SMALL TOWNS -- WHERE EVERYONE KNOWS YOUR NAME

Father and son -- Dan Ledford and Dan Ward Ledford

Meet some native Kentuckians – Dan Ledford and his son Dan Ward Ledford (standing) who live near each other in the Paint Lick community. Dan Ledford is ninty-two and has lived in his home for about fifty years.  


This post is about ninety-two year old Dan. He represents a lifetime of living in rural settings. He and his mother came to Paint Lick on a train from northern Kentucky when he was a boy. His father moved their possessions to the Paint Lick area by horse and wagon.


As a young man he served in WWII overseas. After the war ended he came back to the Paint Lick  area where he soon was employed as a school bus driver.  


He drove the bus for the school district for most of his working years. As a school bus driver he figures that he accumulated about two million miles during his working career of driving school routes and for special school events.


Often Dan can be seen sitting on his large front porch where local folks honk a “hello” as they travel the road in front of his house. He sends back a big wave of his hand to them.


Paint Lick is a small town where everyone knows your name. 

Dan Ledford's Homestead -- Sitting Chair and Barn

Dan bought his house and 15 acres about fifty years ago under interesting circumstances.  While attending an auction, a friend encouraged him to buy the homestead up for bid. Dan told him he didn't think he had enough money but he would try anyway. But he found out he did have enough money as the homestead only went for 9500 dollars. When the auctioneer yelled, “sold”  he realized he was the new owner. This was in 1960 and the homestead has been his home ever since.

Dan's Historic Church Pew 

Dan has two children and is a widower. There has been some changes in the area  yet it's still basically a farming place. He intensely likes where he lives. A small American flag flies from a corner post of his front porch and Dan often wears a cap announcing he is a war veteran.  


He is the oldest member of the 1700s historic Paint Lick Presbyterian Church just down down the road from where he lives. There is one of the old Presbyterian church pews on his porch.  


All things considered, Dan is well entrenched in the cultural context of his area.

Dan Ledford sitting on his front porch

You might say that Dan characterizes many rural citizens in this country. Citizens with community pride who have worked hard along with family members toward a good life. That have lived in an area for many years while their family members often settle in and around that community. 


If you are ever in Paint Lick on Route 52 and see Dan sitting on his front porch – honk a “hello – he’ll send you back a big wave as everyone knows his name in Paint Lick.

OLD BARN -- OLD DOG

OLD DOG -- OLD BARN

I met up with this old dog on a large tract of vacant land. I was told he belonged to the caretaker of the property. We bonded and he politely showed me the highlights -- crooked trees, tall seedy weeds, rock boulders, tons of fallen leaves, secret passages in the ground, tiny water holes and an old unused barn. He was the master of this domain. It was an absolutely beautiful tour and I thanked him as I left with a few pats on the back and some soothing soft words.

UNADULTERATED OLD HOUSE IN SMALL TOWN

OLD ONE CAR GARAGE WITH NO TRESPASSING SIGN

A house in a very small town caught my  eye as I was driving down its main street. I instantly knew I wanted to find out more  about this place. I swung around and stopped in front of the house and noticed a sign attached to the  garage.  Sign said: NO TRESPASSING. Whoa, this stopped me dead in my tracks of going up to the door to introduce myself . I happened over to a nearby house and they told me the house was vacant --  and its owner was a lady in her eighties that was now living in a nursing home. 

FRONT OF THE HOUSE PORCH

With these few facts in hand I decided that I could take photos of the house from the street while searching  for clues about the the owner.

Initially, what attracted me to stop was the vernacular form of the house. But now I saw something else. -- it was the sitting porch standing as it probably stood when the elderly woman lived there. 

So, now I was looking at both the early architecture of the place and the front sitting porch. 


Based on the architecture, I put a date on the house as that of the early 1800s, It had not been restored, only preserved. It was an authentic example of a vernacular Federal/Greek Revival house.

So many questions swirled in my head:

--How long had she lived in the house?

--Was this a family home that had passed through several generations?

--Did she know who built the house or the garage or any of the outbuildings on the property?.

--Was it a large house because large families had lived in it?

Many other questions passed through my mind -- too many to write down here. 

OLD PORCH CHAIRS

Architecture aside, I turned to the sitting porch to seach for clues about the owner. It contained a little bit of interpretive material. 


The woman of eighty plus apparently liked plants as she had several planters sitting on the edge of the porch with remnants of former plants.

. 

She had some old metal chairs that appeared to be there for socializing.

OLD PORCH PLANT STANDS

Some old vintage plant stands stood empty on part of the porch. A chicken figure, that perhaps was a planter, sat on top of one of the stands. 

Together the architecture along with the materials on her porch seemed to tell me that over the years she made do with what she had. The house along with the porch artifacts  remained "as is" over the years.  "As is" meaning no changes. 

As an example of the remaining  "as is"  of the house architecture was the original weather-board siding, a few old outbuildings, old tin roof, original six over six  window panes (also called lights), column pilasters on the porch, and a fan light over the front door. 

My conclusion about the elderly lady was that she liked to socialize, loved plants, and liked things to remain as they were.

SIDE YARD WITH OUTBUILDINGS ON TOWN LOT

The over-all ambiance of the property gives one the ability to glance at a "real" historic setting -- not one that has been adulterated with the clean and sterile look of many museums.  The overall place is in context to its landscape -- a small town in Kentucky.

Its like an archaeological dig -- trying to interpret fragments into a viable story. Humans invariably leave debris when they have lived somewhere for any length of time.  The interpretation may not be entirely accurate but is usually fairly close to reality.

AFRICAN AMERICAN SLAVE AND EUROPEAN WHITE GRAVEYARD

AFRICAN AMERICAN SLAVE GRAVE SECTION

My son and I made a visit this summer to find a slave graveyard that was reported to be located on a recently developed Civil War Battlefield Park which involves several sites in Madison County, Kentucky.  The site we were headed for was a homestead called the Pleasant View House and Farm. Nothing in its published flyer indicated that there was a slave graveyard on site.

What the flyer did say was that Joseph Barnett built the present house on the property in 1825 and at that time he owed 20 slaves. And, he also owned 578 acres. This information was a good base to help us understand the spatial pattern of the graveyard. So off we went toward a rise on the land, a distance back of the old house, to find the slave graveyard.

The first thing we noticed when we spotted the graveyard was that it was divided into two sections – African American slave on one side and European white pioneer family on the other. 

EUROPEAN WHITE GRAVE SECTION

 It was a small graveyard and according to a sign posted by it, it had been in a deteriorated state for a long time previous to a recent restoration. There were approximately fourteen or so grave-markers on the white side and about six or so on the slave side.


The white side consisted of two types of grave-markers; the ledger type and the head and foot marker type. The African American slave side of the graveyard had two types of grave markers. One being head stone and foot stone type made by a stone cutter and the second type -- some head stones and foot stones --  being simply a field stone to mark the head and one also to mark the foot.

MY SON MAKING RUBBINGS OF THE LEDGER INSCRIPTIONS

The ledger types were large flat one-piece stones covering the grave, similar to the cover of a tablet, and placed on a raised limestone foundation. The inscription was on the ledger’s topside. Most of the ledger grave-markers were difficult to read – exposure to weather and the type of local stone used had blurred or erased much of the writing. 


My son came up with the idea of doing rubbings to determine what information we could obtain about the deceased. This method did help some in deciphering some of the names and dates. 


The ledger style was expensive in its time and is believed to have been used by the wealthy.  Historically, they are believed to be a British tradition.  

HEAD STONE IN SLAVE SECTION

The head stones in both the slave and white sections of the plot, if made by a stone cutter, carried the name and date of the deceased. The foot stone simply had the initial of the deceased.

Southern folk grave-markers are simple and unadorned. None of the grave –markers had adornment such as flowers, birds etc. The graveyard was on a rise, which is a southern thing -- this tradition is older than  Christianity. The front side of the head stone is smooth while the sides and back have chisel marks – a sign of back country grave stone-cutters

FOOT STONE OF EMILY'S HEADSTONE -- PHOTO ABOVE

The earliest deceased date that we found was 1806 and the latest was  1851 -- pre-Civil War times. These dates definitely indicate back country living for this region of Kentucky. Also, I would consider this graveyard a folk one due to its dates, arrangement and back country location.

SLAVE HEAD STONE WITH FOOT STONE

Grave stone-cutters in the backcountry during the above dates were involved in other artisan trades along with stone cutting. Many grave stone-cutters were itinerate and travelled over large regions.

SLAVE HEAD STONE INSCRIPTION
In Memory
Joshua  Servant of
Jos Barnett Jr born
1798 & died by a
stroke of Lightning
July 1827

In the early 1800s, markers were not always placed on the grave site at the time of death. This was due to time spent sending away for a grave-marker and then having it delivered by wagon. This could take up to a year or so.
The spatial arrangement of the plot is similar to early Scots-Irish traditions – linear rows. The slave side was also dictated by this pattern.

CLOSE-UP OF JOSHUA HEAD STONE (PHOTO ABOVE)

This graveyard in all probability has many more secrets to unveil through its material culture.  My son and I made two trips to the plot and feel we still missed some of the clues to its history.

CHISEL MARKS ON BACK SIDE OF HEAD STONE

For sources to check out about folk graveyards – see below. I never thought that graveyards could be so culturally fascinating but now I know I will be on the lookout for more of the same.

SOURCES:

Books

Texas Graveyards: A Cultural Legacy by Terry G. Jordan

Sticks and Stones: Three Centuries of North Carolina Gravemarkers by M. Ruth Little

Ghosts along the Cumberland by William Lynwood Montell

Historic Property

Civil War Battlefield Park 

Richmond, Kentucky

WHAT IS THIS OLD KENTUCKY FARM OUTBUILDING CALLED?

I noticed this farm outbuilding several months ago and was stymied. I had many questions about it but the farm owners were not home and I was forty miles from where I lived so I snapped a few photos and went on my way. I have not been back to that area since.

My questions about the outbuilding still linger in my mind. What was it called? What was its use? How old was it? Was it still being used by the farm family?

Structurally it was constructed of corrugated steel in an ovoid shape. . It had a metal roof, three metal roof vents, two metal doors from my angle of view, and two metal closings near the roof line. I could not see the sides or back. I find all old farm buildings fascinating as they usually have stories to tell. With time these stories disappear as the structures leave the landscape.

I hope that someone familiar with this structure makes a comment on this post to let me know what exactly it is called. I have researched online and nothing comes up that resembles it. I thought it looked like a precursor to a silo.

My photos were taken from the road.

A barn sat fairly close to this outbuilding but I failed to get a good picture of it. I thought that perhaps since this unknown outbuilding was fairly close to the barn that they were used in tandem -- like maybe a granary storing feed for cattle?


This particular outbuilding is located in the Possey area of Madison County, Kentucky.

Perhaps it is a common structure in Central Kentucky??? Or elsewhere???

KENTUCKY -- RURAL SURVIVAL

OVERVIEW OF THE VILLAGE OF PAINT LICK, KENTUCKY

I was standing on a hill overlooking the quaint village of Paint Lick when I took this photo of their commercial main street a couple of winters ago. Paint Lick is but one of the many small towns in Kentucky that strive to flourish under ongoing changing circumstances.

This village consists of a very small commercial area (the proverbial main street) which serves the rural residents of the area. Of course, in today's economic world such small main streets can only provide limited offerings. Many of the small towns and villages in Kentucky keep glued together by being located fairly near an urban city that can provide much of what rural residents cannot get locally. However, small places such as Paint Lick offer what many folks are looking for: low crime, neighborliness, strong community, family ties, heritage, and the strong intangibles that these factors imply.

WEST SIDE OF PAINT LICK COMMERCIAL MAIN STREET

The combination of access of an urban area and strong community spirit attract some new people while sustaining the existing residents. Residents learn to work with what they don't have in terms of services. Paint Lick doesn't have a gas station but it does have a car repair garage, bank, post office and until recently a cafe where the locals would converse about various subjects such as farming. Unfortunately the cafe recently burnt down.

EAST SIDE OF PAINT LICK'S COMMERCIAL MAIN STREET

In 1939 a book was published titled the WPA Guide to Kentucky. It was part of Roosevelt’s New Deal program to provide employment for writers under the Federal Writers Project. He commissioned writers to publish state guides of discovery for tourists as well as for residents to become more knowledgeable about their state.

Where am I going with this information? Well, I have a 1996 re-published edition of the 1939 edition of the WPA Kentucky Guide wrote and researched by the Federal Writers Project. I wanted to get their definition of Kentucky in 1939 as well as that of Paint Lick. The writers felt that their writings should be more than about history, that it should, “capture the spirit of the land, mostly rural, indefinable but very real."

This is what I wanted to hear -- writers that looked at the soul of a place.

.

Although Paint Lick was limited to a very short mention they were able to write something significant that I had not been able to find elsewhere in my research -- that of the Indian symbols. Here is the short mention of Paint Lick: . . . a hamlet near the site of Paint Lick Station, which was established in 1782, and so named because the first settlers found Indian symbols painted in bright colors on trees and stones along the creek and around the near-by salt lick."

PAINT LICK MAIN COMMERCIAL STREET IN 1908 AFTER THEY SUFFERED A FIRE.
Web Site Source: PAINT LICK Garrard County, Kentucky

Paint Lick is a small town that manages to stay afloat because of its proximity to an urban area. It still has its small town flavor while growing incrementally. It has faced many challenges since its first days of settlement. One example is the tragic fire in the above main street photo. It has experienced population shifts mainly in the 40s through the 60s to the Midwest for manufacturing jobs. Presently rural farmers are experiencing a change of their farming culture -- from growing tobacco as a prime cash crop to now finding new crops to provide continuing farming opportunities. It appears that staying viable for small towns and villages is an ongoing process that takes stamina of the rural population.

EARLY YEARS OF PAINT LICK -- PRE--1908

Website Source: PAINT LICK, Garrard County, Kentucky

At one time Paint Lick consisted of mainly wooden buildings pre 1908. Its tenacity to the land provided the impetuous to remain a slowly growing village. In 1939 the population was 250 (WPA Guide to Kentucky), 2000 the population of Paint Lick was 2,084 (city-data.com) and in 2007 the population had increased to 3,293 (city-data.com).

DISTRIBUTION OF RESIDENTS AGES

Source: City-Data.com

One of the factors that is important to look at is the age of the residents. Age diversity indicates a viable population. The graph above shows that Paint Lick has citizens of all ages. Some for delight such as young children, many for working power such as the middle ages, and several in the older ages to hand-down proven ways and wisdom.

Paint Lick has the tools to survive as a rural village.

KENTUCKY BACK-COUNTRY COTTAGE STYLE HOME -- SUNDAY SIMPLICITIES

An old 1940ish metal gate that only swings one way -- into the charming flower filled yard of the Wheats. An old railroad spike assures the gate's one way swing.

My definition of a cottage style home in the back-country is several of the following; a vintage house, snugly planted flowers, an old fence surrounding the yard, informality, non-contrived, and a comfy feeling.

A view from the front of the home looks out on what was once tobacco farm land farmed by the Wheat family. Tobacco farming came to a halt for many farmers through government buy-outs a few years ago.

The small yard surrounding the home is stuffed with plantings of all types. Right now the roses are putting on a show of color. The wooden ladder trellis is needed for support by the roses that rise high into the air. The barn in the background of this photo is the old tobacco barn.

Red roses climb the old fence and reach high with the support of the homemade wooden ladder trellis. These roses were above my head.

A quaint shed type addition built to the side of the front gabled home has a charming old side-door

Marvin Wheat and his mother have lived in this home for most of Marvin's life. A covered porch for sitting spreads itself across the front. Before the family moved to this house they lived just down the road. Marvin told me this present home is about 100 years old.

Located on a back-country road between Mt Vernon and London, Kentucky -- it's an eyeful of plants placed around the yard over the years by his mother.

When driving down the road about ten days ago, I just couldn't drive by this place -- it's charm drew me in. Marvin was a very congenial man to show me around the yard. Southern hospitality for sure.

ARE SMALL TOWNS BECOMING MUSEUM SITES IN SITU?

SMALL TOWN CUSTOM -- TOWN FOLK SIT OUT IN FRONT OF A STOREFRONT AND DISCUSS THE WORLD OR TOWN EVENTS

As we are aware, small towns are declining. In 1950 44 %. of Americans lived on farms or small towns -- now it has declined to about 23%. Small towns located near urban areas fare better as employment opportunities are near. Decline has been attributed to many factors -- farmers losing out to large aggregate farming (read, corporate industrial), movement by the young to urban areas for jobs, loss of transportation such as railroads and not being near new highway systems, all of which cause political and economic shifts benefiting larger cities. Result -- small town decline. Small towns have been fighting this, some have been winning. But most are not.

OLD THEATER SEATS POISED INSIDE THE OLD COX HARDWARE BUILDING, MT VERNON, KENTUCKY

As I travel around Kentucky and other states I always like to take the back country roads and ride through the small towns and places. They offer many opportunities to experience what you cannot find elsewhere. Two of my favorites are the local businesses and architecture. The less disturbed the town is from outside influences the better I enjoy it.

A VICTORIAN FENCE SITTING ON AN EMPTY LOT -- A REMNANT LEFT FROM A BURNT-DOWN HOUSE IN MT VERNON KENTUCKY.

I have noticed that many folks like to jump in their cars and take rides in the country and small towns. Do they stop? I don't know. Are they treating these small towns like museums? Could be!

Let me call these "jump in the car and take a ride" folks, small town travelers or STT folks.

As a suggestion, perhaps small towns in an area could join together and highlight what the area has to offer. Not the Motel 8 or the McDonalds but the different-- the unique -- what they have and don't realize it. How about the streetscapes in many of these towns that hold authentic buildings built in situ by locals using many local resources. A tiny Victorian building, a century old city hall built of native stone plus much more. Yes, the STT will say "oh, that's pretty," as they drive through, but never know what they are really looking at.

Let's do what some small towns are beginning to do -- have a tiny visitor center run by volunteers. Package the unique and different in little flyers and provide a walking tour map. Leave the commercial ads out. Get school kids involved designing a small town web site for their town, again leave out the ads. Maybe do this a few times a year. Not a festival -- just a plain ole appreciation of small towns event. Get the folks interested in the towns. Start a movement of BACK TO SMALL TOWN LIVING. With computers one can live and work just about anyplace. I'm not suggesting a tourist town or area but to introduce folks to what is and was the beauty of small town living. Just an idea to perhaps plug the leaking decline.

BEAUTIFUL LIMESTONE STAIRS TO NOWHERE -- SMALL TOWN BUILDING -- MISSING IN ACTION

Small towns and villages hold a history of settlement and offer individuals a chance to live life in non-pretentious ways. The photos on this post were taken in the small town of Mt Vernon. Their population is abut 2,592 according to the 2000 census. They are quickly losing their lovely main street vitality as storefront businesses leave -- the fabric shrinks.

These are just a few ideas that popped into my head -- I'm sure there are many more out there.

A DISAPPEARING ARTIFACT -- THE FARM SILO

Silos that stand alone upon a piece of old agricultural land announce to folks traveling by that a farm once stood on this ground. They are flagships of a missing farmstead. The silo above stands by itself on the old Coy farm near Kirksville in Madison County, Kentucky.

This was once the place of several outbuildings and a farm house -- now gone.

I talked to a local man named Cud about the above silo. He told me that the land owner had considered knocking it down but it was too messy of a job. Therefore, it was allowed to become one of the silos in the region that are now the only clues that an active farmstead once occupied a particular piece of land.

The oldest silos that I remember from living in the Midwest were shaped in a cylindrical form, the exterior were square pieces of beautiful brown shiny tiles about two feet by two feet -- all placed from top to bottom around the silo. Each of the produced tiles usually had an impressed company name. I also remember metal types and cement silos. All were markers for folks trying to navigate their way through the countryside.

For those not familiar with silos, they are used to store forage for animals on the farm and usually were essential in cold regions. It allowed them to provide feed when there was none to graze due to snow cover. Dairy cows are dependent on forage to keep their milk flowing.

There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of silos that have been knocked down by their land owners and especially developers -- in the Midwest, Upland South, and beyond. But to give some developers credit, a few have saved their beauty by incorporating them into their developments. I even know one woman that built an antique shop on a piece of land and left the silo standing as a logo marker for her shop.

But in reality, the stand alone silo portrays a broken connection to a once thriving farm culture.

OLD ABANDONED KENTUCKY HOMESTEAD

About a month ago I was lost on twisting narrow roads that you find in the back-country where I live. Even though I was lost I was observing the beautiful views from my windshield. I knew I would eventually find my way out of the road maze.

While lost, I spotted this old abandoned Kentucky homestead off the side of the road with a real estate for sale sign. The place was gated so I had to shoot my post photos from quite a distance.

Now I am speculating that the attitude of most people who drive pass this homestead view it as a bunch of falling down, useless shacks (except developers). I view it in another way.

This is what I view when I gaze out upon such places. I see -- continuity and change, tradition, folk culture, authentic people, family, settlement patterns, craftsmanship, material culture, life and death, and sustainability over time and space. What do you see?