Day 2 - Tracing a T to Tampa Again at DennyGibson.com

Day 2: November 5, 2020
Hi Bridge, Hello Village
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Check Granny's letters of the day

It was raining when Granddad and Granny reached Georgetown so they "did not terry long" and did not discover the ten year old Fava's Restaurant. I did and tarried for a bit over breakfast.

I even backtracked just a little to grab drive-by shots of some of the cool Halloween decorations near the college.

Not only has Red State BBQ been voted the best in Kentucky, it has been personally recommended. Even if I hadn't still been digesting breakfast, I couldn't have sampled it this time as they were hours away from opening when I passed. Next time.

This is where Granddad and Granny did their "first bit of sight seeing". The High Bridge of Kentucky is an impressive sight today and it's hard to imagine how impressive it was to travelers a century ago. It looked somewhat different then because the tall towers that had been erected before the Civil War to support a suspension bridge were still standing. They were removed in 1929 and a second track was added.

I had just parked and started to open my door when I heard a train whistle and hurriedly grabbed my camera and jumped out to grab a shot of the locomotive heading onto the bridge. If you think those bumps on the railing look like vultures, you'd be right. This must be a really good spot for them as there were lots around. The third photo was taken from an overlook to the east of the bridge that would not have been there in 1920. The remaining pictures were taken from Dix Road which passes under the bridge. The boat is sitting about where the ferry landed that cost the group $1.25 to get the two cars across in 1920.

In 1920, a bridge actually existed where I crossed the river today on US-68, but it involved a lot of backtracking. Apparently our travelers thought avoiding that was worth a buck and a quarter. They would not have seen these businesses on the south side of the river even if they were operating at the time.

ADDENDUM: Dec 31, 2020 - This video from History In Your Own Backyard identifies the fenced in site as the one time home of Chinn's Cave House, which may have been open in the 1920s but not when Granddad and Granny were in the area.

In 2001, we did no exploring on the south side of the river but I had different intentions this time. I wanted to check out that "big long pull up the cliff" Granny described. That meant I was was pretty disappointed when I encountered this locked gate. I snapped a picture then headed on to Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill where I would be spending the night.

While checking in, my spirits lifted considerably when I learned that guests were able to get a key to that gate. I briefly stopped by my room then headed for the gate. I unlocked it, drove through, carefully locked it behind me, and drove directly to the river side. The Dixie Belle, an excursion boat belonging to the Village, has been idled by the pandemic. I took a picture of it then began the two-mile "pull up the cliff".

As I drove, I tried to imagine chugging up the hill in a 20 horsepower Model T that was probably in low gear all the way. Although the thought was somewhat romantic, I was quite appreciative of the extra power and even more appreciative of the pavement and guard rails that were not there for Frank.

This is my home for the night. There are three rooms plus the pictured common area. The two upper rooms are empty so the whole place is more or less mine although I spent all of my time here.

I availed myself of one of the free hourly tours and learned a lot about the history of the village and many of the buildings in it. The first building pictured is the largest in the village. Its name, Centre Family Dwelling might not mean the same to you as it did to its nineteenth century residents. Women occupied one side of the building and men the other. Across the street is the Meeting House. The two yellow buildings are northeast of the big dwelling house. The tallest is the water house where pumps lifted water to a tank on the second floor where gravity moved it to most buildings in the village. Next to it is the Brethren's Bath House. The last two buildings pictured are the Trustee's Office and a privy.

Following the tour, which is strictly an outside affair, I did some self-guided exploring. The first picture shows the wide-open first floor of the Meeting House. The second is of the uppermost floor where cleverly designed trusses effectively transferred all the weight to the outer walls to allow that pillar less first floor. Village residents not only likes to shake it up, they would sometimes twist and shout. I really wanted to see inside that water house but was thwarted by wet paint and yellow tape. The six passenger privy is permanently closed off by clear plastic.

At dinner time, I stepped out of my room and onto US-36 or I would have back in the 1960s. I've driven by here several times and know that, while you can see many of the Shaker buildings, they are some distance away. Today I learned that this was the main road through the area until 1965 when it was rerouted, as US-36, to the south. The trees weren't there then, and the right-of-way considerably wider, but it was still fairly close to the buildings which it ran right through the middle of. Knowing that gives a little different perspective to Granny's observation that "Quakerton [a common misnomer] had nothing but large houses, it looked like a college town."

The Trustee's Office is where the restaurant now is so I saved checking out its interior until meal time. The first shot is from my table where I enjoyed this incredibly good trout. I certainly don't associate spiral stairways with Shakers but this building has a pair of them. They were so cool that I decided they deserved having three pictures included. The sun had set while I was eating so I stepped outside to a different view and a very pleasant walk back to my stone house.

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