New book shows images of old lake region

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June 19, 2009

‘Around Lake Cumberland’ a collection of photographs showing life before — and after — the dam

By CHRIS HARRIS, CJ Staff Writer The Commonwealth Journal Fri Jun 19, 2009, 02:14 PM EDT

People say time machines don’t exist, but they do — they’re called cameras. Snap a photo of a particular moment in time and save it. Wait years down the road, then take another look at the picture. You find yourself in another place and time, swimming in the texture and flavor of a bygone era.

That’s the feel of “Around Lake Cumberland,” a new book by Pulaski County natives Kris Applegate and Jarenda Miller. Members of the Pulaski County Historical Society, the mother-daughter team put a painstaking effort into crafting a priceless collection of photographs showing how things looked before Wolf Creek Dam formed Lake Cumberland, taking away an entire culture from an era destined to change, yet creating something totally new and wonderful.

You can also look and compare the images of the past to those of the present — or at least those that came after the lake was formed, beginning in 1951. Here now both a source of protection from flooding and the lifeblood of the local economy via tourism — but once upon a time, communities like Burnside enjoyed an importance, with grand hotels and status as a traveling hub, that has been long forgotten by many.

“Throughout our lives, stories about life along the Cumberland River were plentiful,” said Applegate. “We grew up listening to these stories and felt like we knew the people and their experiences. However, many of the folks telling these stories have now passed on. This book is an attempt to collect their stories and keep them alive for future generations.”

Applegate, a stay-at-home mom and author living near Louisville, and Miller, a self-employed author residing in Burnside, contacted Arcadia Publishing in June 2008. The next year was spent putting the book together — it went on sale on June 15 of this year.

“Almost as soon as we were given permission to write the book for Arcadia Publishing, we began asking folks to share their old photographs and stories,” said Applegate. “We made several trips to stops along the river outside of Burnside and Somerset including Burkesville, Jamestown, Creelsboro, and Marrowbone. The venture was very time consuming, consisting of many in-home visits, scanning photographs, sorting through the data, and writing the book.”

The task was challenging, particularly in locating the old photographs, which go back as far as the 19th century, and in obtaining permission to use them. Many of the photos’ original owners have passed on, and that made tracking down their collections and their current owners difficult. Though many individuals were happy to have their prized reminders of the past shared in the book — ”We are so thankful for their generosity,” said Applegate — others were reluctant out of concern that these irreplaceable treasures would be lost or damaged.

“The hardest photographs to obtain were from the lost communities including Rowena, Swan Pond Bottom and Horseshoe Bottom,” said Applegate. “These communities were sacrificed by the building of Wolfe Creek Dam and Lake Cumberland.”

Applegate said the book serves as a reminder of the many sacrifices made by earlier generations in a world that lacks the modern conveniences to which we’ve grown so accustomed.

“Life in the region was difficult to say the least,” said Applegate. “It is our hope this book positively preserves the area’s past for the future generations as well as infuse readers with a love and respect for the area.”

To celebrate this hymn to Lake Cumberland’s antiquity, The authors will have a book signing at the Grider Hill Boat Dock starting at 10 a.m. on July 4. “Around Lake Cumberland” is available at local retailers, online bookstores, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888) 313-2665 or www.arcadiapublishing.com.

Putting a copy in as many hands as possible indeed functions as a time machine would — to bring the past back to life. As civilization steams ahead, new trends emerge and our lost and history recedes further into the mists, it is clear the authors know the importance of keeping a still small flame alive to illuminate what was in this area’s hearts and minds.

“Unfortunately, many of those who remember the area before Lake Cumberland took their stories with them to the grave,” said Applegate. “It is important to preserve as many of the old stories as possible for future generations. This book provides an opportunity to learn about our ancestors’ contributions to the region. Understanding the past helps offer purpose to our future.”

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Features

Water Hazard
Money is in the federal budget for continued normal operation of the Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued safety guidelines for hundreds of fishermen who enjoy trout fishing in the Cumberland River below Wolf Creek Dam.
James Gray, project leader for the hatchery, said there have been no recent accidents below the dam. However, last summer, sudden opening of a sluice gate overturned a boat and a man and woman had to be fished out of the water, he said.
Fishing from the bank and from boats is highly popular immediately below Wolf Creek Dam. The often turbulent waters are teeming with rainbow trout stocked from the nearby hatchery.
Continued operation of the nearby trout hatchery was in doubt last year because $6.3 million to operate the facility at Wolf Creek and eight other national fish hatcheries was left out of the FY12 budget. The money has since been restored, Gray noted.
The hatchery at Wolf Creek produces 1 million trout each year with an annual budget of $907,000. “We’re operating normally,” said Gray.

March 22, 2012 1 Photo
Historic Masonic building gets well-deserved facelift
The large crane reaching to the top of the Masonic Building downtown is lifting workmen this week as they repoint bricks on the west side of one of the oldest structures in Somerset.
Bricks and mortar on the face of the Masonic Building reportedly are more than 120 years old. The building at 104 North Main Street just north of the courthouse was renovated or rebuilt about 1890 when it was purchased by Somerset Masonic Lodge No. 111.
There are conflicting memories whether an old hotel building, called the National Hotel, was torn down and the existing Masonic structure was built at the site, or whether the building, reportedly in bad state of repair, was renovated by the Masons. Herb Stone, a Somerset plumber who took care of the building for 40 years, said the original building definitely was renovated.

March 1, 2012 2 Photos
E'town execs offer hints to help resurrect Virginia Cinema
Like a slow-moving film plot, progress on the long-defunct Virginia Cinema seems to drag. Like the quest of any movie hero, the road to renovation is filled with obstacles and potential pitfalls.
But film-lovers know that the cavalry always rides in to save the day ... and local officials are hoping to find a little extra help from out of town as well.
The offices of the Downtown Somerset Development Corporation hosted a couple of special visitors on Wednesday: Emily West and Heath Seymour from Elizabethtown, Ky.
Apropos to their town’s on-screen heritage (given the 2005 movie “Elizabethtown,” based on the western Kentucky community), the two were on hand to help share their own experiences renovating a deserted movie theater and turning it into something citizens can be proud of — the same thing Gib Gosser, executive director of the Downtown Somerset Development Corporation (DSDC), hopes can be done with the Virginia Cinema on East Mt. Vernon Street.
“The Virginia Cinema project has really been floundering over the last six or seven years,” said Gosser. “We’ve been trying to get it off the ground and there’s not been much progress.”
Enter West and Seymour. West is the executive director of the State Theater in Elizabethtown — its version of the Virginia Cinema, a grand old movie house that had fallen into disrepair after it closed in the early 1980s — and Seymour is Elizabethtown’s counterpart to Gosser, as executive director at Elizabethtown Hardin County Heritage Council.

February 23, 2012 1 Photo
Unearthing History
“It’s a little curious.”
Martin Shearer, executive director of the Somerset-Pulaski County Development Foundation, was talking about apparent tunnels and walkways beneath the ground where the former Ferguson Shops were located. The development foundation, current owner, is preparing the land for possible industrial sites on property vacated by Crane Company in 2006.
“To rehabilitate the area, we’ve got to find out what’s below,” said Shearer. Both he and Mark Bastin, assistant executive director, admit to be completedly confounded by the unexpected, man-made cavities beneath the surface.

February 23, 2012 2 Photos
Oasis Cafe opens at Eagle Heights
Officials and well-wishers gathered Saturday morning to celebrate the grand opening of the Oasis Cafe with a ribbon cutting. The cafe, located on 115 Jordan’s Way off Ky. 914 and near Eagle Heights Church, is a full service restaurant with a lunch a dinner menu. Cafe will become the “Hope Kitchen” Monday through Saturday between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and will serve free meals to those in need. The Oasis Cafe is located at the same campus at the Oasis Care Center and Thrift Store.

February 19, 2012 1 Photo
Refining Moment
The plant manager of Somerset Refinery, evolving into Continental Refining Company, is one who Pulaski countians would call “one of us.”
Kristopher Gibson, son of Doyle and Deidra Gibson, is a native of Somerset. So is his wife, the former Kristen Flynn. Both Gibson and his wife are graduates of Somerset High School. They have two little Pulaski countians with another on the way.
Kristopher –– everybody calls him Kris –– knows his way around Somerset Refinery. He started working at the refinery as “summer help” in 1994 while still in high school.
Gibson earned his way up through the ranks in the maintenance department; as process operator and then operations manager. In 2006, Gibson left Somerset to work for Marathon Oil in Catlettsburg. He returned to Somerset Refinery in 2008 as plant manager.

February 16, 2012 3 Photos
Howl About That
A growing population of wild hogs has recently been making news in western Pulaski County while coyotes, a more widespread pest, continue to be a problem in many parts of the county.
Wayne Adams, who lives on Pitman Road off Ky. 192 along Pitman Creek, is totally frustrated with the number of coyotes around his place. He believes one of his dogs has been killed by coyotes, and he killed a coyote Sunday night attacking his other dog.
“I’ve got a night light outside and we feed our dogs out there,” said Adams. “Coyotes come into his yard all the time ... we see them.”
Adams said his little Blue Heeler, an Australian cattle dog, disappeared about a month ago and he is convinced coyotes killed him. His other dog, a mixed Blue Heeler and collie, was attacked by a coyote Sunday night shortly after dark.

February 15, 2012 1 Photo
A Sister Among Brothers-In-Arms
Somerset Police Department on Monday officially welcomed the first female officer in nearly two decades into its family.
“Make no bones about it, we take care of each other as brothers, and we’ll take care of our sister too,” said Acting SPD Police Chief Major Doug Nelson during Monday’s Somerset City Council meeting.
Newest SPD officer Courtney Brittle took the Oath of Office during the meeting from Pulaski District Court Judge Jeffrey Scott Lawless with a generous number of family and friends in attendance.

February 15, 2012 2 Photos
A Ray of Sunshine
Katelyn Collins has a smile that can light up a room, and it seems to do just that wherever she goes.
“She’s just so happy,” said Lisa Criswell, a Hopkins Elementary School 3rd grade teacher, who has worked with Katelyn for almost two years. “All the kids kind of feed off (her).”
Katelyn, a third-grade student at Hopkins, has seen her fair share of obstacles. She was born four months early in 2001 to mother Tawana Collins. She was one of a set of twins. The other twin did not survive.
Katelyn was born with several health issues.

February 12, 2012 2 Photos
Newspaper veteran name Publisher of Commonwealth Journal
SOMERSET — A fourth generation newspaperman has been named publisher of the Commonwealth Journal.
Rob McCullough, 50, who started working in a newspaper mailroom when he was 15, officially assumes his duties today. He succeeds Jack McNeely who has accepted a position with the Daily Mountain Eagle in Jasper, Alabama.

February 2, 2012 1 Photo
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