Ashley Fetner Fine Art Photography

From October of 1960 through 1964, I was glued to the television once a week watching Route 66.  As a normal teenage girl, I loved watching Todd (Martin Milner) and Buzz (George Maharis) travel around the United States looking for adventure in Todd’s cool red corvette with a rag top!  Ashley and I were fortunate to own a 1959 red rag top “vette” with a 1964 - 327 engine with glass packs and also a 1965 Nassau Blue Sting Ray.  Now with this history, it made sense on our trip to Kentucky, to visit the National Corvette Museum!  The museum, built in 1994, is located in Bowling Green Kentucky just off of I-65 at exit 28.  The one-hundred and fifteen thousand square foot building houses over eighty Corvette models with exhibits and displays that change periodically.  Since 1953 the Corvette was known as “Americas Sports Car”.  The museum was established to celebrate the Corvette in its present, past and future, to educate the public and to have a place where “Vette” lovers could gather. The museum has established a Corvette Hall of Fame, where those who have been involved with the car and made significant contributions in their individually fields are recognized.  Each year two to four persons are elected to this honor and their photographs are hanging in the museum.  “Vette” fans refer to the National Corvette Museum as their “Mecca”.  It is definitely a place you should visit if you are in the area.  As they say “Tach” it up, drop the clutch and drive on over to the National Corvette Museum”!

Kay

In Frankfort Kentucky, located on the state capitol grounds, is a beautiful floral clock.  This unique clock was dedicated in May of 1961 by Governor Bert T. Combs.  The Garden Club of Kentucky, along with the state government worked together on this project that has become a state tourist attraction as well as the most visited place in Frankfort.  Canada has a floral clock at Niagara Falls, there are others located in Europe and some smaller ones around the United States.  Unlike these clocks that rest on an earth surface, the Kentucky clock is suspended over a thirty-six foot pool of water that is approximately four and one-half feet deep.  Visitors use the pool as a “wishing well” - the coins are collected every three weeks and used for scholarship programs in the state.  In fact within the first three years, six-thousand dollars in coins were collected from the pool!  The face of the clock is thirty-four feet across and the planter weighs one hundred tons.  The plants that fill the clock are grown at the state owned greenhouse near the capitol and it takes ten-thousand plants to fill the clock!  The word Kentucky is spelled out in large letters around the clock.  The minute hand is twenty feet long and the hour hand is fifteen feet long and both weigh about five hundred pounds.   So how does the clock work to keep perfect time? “The hands move every sixty seconds, like this:  the twenty-foot minute hand makes a sudden, broad sweep, and the fifteen-foot hour hand shifts distinctly to keep pace with it. The works consist of six gears, an electric meter, and an infinitely accurate control mechanism that makes corrections every hour and even resets the clock in case the power fails. All this is enclosed in the stone pedestal on which the planter rests.”  In 1962 the National Council of the State Garden Clubs, presented Kentucky with a Bronze Seal Award for the Commonwealth’s efforts to beautify the state capitol grounds.  In 2002 the capitol grounds and the clock were featured on HGTV’s Great American Gardens.

Kay

Cumberland Falls, in Corbin Kentucky is said to be the largest waterfall south of Niagara Falls and east of the Rocky Mountains. In fact some have named Cumberland Falls “The Niagara of the South.”

Depending on the season the distance from the lower lip of the falls can range from fifty-five feet to sixty-eight feet.  In the times when the Cumberland River floods, the falls have been known to expand from one hundred twenty-five feet to three hundred feet in width and  over time constant erosion  has caused the waterfalls to recede and disappear.  There are some who believe that Cumberland Falls has already retreated about forty-five miles upstream to the present location.  Cumberland Falls is famous for the moonbow that can only been seen on a clear night during a full moon.  This phenomenon occurs when moon light is refracted in the mist rising below the falls and does not occur anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere.  In fact the only other place to see a moonbow is at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe Africa!   Unfortunately we were not there at the right time to photograph the moonbow—that will be another trip!

Kay

Cumberland Falls is located in the Cumberland Plateau region of the eastern United States near Corbin Kentucky. The Cumberland Plateau consists of deep valleys, wild rivers, rocky gorges, steep cliffs, dense forest and waterfalls.  At the Cumberland Falls State Park there are more than twenty miles of scenic trails, some which connect to backpacking trails in the Daniel Boone National Forest.

Kay

Anderson County was named after US Congressman Richard Clough Anderson and was formed from parts of Franklin, Mercer and Washington counties in 1817.  The county seat is located in Lawrenceburg Kentucky which was established in 1820 and named after Captain James Lawrence, commander of the Chesapeake.  The first Anderson County Courthouse was constructed from brick in 1830, however it burned in 1859. In 1861 the second courthouse was constructed from Kentucky River Stone and in 1915 it was also damaged by fire.  The present courthouse was constructed from the stone walls that were left after the fire.  In 1967 the movie “The Flim-Flam Man” was filmed in the Lawrenceburg area with some of the major scenes filmed in front of the Anderson County Courthouse.  The movie was based on the novel by Guy Owen, screenplay written by William Rose and directed by Irvin Kershner  Some of the major stars in the cast included, Harry Morgan, George C. Scott, Sue Lyons, Jack Albertson and Slim Pickens. That night after photographing the courthouse we enjoyed watching the video of “The Flim-Flam Man” –

Kay

Natural Bridge State Park is located in Slade Kentucky, where visitors have been coming since 1889 to see this natural wonder.  The Natural Bridge is sixty-five feet high, seventy-eight feet long and forty feet thick.  It is composed of Pottsville Conglomeratic Sandstone and believed by some geologists to be a million years old. In 1889 the Kentucky Union Railway built trails and campgrounds for visitors to hike camp and enjoy this beautiful landscape.   In 1926 the Louisville Nashville Railroad purchased the property and donated it to the Kentucky State Parks System   The 2,369 acre State Park is surrounded by the Daniel Boone National Forest and offers more than twenty miles of hiking trails, camping facilities and many more recreational opportunities. This view is along “The Original Trail”    that we hiked to the Natural Bridge.  It is a 0.75 mile trail that was built in the 1890’s and is the shortest and easiest trail to the bridge. The trail climbs over five-hundred feet through a dense forest of hemlock, yellow popular, white pine and thick areas of rhododendron. There are trail shelters along the way if you want to “sit a spell” and take in the nature that abounds around you –

Kay

Natural Bridge State Park is located in Slade Kentucky, where visitors have been coming since 1889 to see this natural wonder.  The Natural Bridge is sixty-five feet high, seventy-eight feet long and forty feet thick.  It is composed of Pottsville Conglomeratic Sandstone and believed by some geologists to be a million years old. In 1889 the Kentucky Union Railway built trails and campgrounds for visitors to hike camp and enjoy this beautiful landscape.   In 1926 the Louisville Nashville Railroad purchased the property and donated it to the Kentucky State Parks System   The 2,369 acre State Park is surrounded by the Daniel Boone National Forest and offers more than twenty miles of hiking trails, camping facilities and many more recreational opportunities.

Kay

Lover’s Leap Winery, located in Anderson County Kentucky, was named after the nearby-by Lover’s Leap Mountain Cliff that rises five hundred and forty-eight feet above the Kentucky River.  On the thirty acres of limestone-enriched soil, ten different varieties of grapes are grown. Their Peach Bellini has won “Taste of the Bluegrass” three years in a row.  After a tour and wine tasting, you may want to take advantage of the wonderful front porch and view—a glass of wine—a comfortable chair – soothing to the soul –

Kay  

The Shaker Village of Pleasantville near Harrodsburg Kentucky is the largest restored Shaker Village Community in the United States as well as a National Historic Landmark.  The village has thirty- three restored nineteenth century buildings and over three thousand acres of farmland.  Self guided tours and other activities are offered as well as an Inn, restaurant and beautiful handmade Shaker arts and crafts. This wonderful spiral staircase is located in the Shaker Village Inn.

Kay

If you are a follower of this blog you know that I love trees and am always looking for them in our travels.  While in Kentucky we found this beautiful Osage Orange Tree.  William Dunbar, a Scottish explorer, gave the earliest account of the Osage Orange Tree in 1804 as he traveled from St. Catherine’s Landing on the Mississippi River to the Ouachita River.  The wood from the Osage Orange is a very dense, strong, flexible, durable wood that is used in the making of tool handles, fence posts, and any other products that require a stable wood that will not rot.  The Native Americans used this wood for making their bows and would travel several hundred miles to find it.  It was said a good Osage bow was” worth a horse and blanket”. This particular tree is located on the grounds of Old Fort Harrod State Park in Harrodsburg Kentucky.  Fort Harrod is where James Harrod in 1714 established the first permanent settlement west of the Alleghenies in what is now Central Kentucky.  The tree is circa late eighteenth century and is eighty-eight feet tall.  The circumference of the tree standing is twelve feet and four inches and the diameter at breast height is fifty-six inches. It is taller and broader than the National Champion but remains the Unofficial National Champion due to the split trunk.

Kay