For more information:
• KYANA Geological Society, 7405 Highway 22 West, Louisville, KY 40014, (502) 241-8755
• Kentucky Paleontological Society, 2004 Sawyer Ct., Lexington, KY 40514, (859) 296-4870
• Two KET Electronic Field Trips feature Kentucky fossils: Falls of the Ohio and Geologic Time.

Producer: Dave Shuffett
Videographers: Amelia Cutadean, Larry Moore, David Shuffett
Editor: Jim Piston

Digging Into the Past

fossil hunting

You don’t find dinosaur bones in Kentucky—but that’s because many of our exposed rocks are too old for them. During the past half a billion years or so, the Ohio Valley was covered at various times by shallow seas or swamps, which left behind horizontal layers of sediment rich with shells, snails and other marine invertebrates, plants, clams, and corals. Since then, mountain-building processes and erosion have exposed large areas of those geological layers going back 460 million years, making hillsides, road cuts, and even backyards throughout the region a treasure trove for fossil hunters.

Host Dave Shuffett experiences the thrill of discovery in this segment as he goes along on two fossil-collecting expeditions. In Southern Indiana, he joins members of the Kentuckiana Geological Society prospecting a quarry. And at a dig in Hazard, he gets expert guidance from members of the Kentucky Paleontological Society. KPS President Dan Phelps, geologist Charles Oldham, and paleontologist Don Chesnut are among those who serve as our tour guides to Kentucky’s prehistory.

Both groups welcome new members and hold frequent field trips and lectures. The Kentuckiana society also sponsors an annual mineral, gem, and fossil show in Louisville.

For more information:
• Broadmoor Gardens Conservancy and Wildlife Sanctuary, U.S. 60 East, Irvington, KY 40146, (502) 547-4200

Producer: Valerie Trimble
Videographer: Brandon Wickey
Audio: Gary Mosley, Anne Deck
Editor: Jim Piston

Down the Garden Path

Broadmoor Gardens

Next, Dave visits a Breckinridge County haven where the plants and animals of today are preserved. Broadmoor Gardens Conservancy and Wildlife Sanctuary, part formal garden and part nature preserve, includes water gardens, a tropical plant conservatory, a rock garden, animal topiaries, an iris garden, a lily garden, an all-white moon garden, and a two-mile trail through wildflower meadows. Visitors might see raccoons, deer, geese, swans, hawks, owls—and possibly some more exotic residents, like a rare white peacock or the monkey who’s checking out our camera at right.

Broadmoor is owned by Brucie Beard and Mary Ann Tobin. They laid out the grounds based on their love of the great European gardens, bringing a stone-and-wrought-iron gate over from a medieval village in France to serve as the entryway and laying out eight separate formal gardens. Brucie shows Dave around, and Mary Ann talks about her wildlife rehabilitation efforts.

The sanctuary is located just east of Irvington on U.S. 60. It is open every day from April through mid-October, but please call ahead to make arrangements to visit.

For more information:
• Barbara Kingsolver web site
• bookclub@ket has featured two Kingsolver novels. In spring 2001, The Bean Trees was the focus of KET’s What If All Kentucky Reads the Same Book? statewide reading project. See the Bean Trees and Poisonwood Bible pages for links and related information.

Producers: Guy Mendes, Heather Lyons
Videographer: David Brinkley
Editor: Mike White

The Write Stuff

author Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver’s first novel, The Bean Trees, is the story of a young Kentucky woman who heads west to escape small-town life and find her own way in the world. In some ways, it mirrored the experiences of the author herself. Kingsolver grew up in rural Nicholas County near Carlisle but, like many young people, felt the need to see a little more of the world. So she headed off to Indiana for college, then did some traveling in Europe, then moved to Arizona, where she has lived and worked ever since, becoming one of America’s best-selling authors in the process.

Though she loves the landscape and people of her adopted Southwest, Kingsolver acknowledges the Kentucky and Southern influences on her work and her thinking. In this profile, she reflects on her own small-town upbringing and on the passions that propel her writing. The segment was produced on the occasion of Kingsolver receiving the Governor’s Awards in the Arts National Award, which honors “a Kentucky son or daughter who has achieved national acclaim.” It includes material from KET’s nationally distributed Signature biography of Kingsolver.