Kentucky Ambassador

by Callie

When I’m not obsessing over my teaching job or pondering what blog post I’m going to compose next, I’m *supposed to be* writing my dissertation so I can finally be not-a-student.

My dissertation topic is one that usually requires quite a bit of explanation as to why it matters so I’m not going to go into it right now. Just trust me that it is worth studying.

I’m writing my dissertation on off-road trucks! and that topic took me to South Dakota this past July.



Trucks!

Why a girl from Kentucky would have to travel all the way to South Dakota to find some boys riding around the woods in trucks may not be perfectly clear. I mean Kentucky is full of fellas that put big ole' tires on otherwise ordinary trucks and drive through mud or wooded areas all the time. But the idea of actually making this into a research subject was inspired by a trip I took to the Black Hills Cruiser Classic in South Dakota in 2005 and the very serious trucks (really pieces of folk art) that I saw while there. It seemed only right that I go back to where I started and pester those same folks for help with my dissertation. They were all more than willing to oblige and I also made several new friends in the process.

Some of these new friends were three brave souls from that strange and foreign land, Canada, who pulled into the campground late one night and asked about the campsites next to us. We warned them that it got a little rowdy whenever this particular Kentucky crowd met up with our Minnesota buddies but they were more than welcome to join us. And join us they did putting us to shame each and every night with their ability to talk trucks and drink American beer well into the darker morning hours.



How a Kentuckian uses a cold South Dakota stream on a hot summer day.

The event ended with a great dinner and the drawing for raffle prizes. Our Canadian neighbors had put together a prize package that highlighted the more exotic aspects of Canadian life – cold weather, not everyone carrying handguns (come on!), Canadian beer, and hockey – and one of them gave a very informative ambassador-like presentation of the prizes.

I’d like to think that these fellas found it as interesting that I was from a place like “Kentucky” as I was of them being from “Canada.” After all, I have never been made so aware of the fact that I use the term “big ole’” as an adjective for almost everything as I was when around my new “eh” saying friends.

So… when it was mentioned to me that they have a truck event in Canada in February (they’re nuts!) called the River Shiver and would love a Kentucky prize package, I was very excited to give it a try. I thought it would be really fun to distill my lovely state down to a small box of what I thought gave off a unique Kentucky essence. So, here is a portion of the explanatory letter I sent along with artifacts:

I thought explaining Kentucky with a few objects would be really easy, but then I found out I couldn’t mail any alcohol to Canada. So I had to take a new approach.

Instead I ended up focusing on my hometown: Rabbit Hash, Kentucky. I included a map of my county, Boone County, so you wouldn’t think I was lying when I told you the name of the place. If you open the map, you’ll find other interesting towns in the area such as Sugar Tit, Big Bone Lick, and, yes, even Beaver Lick. I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that there is even a Beaver Lick Baptist Church. How lovely!

I also threw in quite a bit of Rabbit Hash swag:

First off is a t-shirt representing the Rabbit Hash IronWorkers and their many duties:



To make the perfect and most stylish Rabbit Hash ensemble, I also included a hat which features Herb the Hillbilly, the town spokesman. He perpetuates the old stereotype of crazy hill people totin’ guns and drinkin’ shine. Not all of us look like this anymore.



But some of us do.

And that’s why I put in the Rabbit Hash movie, "Rabbit Hash: The Center of the Universe." This is a documentary about our “politics.” In it, you’ll meet some of the more colorful folks from the town. The film talks about our first “election” when a dog became mayor. We’re now on our third dog-mayor. People have stopped even trying to win; no one wants that.

And, the corn cob pipe. I felt really silly and somehow guilty writing “corn cob pipe” on the customs form I had to fill out, as if this is the one thing that would keep the package from arriving safely. While this says “Rabbit Hash” on it, I feel as if it is more representative of the entire state. After all, Kentucky’s number one cash-crop is marijuana and its number one LEGAL cash-crop is tobacco. Since I couldn’t send either of those, I sent this. So, if you got it, put it in the pipe and smoke it.



Now that the Super Bowl is over, America has turned all of its attention to NCAA men’s basketball. And guess what: The University of Kentucky is Number 1. That means that everyone is rushing to their nearest Wal-Mart stores to purchase college apparel in support of their team. This is the time of the year that people can be really proud to be from Kentucky because we’re not all over the news because of something bad, but because we are dominating in sports! And that’s all that really matters… So I sent some corny UK magnets and a hat. I hear its cold up there.

And finally, because you are all truck people and are bound to run into a tree or rock or who knows what else every once in awhile, I sent you a tool that will get rid of any blemish. I sent you a roll of Kentucky chrome, aka. duct tape. It not only fixes anything that breaks but sure gives a nice classy shine to any automobile! And I hear it is a good idea to keep some in your first aid kit for medical emergencies.

So, there you have it. My representation of Kentucky became reduced to my hometown, stereotypes, illicit activities, sports, and more stereotypes. It was intended to be funny and to entertain those Canucks  (is that a slur...) the way they had entertained me – by poking fun of what is often associated with our respective homes. Of course, I feel there is much more that Kentucky has to offer but I didn’t think that an event based on driving trucks through the Canadian wilderness in February was necessarily the best place to wax poetic about how the people in Kentucky are amazing, about how beautiful the rolling hills are, or even to provide some of the interesting history. But I hope my act was seen an act of friendship and of a round-about-pride in the best of the 50 United States.

'Til I Hitched a Ride on a Riverboat Queen

by Callie

But back to the cruise:

Remember Saturday, January 21, 2012? Most days of this new year have been relatively warm with no form of exciting precipitation. You know, except for the ice storm on the night of Jan. 20 that left plants, buildings, roads, and walkways covered in ice all that day.


Ice can be dangerous but so darn pretty.

Well, it was also the day chosen months and months in advance for the 1937 Flood Anniversary Cruise: an all-day cruise on BB Riverboat's Belle of Cincinnati from their port in Newport, KY, downriver to Rabbit Hash, and back to Newport.


This ice was all over the Belle.

A little ice was no deterrent to those who had actually survived the flood 75 years before so, slowly but surely, we all shuffled our feet on the icy ramp up to the boat and set sail.

Passengers were assigned a table on the second or third deck of the boat for meal times and the first deck was reserved for lectures. This was an educational cruise, after all. However, the lectures piped throughout the entire boat so if some passengers chose to stay at their table, play cards, watch the river go by through the window, and drink Bloody Marys all day, they could still hear the lecture.


View of the second deck's seating area. And that breakfast was delicious.

We listened to two lectures on our way down river. The first, given by Dan Hurley from Channel 12 news and the Cincinnati Historical Society, did his lecture on the 1937 flood and its impact on Cincinnati residents. As a Folklorist, I really appreciated his approach to his material: collecting oral histories from people who actually lived through the flood. It was amazing to hear some of the comments after the lecture by people who were born into the chaos right before, during, and after the flood and were on the trip celebrating their 75th birthdays. The stories they shared were stories they had been told their entire lives: about how their parents, with baby it tow or mom pregnant to the point of exploding, escaped their homes in rowboats.


The lovely lecture deck.

Understanding the importance of collecting oral stories from individuals who survived this flood or had heard stories about it throughout their lives, the Boone County Library was on board in a tiny room labeled the “Oral History Room” for the day. This was a place passengers could go to record their stories to be archived.


Between lectures, I braved the ice and cold and took in the river scenes. Here, we're preparing to go under the 275 bridge between KY and IN.

The second lecture, given by Greg Bogosian was on the stories about Seckatary Hawkins and his gang who solved mysteries in a river town. These books were based in the Northern Kentucky area and author Robert Schulkers’s familiarity with the Ohio and Licking Rivers. Of course, the flood affected these poor fellas and their solving of mysteries.

We were scheduled to arrive in Rabbit Hash around noon so a bit before, I shuffled over the ice to the pilot house with my dad. In his natural environment, behind a microphone and on top of a riverboat, he pointed out notable sites as we approached our town and gave a brief history of the place.


My favorite part was the view from the Pilot House. The man in the foreground is driving the boat and that's my dad behind him lecturing to the whole boat.

I thoroughly enjoyed tagging along and was able to see my town from a whole different perspective.



Did you know all the roofs were red?

It took a while to chop the ice from the platform. The crew used salt, hammers, and anything they could get their hands on.



Passengers finally were able to file off the boat CAREFULLY and explore Rabbit Hash until 1:30. In that time, Rabbit Hash’s Scalded Hog served them a lunch of ham sandwiches and bean soup.

We departed right on time and headed back to Newport. Soon after our departure, more lectures began.

First up was Rick Bell (who will also be speaking at the Behringer Crawford flood exhibit opening on Feb. 17) who wrote The Great Flood of 1937, the first book completely dedicated to the subject of the flood. He focused on how the flood impacted the Louisville area and also showed many images of how the flood impacted towns along the entire length of the Ohio River. These images were amazing and I'm not showing them here because they're all available in his book.


During another trip outside, I witnessed a barge traffic jam near Lawrenceburg, IN's Tanner's Creek Generating Station.

Our last topic of the day was on the history of steamboats, given by Chuck Parrish. Chuck is retired from the Army Corps of Engineers and is now on the advisory board for the Rivers Institute at Hanover College. Part of his presentation was a viewing of the Two Hundred Years of Steamboating: 1811-2011, a film that provides the history of the first steamboat to go up and down the Ohio River. The New Orleans, captained by Nicholas Roosevelt, made a voyage that forever changed our nation. (I know that sounds corny but it is very true.)

After all of the lectures, we had an official happy hour with old timey snacks followed soon after by another wonderful meal cooked aboard the Belle. It was a good time to unwind. Throughout the day, Banjo Bob played wonderful riverboat/bluegrass tunes for us and during happy hour, Dad joined him and sang some songs that he had written about the river.


Dad and Banjo Bob playing some river tunes.

We were even fortunate enough to have Captain Alan Bernstein, owner of BB Riverboats, share some interesting stories about the river and the Belle of Cincinnati.


The Belle was originally built to be a gambling boat in Iowa and was called the Emerald Lady. This "Emerald Lady" is still on the boat when you enter. She is etched onto glass.

The most entertaining of these was a tale explaining why the Belle of Cincinnati is considered a pirate vessel and prominently flies a pirate flag. (This is a very involved story about a race with the Belle of Louisville and some stolen golden antlers.)


Aboard a pirate ship and they got a flag to prove it

Many people had been itching all day to enjoy the river going by out on the decks but the cold air and dangerous ice kept many away. However, as we approached Cincinnati in the dark and could see the beautiful lights, people ventured out for photos. A search light was also positioned on the Kentucky side of the boat to shine at 80 feet providing a visual of the buildings and roadways we were passing that would have been underwater 75 years ago from that exact day.


Spotlighting a church for the sake of history. Imagine that high water!

We all had hoped for the beautiful weather that we had been seeing before and even after the boat ride. However, it was agreed upon by many that the cold air and the ice really helped to capture the discomfort and chaos of those who lived through the 1937 flood. They were cold and uncomfortable but were forced to overcome in order to survive.

Although we too were cold, afraid of slipping, and very tired from our 12 hours in the frigid river air, the trip ended with a great feeling. We’d spent the entire day enjoying ourselves despite the weather and had repeatedly discussed how in a disaster, it is human nature to pull together and care for those around you. It was a nice reminder that goodness can come from tragedy and that while many homes were lost, very few lives were.


That line from "Proud Mary" makes perfect sense.

The end... finally.

I Never Saw the Good Side of the City... Part II

by Callie

Just in case you haven't heard of the 1937 flood, here's a little history:

The first three months of any year are usually the most susceptible to floods. If the temperature warms to above freezing and there is any rain, the rain along with any melting snow or frost means that quite a bit of water rushes into the streams and rivers. A record amount of rain fell in the beginning of January 1937 (over 18 inches in some places) and the water rose quickly.

People all along rivers and streams experienced dangerous flooding in 1883, 1884, 1913, and a few in between. However, they had never seen the likes of this.


Bird’s eye view of riverfront during the 1937 flood, courtesy of UC's Community Design Center's Urban Database

Today in Cincinnati, the Ohio River has a depth of around 30 feet and is considered at flood stage when it reaches 52 feet. But in 1937, before many dams were built, the Ohio River was much shallower and not as wide as it is today. So it's pretty incredible to imagine the river reaching its official record of 79.99 feet on Jan. 26, 1937.

(I should mention that although the record states 79.99 feet, many have written that the water was actually well over 80 feet. It has been speculated, but not confirmed, that this is because insurance policies would not cover anything over 80 feet.)

Towns all along the Ohio River and its tributaries were completely under water. Homes were turned over on their sides or completely removed from their foundations and floated down river. If you're interested, the Kenton County Library has several images.


Although taken in 1964 and not 1937, this photo shows how dangerous living along the river can be.

Again, to provide some comparison, the only flood in my lifetime to even come close was the flood of 1997, in the record books at only 64.7 feet.


The Rabbit Hash General Store in the Flood of 1997. At its highest in '97, the water reached the bottom of the shutters. In 1937, the water went as far as the attic of the store.

The 1937 flood was considered a disaster and the story become front-page news all over the nation.


This is a still taken from this pretty incredible amateur documentary about the flood

The Red Cross was extremely helpful to those who were left homeless, but many people were so devastated by the flooding that they moved away from the places they had called home their entire lives.


This building was once a store in Rabbit Hash and the 1937 flood lifted it from its foundation and floated it up the hill behind it. It was then attached to another building and still stands today.

In Rabbit Hash, this particular flood took many of the town’s buildings and quite a large segment of the population moved out after their homes were destroyed. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that Rabbit Hash had the life breathed back into it.


To be continued.... again...

I Never Saw the Good Side of the City... Part I

by Callie

Welcome to my first blog post – ever.

As Becky introduced us, I’m a relatively young person with a serious interest in my home state of Kentucky. I grew up in the wonderful town of Rabbit Hash, KY in Boone County. It is located along the Ohio River directly across from Rising Sun, IN.

Growing up in Northern Kentucky, that little cluster of counties shoved right up there between Ohio and Indiana, I swore I’d never, ever, ever live in either of those two states. Well, as luck would have it, those are the only other states I’ve lived.


The Rabbit Hash General Store!

Growing up in a place like Rabbit Hash left me with a strange outlook on the world that I didn’t quite understand but wanted to. That desire, and a lack of direction after graduating college, led me to pursue “advanced degrees.”

The one place in the country that offered an MA in what I wanted to study, Popular Culture, was Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio so that’s where I went. That led me to an interest in Folklore and the only place in the country that awards a PhD in Folklore is Indiana University in Bloomington, IN.

While I’m still technically a student there since I haven’t finished that whole dissertation thing, I am once again residing in my hometown of Rabbit Hash.


The log cabin I grew up in, and now live in again, along the Ohio River in Rabbit Hash, KY

Since coming back to Kentucky, I’ve had the fortune of reconnecting (not that I was ever really disconnected) to my homeland. I spent some time editing my MA thesis about Rabbit Hash and turned it into a book. (If you’re so inclined, you can check it out. All proceeds go the Rabbit Hash Historical Society.) That has led to a few “public appearances” at local libraries, on local news, radio, and cable access.

I've also been volunteering some time at the Behringer Crawford Museum (in Devou Park), collecting information for an upcoming exhibit on the impact of floods in the area. Other than that, I can be found teaching at NKU part time or hanging out in the Rabbit Hash General Store.


Becky and me, bringing in 2012 in the General Store

Quite a bit of my interests were instilled in me by my father, Don Clare. He’s President of the  Rabbit Hash Historical Society, a founding member of the Friends of Big Bone (the park – I’m sure there will be a future blog entry about the strange place names in NKY), longtime member of the Boone County Historic Preservation Review Board, and many other organizations. I guess we could call him a Historic Activist for the NKY area.

Recently, one of his committees, a posse put together for the sole purpose of commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Great Flood of 1937, culminated in a riverboat cruise on the BB Riverboat The Belle of Cincinnati. I was fortunate enough to be one of the 350 passengers on this cruise and felt it would be the perfect way to introduce myself on this blog.


The Belle of Cincinnati docked in Rabbit Hash

To be continued...

Howdy.

You may be thinking that this is a bizarre name for a blog.

Well, in addition to being a line from "My Old Kentucky Home," we thought it evoked the spirit of our ramblings.

We're young. We're Kentucky folks. And... We roll.


Becky and Callie on the porch of the Rabbit Hash General Store in a photo taken by Josh

We have adventures across the Bluegrass State and have ponderous thoughts to share on our history and culture. We like Kentucky, in all of its weird, rural, complicated glory. We like meeting diverse Kentuckians. We like bourbon whiskey.

And we hope you like this blog.