Grayson County, Kentucky

Willis Green owned a mill for processing corn at the Falls of Rough on Rough River in Kentucky.  He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1839 to 1845.  The mill was built in 1823 and was in use for over 140 years. Growers from seven nearby counties brought grains to the mill site.

Bridge built by the King Iron Bridge and Manufacturing Company

In 1877 this bridge was built over the Rough River at the Falls of Rough. The bridge includes the name of the bridge company in the bridge ironwork; the King Iron Bridge and Manufacturing Company of Cleveland, Ohio provided the bridge.

 

1877 Bridge over Rough River

Air Quality

River transport - Ohio River near New Albany, Indiana

It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Upton Sinclair

Fish taken from every lake and pond in pond in Kentucky and Indiana show mercury in the fish.  Some say the price of electricity in Kentucky and Indiana is one of the lowest prices in the country.  Using coal to generate electricity pollutes the air;  the damage that comes to the water and the life of the creatures that depend on the water must be understood and accounted for.   A renewal of commitment to the environment will be necessary for the region to compete economically in the future.

Appreciation of Mr. Olmsted

Mr. Olmsted said that Cherokee Park was meant to present the "bluegrass country of Kentucky" to the people of Louisville.

In a report from the F. L. Olmsted firm provided to the city in 1891, the site for Cherokee Park was described as a place of "refreshment that is to be had in the contemplation of superb umbrageous trees..."

 The Park has broad spaces that are kept mowed but also wide corridors of woods.   Beargrass Creek winds its way through the landscape lending the scene an inviting look.   There is a famous photograph of Big Rock in Beargrass Creek with park visitors in clothing of  a bygone era.  It may be 1890s clothing.  At the top of a bluff there is a statue of the Greek god Pan. The statue dates back to 1905.

Louisville Metro Parks - Cherokee Park - Pan

Cherokee Park - Limestone Cliffs

Cherokee Park - Cliffs

Cherokee Park - Informational

Cherokee Park - Beargrass Creek

Cherokee Park - Stonework on roadside wall

The limestone cliffs along the creek corridor are home to walking ferns and amphibians that need special conditions to live. The outstanding tree in the woods of Cherokee Park is the American beech.  The bark of the American beech unlike most Kentucky native trees grows with the internal structure of the tree.  Most trees shed portions of bark over time but the Americon Beech does not.

Thin places - the Smoky Mountains

Horace Kephart wrote of the Smoky Mountains in Our Southern Highlanders.

"Characteristic, too, is the dreamy blue haze, like that of Indian summer intensified, that ever hovers over the mountains, unless they be swathed in cloud, or, for a few minutes, after a sharp rain-storm has cleared the atmosphere. Both the Blue Ridge and the Smoky Mountains owe their names to this tenuous mist. It softens all outlines, and lends a mirage-like effect of great distance to objects that are but a few miles off, while those farther removed grow more and more intangible until finally the sky-line blends with the sky itself."
 - Horace Kephart

The Smoky Mountains - Great Smoky Mountains National Park

We have some of the most beautiful places in our valleys and mountains.  Thin places are places where it is said that the boundary between earth and heaven is a thinner boundary.

Mr. Olmsted's Design

Louisville's first park was created in 1880 after exhuming bodies buried at a site at Jefferson and Eleventh Street.  The land became Baxter Square Park.   Andrew Cowan was one of Louisville's prominent businessmen.  Mr. Cowan communicated with Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. in 1891 about planning parks in general and with the thought of building parks for the city of Louisville.  Mr. Olmsted had designed the park in the interior of the Quartermaster Depot in Jeffersonville, Indiana in 1873.

Mr. Olmsted Sr. planned the system of eighteen parks and six tree lined parkways that connect them in the Louisville community in Kentucky.  Mr. Olmsted planned the parks system in collaboration with his partners before his retirement in 1895. 

In a report from the firm provided to the city in 1891, the site for Iroquois Park was described as a place "of sequestered character-a treasure of sylvan scenery." Though built before automobiles were in use for transportation much of the layout can be seen today. The park system has been a place for recreation and appreciation for people for over a hundred years. 

Iroquois Park has  a high knob in the central portion of its area.  At several locations stone steps are set in the hillside.  These steps are said to be a part of the Olmsted design for the Iroquois Park landscape.

Steps - Iroquois Park

Iroquois Park - Louisville Metro

Wildflower with Fall Foliage - Iroquois Park - Louisville Metro

The steep slopes of the knob are populated with American Beech, Fagus Grandifolia. The beech's bark is smooth. In contrast to many trees the outside of the tree continues to grow as the inside of the tree increases in size. Most trees shed portions of bark over time but the beech does not.

Some parts of the slope have Virginia Pine, Pinus Virginiana. These trees are a Kentucky native tree and are commonly seen where land that was once farm land is slowly becoming a habitat for trees. The Virginia Pines of Iroquois have adapted to the dry, rocky areas where many trees would have difficulty getting established.

Some of the trees at the edge of the slope near the golf course are yellow poplars, Liriodendron tuliphera. These trees produce large orange flowers that usually bloom in May. Yellow poplars are said to be more abundant in Kentucky than any other state.



What I saw - Brown County State Park

Land in Brown County, Indiana began to be purchased for a public park in the 1920s.   Originally  the purpose was stated to be for a wildlife preserve because that was the only  purpose sanctioned in Indiana state law. The site opened as a park in 1929. In 1934 the CCC began working to reclaim the land from the damage of heavy erosion. The CCC built trails and planted trees.  The spruce trees in the park were planted by the CCC.



North Overlook vista - The North Overlook Shelter was provided by the CCC

 

Strahl Lake

Ogle Lake - Built by the CCC

In addition the CCC built the lake known as Ogle Lake at the park.  The park gets much use but it has a beauty and an appeal that is not dampened by the volume of visitors.  There is a spirit among those who come.  The people just seem to make it work and share the park.

 

Thin Places - Kentucky

Thin places are places said to be different because the boundary between earth and heaven is thinner at those places.  The Sisters of Loretto live on a working farm in Marion County, Kentucky.  Father Stephen Theodore Badin provided the farm to the sisters before he moved to Indiana.  A statue of Father Badin is on the property.  He was the first Catholic priest ordained in the United States. 

Tree and Birdhouse - Sisters of Loretto - Loretto Motherhouse

Serviceberry tree - Loretto Motherhouse

Yellowwood tree - Loretto Motherhouse

Fall foliage - Loretto Farm

The sisters have planted 73 acres of native grasses and 15,400 trees. The trees provide a corridor that wildlife can use to travel to adjoining habitats in the region. The Knobs region in Kentucky is named for the high places, some of them hundreds of feet high, that are scattered across the region in Marion and Woodford counties.

There is a yellowwood tree, Cladrastis Kentukea, at the Loretto Motherhouse.   For those who appreciate Kentucky the species name of this tree brings a smile to the face.  Yellowwood has a limited range in comparison to most native trees.  Its range is generally Kentucky and portions of states nearby.  The bark of Yellowwood reminds one of the smooth bark of the American beech.

A pipeline has been proposed to run across rural Kentucky including much of Marion County. The proposed pipeline would be part of a system that would transport natural gas liquids from the shale producing areas in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to the petrochemical market in the northeast United States, as well as the petrochemical and export complex on the Gulf Coast. Natural gas liquids can include a variety of hydrocarbons, such as ethane, propane, butane, isobutane and pentane. The sisters have refused to let surveyors for the proposed pipeline on their property.

Tom FitzGerald is head of the Kentucky Resources Council. FitzGerald has spoken of the Loretto sisters and their farm land. "It is a precious place. They are a remarkably strong community of women."

Thin places are places where the boundary between earth and heaven is a thinner boundary.