maysville’s Gateway Museum, just a few blocks from the iconic Simon Kenton Bridge, preserves the story of how the town became “the gateway to the south.” Rosemary Clooney, US Supreme Court associate justice Stanley Reed, and many other prominent people are from this area. Some older businesses that helped this town grow have closed, but others like the Pogue Distillery, Caproni’s Restaurant, and Wald Manufacturing live on as this town continues to thrive.

Tom Roberson was born in Mayslick, Kentucky, and grew up in Maysville. Most images came from the author’s 40-year hobby of collecting early-1900s historical postcards. Roberson is a retired residential builder and is always on the hunt for new images to add to his collection. 

Controlled by the heavy hand of the mob and fueled by government corruption, Newport evolved through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries into a notoriously robust center of criminal activity.

With top political and law enforcement officials often on the take, the seedy status quo became so excessive that a May 1961 issue of Time magazine declared, "Newport has developed such a gaudy brand of gambling and prostitution that it stands today as one of the nation's most blatant sin centers." Eastern Kentucky University Professors Gary Potter and Thomas Barker, both experts on organized crime, along with Jenna Meglen, offer up a captivating chronicle of Newport's criminal development, complete with thought-provoking assessments of the possible advantages that organized crime brought to the city commonly considered to be Las Vegas's predecessor.

The Battle of Perryville, fought on October 8, 1862, was the largest and most significant Civil War battle fought in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

The Battle of Perryvillelaid waste to more than just soldiers and their supplies. The commonwealth's largest combat engagement also took an immense toll on the community of Perryville, and citizens in surrounding towns.

After Confederates achieved a tactical victory, they were nonetheless forced to leave the area. With more than 7,500 casualties, the remaining Union soldiers were unprepared for the enormous tasks of burying the dead, caring for the wounded, and rebuilding infrastructure. Instead, this arduous duty fell to the brave and battered locals.

Former executive director of the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association, author Stuart Sanders presents the first in depth look into how the resilient residents dealt with the chaos of this bloody battle and how they rebuilt their town from the rubble leftover.

Concentrating on the early twentieth century, Images of America: Louisville celebrates a dynamic community and the people, both famous and everyday, who have contributed to its lasting legacy.

Since its founding at the Falls of the Ohio by George Rogers Clark in 1778, Louisville and its people have looked to the mighty Ohio River as the city's lifeblood. Louisville has counted on the river for transportation, commerce, leisure, culture, and natural beauty. Characterized by abundant opportunity-both professional and recreational-this renowned city has grown and prospered to become the business and industrial center of Kentucky.

Is Louisville the southernmost midwestern town, or is it an upper south, southern city? This identity crisis has arisen from a historical diversity of people, industries, architecture, and commerce. Louisville has been home to large populations of German, Irish, French, and other immigrants. Large multi-national corporations, such as General Electric, Brown Forman, Philip Morris, and UPS have also called Louisville home over the years. The city counts among its famous sons William Clark, who, with Merriwether Lewis, led the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1803, and sports icon Muhammad Ali. Local streets boast modern architectural treasures such as the Humana Building, designed by Michael Graves, and the American Life Building by Mies van der Rohe. Louisville is also home to Churchill Downs and the country's premier equestrian competition, the Kentucky Derby. These and many other notable facets of the city's rich heritage are illuminated in the vintage photographs within this volume.

Lexington has dozens of well-restored landmarks, but unfortunately so many more are lost forever.

The famous Phoenix Hotel, a longtime stop for weary travelers and politicians alike, has risen from its own ashes numerous times over the past centuries. The works of renowned architect John McMurtry were once numerous around town, but some of the finest examples are gone. The Centrepointe block has been made and unmade so many times that its original tenants are unknown to natives now. Join local blogger, attorney and preservationist Peter Brackney as he explores the intriguing back stories of these hidden Bluegrass treasures.

Find out how and why Glasgow earned its reputation as ""The biggest little town in Kentucky.""

Glasgow is nestled in the heart of south-central Kentucky. From its pioneer days to the advent of the 21st century, Glasgow has been known as a progressive center for agriculture, commerce, education and medicine. The community has been home to many of distinction, including an early African-American mayor, two governors, a world-renowned musician, a winner of multiple Pulitzer Prizes, a decorated U.S. Air Force general, the president of a major television network and a leader in the control of tuberculosis. Equally important to the tale of Glasgow's past are all the ordinary folks who were paramount in making the community the solid, thriving locale that it remains.

Journey back in time for a visual history of the Derby City in the Victorian Age!

On August 1, 1883, the eyes of the nation turned to Kentucky as thousands crowded the lanes of Louisville's Southern Extension. Tugging a silken cord, President Chester Arthur set the machinery in motion for an event that changed the town forever. Touted at home and abroad as the 100 Days that Louisville Opened Its Doors to the World, the occasion was the inauguration of the Southern Exposition, an early world's fair with a wide variety of mechanical, scientific, and cultural displays showcasing the latest advances in the cotton industry.

In the first 88 days, an astounding 770,048 visitors came. As a result, tremendous growth occurred, the city's first suburb eventually sprang up, and the site became populated with a new neighborhood containing architecturally opulent residences. Known as Old Louisville today, it counts as one of the country's largest historic preservation districts, with hundreds of magnificent structures providing a glimpse into a fascinating Victorian past.

Bringing to life more than a century's worth of fascinating stories and history of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.

Best known for its pivotal role in opening up the western frontier and its association with explorers and pioneers, the legendary Cumberland Gap has long been celebrated in music and literature. To better preserve that history, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park was authorized in 1940 and now covers more than 24,000 acres in Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. Daniel Boone is remembered here, as well the Native Americans who used the path through the mountains for trade and warfare, the Civil War soldiers who took turns guarding this strategic portal, the geologists and industrialists who saw the potential for development, the businessmen who built one of the nation's first roads for automobile travel and the displaced residents who gave up their homes for the park. The dream of a few dedicated individuals to one day restore the historic Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap came true in 2002 after decades of planning, and visitors can once again walk in the footsteps of the pioneers.

A Hidden Gem in Kentucky.

Eighteen miles outside Louisville lies the picturesque town of Pewee Valley. The town was originally founded on a land grant around 1800 and later named after the Eastern Wood Pewee, which, according to an elaborate legend, exuberantly proclaimed the creation of an Eden east of Louisville. Residents of and visitors to this fairy-tale suburb have included tycoons, politicians, painters, photographers, poets and novelists. Among them was Annie Fellows Johnston, who used Pewee Valley as the setting for her famed “Little Colonel” books, which Shirley Temple brought to the big screen in 1935. A preserve of rural manors and picturesque cottages, Pewee survived Civil War, the Depression and developers’ bulldozers. David Russell reveals this storied history.

Untold tidbits of equine history is revealed by historian and seventh generation Kentuckian Foster Ockerman Jr.

Horse racing and the Commonwealth of Kentucky are synonymous. The equine industry in the state dates as far back as the eighteenth century, and some of that history remains untold. The Seventeenth Earl of Derby made the trip from England to Louisville for the famed Kentucky Derby. Many famous African American jockeys grew up in the area but fled to Europe during the Jim Crow era. Gambling on races is a popular pastime, but betting in the early days caused significant changes in the sport. Hidden History of Horse Racing in Kentucky details the rich and the lesser-known history at the tracks in the Bluegrass State.

Louisville's Germantown and Schnitzelburg documents community's historic transformations, from agricultural center to industrial powerhouse.

Believed to have been named for the citizens who settled the area as early as the 1840s, Germantown and Schnitzelburg are located just east of downtown Louisville. The first parcels purchased and settled were part of the 1,000-acre land grant that was awarded to Col. Arthur Campbell in 1790 for his service to Virginia in the Indian Wars. Spanning more than 160 years of growth, the area developed from farms and dairies in the 1850s, to the industrialization of the 1880s, and then the halcyon era of the 1950s as a safe haven of family, community, and church. Remarkable historic landmarks include a Victorian-era cotton mill, DuPont Manual High School's football stadium, and the eclectic collection of residential architecture classified as shotgun and camelback. Numerous neighborhood taverns and bakeries are both historic landmarks and popular eateries in this community. Look inside and enjoy the history and beauty of a bygone era and the development of a thriving community.

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.

Old Friends provides a dignified retirement to Thoroughbreds whose racing and breeding careers have come to an end. Hear their stories in this heartwarming book.

Like many before him in the Bluegrass State, Michael Blowen, a former Boston Globeentertainment writer, fell in love with horses, specifically Thoroughbreds. The reality beyond the racetracks, he knew, was that each day a Thoroughbred was in the spotlight, for some of these distinguished athletes, their days were numbered.

For that reason, he dreamed of finding a way to give them a dignified retirement after they completed their rigorous racing careers. When he opened the Thoroughbred retirement farm Old Friendsin Kentucky in 2003, he never dreamed his idea would grow so big, so fast. Today, Old Friendsis home to more than 130 horses, many of them stallions, as well as geldings, mares and one loveable miniature horse named Little Silver Charm.

Join journalist and horse lover Rick Capone for the story of Old Friendsand the horses that call the farm home.