The road show continues west ...
- Since it is a road show, what could be more fitting than a look at some cars? Of course, the ones built by Brewco Motorsports are hardly the kind you’ll find touring Kentucky’s backroads. This Muhlenberg County company makes cars and sponsors teams for the NASCAR racing circuit. Owner Clarence Brewer Jr. tells us how he got into this fast-paced business and sport. • Brewco Motorsports, P.O. Box 37, 106 Brewer Dr., Central City, KY 42330, (270) 754-2264
Some gentler sports take the spotlight as we continue west into Hopkins County. In Dawson Springs, Dave and Sadie take in a baseball game featuring the semipro Tradewater Pirates. The name of the team honors both the Tradewater River, on which Dawson Springs is located, and the town’s days as the spring-training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the early years of the 20th century. (See Kentucky Life Program 614 for more about Dawson Springs history.) Riverside Park, the Pirates’ restored home field, also recalls an earlier time with its all-wood grandstands. While in the area, Dave also visits a museum, goes for a hike in Pennyrile Forest, and takes a canoe ride on the Tradewater. • Tradewater Pirates, 901 W. Arcadia Ave, P.O. Box 403, Dawson Springs, KY 42408, (270) 797-3616 • Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park, 20781 Pennyrile Lodge Rd., Dawson Springs, KY 42408-9212, (270) 797-3421, reservations (800) 325-1711
- The next town along the road is Princeton, seat of Caldwell County. This crossroads town has seen more than its share of history, not always pleasant: It was on the route of the Trail of Tears, when the Eastern Cherokee were force-marched to reservations in Oklahoma. During the Civil War, Princeton and environs endured raids and destruction from both sides. And its location in the middle of the black patch tobacco-producing region brought violence in the early 1900s when farmers battled a purchasing monopoly. But today, all that history makes Princeton a fascinating place to visit—and makes a stop at the Adsmore Museum a must. The town is still a center of commerce, too. Unlike many other small towns, Princeton has a thriving downtown that mixes new businesses with old. Our tour includes a stop at one of the oldest, Newsom’s Old Mill Store. This family business opened in 1917 and is now being operated by a third generation of Newsoms. Though no longer in the original location (a mill, circa 1850, that burned down in 1987), Newsom’s maintains an old-fashioned style of service and a “little bit of everything” country-store approach to inventory. One of the most consistently popular products, though, is the Newsom family’s homemade country hams. • Newsom’s Old Mill Store, 208 East Main St., Princeton, KY 42445, (270) 365-2482
- In Lyon County, we pause to consider some things that aren’t there anymore. Dave visits the town of Eddyville—which has the distinction of having been the county seat of three different counties as Western Kentucky was divided up over the years—and learns that the present town is actually not on the original site. When plans were being made to dam the Cumberland River in the 1950s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began buying up land in Eddyville and the nearby town of Kuttawa and relocating homes and businesses that were destined to be covered by the new Lake Barkley. The Kentucky State Penitentiary, which dates to 1888, and an old cemetery are almost all that remains of the original towns. Circuit Judge Bill Cunningham shows us around and recalls Old Eddyville and Kuttawa. • Bill Cunningham, 629 E. Dogwood Dr., Kuttawa, KY 42055-6235, (270) 388-9053
- Relocation is also the theme of the next segment. The Paducah Artist Relocation Program aims to revitalize a declining urban neighborhood by turning it into an arts colony. The program provides low-interest loans and other support for participating artists and businesses, and the success of the idea so far has attracted nationwide attention. • Paducah Artist Relocation Program, P.O. Box 2267, Paducah, KY 42002-2267, (270) 444-8690
- No tour of Kentucky would be complete without some horses. This time around, we find ours in Carlisle County, on the farm of Bob Petrie. This former breeder of quarter horses now concentrates on paint horses, which are rapidly growing in popularity. Bob explains that paints are bred from quarter horses, thoroughbreds, and other paints—but that mating two paints doesn’t always guarantee a paint foal. • Bob Petrie, (270) 642-2360
- Our road ends on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. Before wrapping things up with a view of the river from Ballard County, Dave stops at the home of Evelyn Zolotareff in Wickliffe. Now in her 80s, Evelyn was the daughter of a Wickliffe lawyer who left her small town (there were about 10 students in her high school class, she recalls) to teach school in West Virginia. There her students included a young Don Knotts. Later she moved to Chicago, where she also became a producer of instructional films. But now she’s back home, and she shows Dave some examples of her latest career: fine hand-hooked rugs for which she has won national recognition. • Evelyn Zolotareff, 325 Tennessee St., Wickliffe, KY 42087
Back to the beginning: Maysville to Rosine
