For more information:
• Pioneer Playhouse, 840 Stanford Rd., Danville, KY 40422, (859) 236-2747

Producer: Donna Ross

Pioneering Theater

Danville’s Pioneer Playhouse

The Henson family, led by patriarch “Colonel” Eben and his wife, Charlotte, have been serving up dinner and laughs at the Pioneer Playhouse in Danville since 1950. Here, New York actors live and perform in an old-time village, honing their craft and entertaining Kentuckians with a little of the shine of the Great White Way.

Since the Colonel’s death in April 2004, Charlotte and her children Holly and Robby have kept the show going on. Pioneer Playhouse is open mid-June through late August.

Producer: Gene Campbell

A Kentucky Field of Dreams

Louisville’s baseball history

The Louisville Slugger is not the city’s—or the state’s—only contribution to baseball. In this segment, we visit Louisville’s Parkway Field (now the home field for the University of Louisville) and remember baseball’s past in Kentucky. Louisville was a major league city for many years and was home to the Negro National League’s White Sox, Black Caps, and Buckeyes, as well as the barnstorming Washington Nationals in 1867.

As we tour the city’s baseball history, we encounter the four Kentuckians who have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame:

• Owsley County native Earle Combs, the fleet-footed oufielder known as the “Kentucky Greyhound” who was lead-off hitter for the 1927 New York Yankees, who included the “Murderers Row” of Dugan, Lazzeri, Koenig, Gehrig, Meusel, and Ruth.
• Pee Wee Reese, star shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodgers during the 1940s and ’50s. As team captain, he befriended Jackie Robinson and smoothed the way with his teammates when Robinson became the major leagues’ first African-American player.
• Former Baseball Commissioner (and Kentucky Governor) A.B. “Happy” Chandler, whose tenure included Robinson’s integration of the majors.
• Jim Bunning, later the Republican U.S. Representative from Northern Kentucky’s 4th District, who is the only man ever to pitch no-hitters in both the National and American leagues.

For more information:
• Railway Exposition Museum, 315 W. Southern Avenue, Covington, KY 41015, (859) 491-RAIL (7245)

Producer, videographer: Gale Worth

Right on Track, Part 1

The Railway Exposition Museum

In the first of two segments for train lovers, come with us to Northern Kentucky’s Railway Exposition Museum for a tour of opulent examples of Pullman sleeping cars, “executive cars” from the era of luxury train travel, and old mail cars.

The museum is open each Saturday and Sunday, May through October, from 12:30 to 4:30 pm ET. School groups may arrange special tours.

For more information:
• Hardin Southern Railroad, P.O. Box 20, Hardin, KY 42048, (270) 270-437-4555

Producer: Gale Worth

Right on Track, Part 2

Riding the Hardin Southern

All aboard! In Marshall County, we’ve reserved a private coach for a nostalgic ride on the Hardin Southern Railroad that’s a trip both across the miles and back in time.