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.

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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.

FARM WAYS -- COUNTRY HOMEMADE BLACKBERRY ARBOR

NATURAL BARK COVERED WOODEN BLACKBERRY ARBOR

Debbie and Kenny Hylton have raised 14 acres of tobacco on their land for many years. They are family farmers, farming in Madison County, Kentucky.It being one of the states that was part of the tobacco buy-out imposed by Congress in 2004. Today instead of fields of tobacco around every roadway, one finds the fields lying fallow waiting for other types of crops to someday be planted. The Hylton's came up with the idea of blackberries and this 2010 year will be their first crop. After their years of tobacco farming and the subsequent monetary drop of tobacco, Debbie and Kenny recently decided to take their life-long knowledge of farming and raise a different crop. Debbie said, "We've always farmed so we wanted to get started again with some type of growing."

CLOSE-UP OF THE LATERAL SUPPORTS OF THE BLACKBERRY ARBOR

The initial start-up idea produced a blackberry arbor built with branches collected from the trees on their property. Kenny left the bark on the branches that he used to build the arbor -- the lateral supports as well as the upright posts. This new arbor has an earthy, natural look and the cost was right. But the arbor was not large enough to produce a selling crop -- and a selling crop is what Debbie and Kenny had in mind.

ORIGINAL GRAPE ARBOR ON WHICH KENNY ATTACHED HIS FIRST BLACKBERRY ARBOR

So, Kenny did not stop with just a small arbor. Last fall he built trellises on his farm acreage for future blackberry crops. Both of the Hylton's look forward to possibly selling blackberries at farm markets.

SCENIC VIEW ACROSS THE FIELD OF BLACKBERRY TRELLIS SUPPORTS MADE OF SAWN LUMBER

Kenny continued with his new crop idea by building trellises in the fields that once held tobacco. Right now they stand ready to accept the berry bushes that will climb upward on them. I heard a phrase recently that seems to suit the farmers hit by the tobacco buy-out -- you strive to survive.

As I was getting ready to leave, Debbie, with a big smile on her face said, "Come back later to see the blackberries twined in the trellises and full of berries." And I smiled back and said, "Thank you, I would love too."