[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] >> Hello, and welcome to Kentucky Life.
I'm your host Doug Flynn.
Today, I'm getting out and about in Somerset, but first, I wanted to stop and take in the scenery here at Pulaski County Park in Nancy.
This 804 acre park on Lake Cumberland is just one of the many hidden gems in this area, and they've got plenty of things to do, from hiking to boating and camping, and of course, fishing.
You can usually find me out fishing on these waters most Saturdays in the fall and winter.
Well, one of the many great things about the Somerset area is you're about five minutes from anywhere.
So, I'm going to head on into town to see what's going on there, and you, enjoy this segment in the meantime.
[MUSIC] >> For centuries, throughout the world's different cultures, beads have long been a desired addition to clothing styles.
>> When you see them move, they sparkle.
They move.
They reflect the light no matter where you are, which was probably one of the principle reasons that beading was so popular in the 20s, because that was the beginning of nightclubs, but the dresses still sparkled because they reflected every little bit of light that was there, and they still do.
>> But beading is labor intensive, a time consuming art, and beaded garments are not easily produced.
>> If you look at African beading, and other forms of beading, whether it's wampum belts and things within Native cultures, much of that is sewn on a single bead at a time.
>> Bob Haven of Lexington discovered a different style of beading that originated in India, tambour beading, a style that creates the same beauty as traditional beading.
>> He wanted to learn about tambour beading, which is really a beading form with strings of beads.
>> As he studied tambour, Haven discovered what fashion experts in Paris had learned, what tambour offered, the efficiency of attaching a string of beads quickly rather than stitching one bead at a time.
>> It's used in the haute couture industry in Paris, because even though it is labor intensive, it is still 10 times faster than doing it by needle and thread, and you can do many, many more things with a tambour hook than you can do with a needle and thread.
>> One obstacle in tambour beading is the artist works from behind the design, with the fabric actually facing down and away from him.
>> The tambour technique, even though you're not seeing it from the surface, because you're working on the back of the frame...
I always keep a little hand mirror, so I can stick it underneath and see how it looks, because if I don't like what I just put in, in three seconds or less, it can all come out without damaging the fabric.
>> The real challenge is the coordination between the tambour hook and the left hand to attain the exactness needed in the beading design.
>> The difficulty with it is that the left hand has to do 99% of the work, and most people are not lefthanded.
So, there is a huge learning curve to get that left hand to be able to manipulate the thread, manipulate the bead, make sure the tension stays correct.
There's a lot of fine motor skills that are needed by the left hand.
>> At a special exhibition at the Behringer Crawford Museum in Covington, From Rituals to Runways: The Art of the Bead, curator Jason French found the best in show was having Robert Haven.
Haven had done much bead work restoration on dresses worn by the performer Cher.
They were the highlight of the show.
>> His talent level is just spectacular.
He's meticulous.
I don't know that there's many that are like him.
He's had years and years of experience.
>> Bob's work is known worldwide throughout the industry.
He is in high demand and is teaching future students of the tambour, but he still loves working with the women of Kentucky in the Ms. Kentucky Scholarship Pageant, like Haley B. Wheeler, Ms. Kentucky, 2021, embellishing the gowns and their boots.
[MUSIC] At the Rosemary Clooney House in Augusta, Heather French Henry is quite confident in trusting her collection of dresses from great movie classics into the hand of Bob Haven.
[MUSIC] >> Bob Haven is working on a very special dress that belonged to Arlene Doll from the movie Here Come the Girls.
Rosemary Clooney starred in that with Tony Martin, Bob Hope, and Arlene Doll.
This particular black sequin dress of Arlene Doll's is very intricate, and it has hand beaded sequins throughout the gown, but it had been altered over time.
So, the center front actually had been cut down a few inches.
What we're having Bob do is actually recreate the silhouette of the dress as people would've seen it in the movie.
Bob is a master, and when you watch the artistry with which he's able to recreate and bead, it really is a marvel, and you almost can become entranced when you watch that, and how fast as well.
So, when you've perfected that art and you're able to create it, not only at that level of perfection and craftsmanship, but at the speed with which he does it, it really is a marvel.
>> And for Bob, the work is rewarding.
>> I think it's the speed of it, and the "wow" factor when you turn it over and it's like, "Whoa, that really looks cool."
You see something come to life right in front of your face.
[MUSIC] [MUSIC] >> I've made it to the heart of Somerset, and this gem isn't so hidden.
Fountain Square has been a downtown staple since it was constructed in 1908.
At the time it was built, Somerset was referred to as the "little queen city," due to its railroad relationship with Cincinnati.
So, the city decided to adopt the same name of the famed Fountain Square in the big queen city up north.
As a matter of fact, I also have a special connection between Somerset and Cincinnati, because this is where I went to my very first Reds tryout camp on the way to the major leagues.
I want to take a stroll down memory lane and check out some more gems, and you check out this one.
>> Hey, one, two, three.
Once we send a kid down the hill, they're pretty much hooked, because it's a lot of [MUSIC] fun.
Soapbox Derby Racing is a STEM activity.
It's for kids age 7 to 21.
We build cars for them.
They get in the cars.
They drive them.
It's gravity powered racing.
>> There's no engine or no motor, just a brake and a steering wheel and weights.
The kids learn to drive the vehicle.
They learn the importance of weight distribution, the aerodynamics of a car, the importance of their position in a car, and driving a track, and of course, braking, but they learn all that to try to compete and be the best competitor they can be.
Soapbox is a really inviting sport, so anyone can do it.
You don't have to have a certain amount of skill or anything.
It's really fun.
I have a lot of friends in Soapbox and so that's the second part that I enjoy of it, but the first is that I just love racing Soapbox.
>> We have three tracks in Western Kentucky, here, Bowling Green, and Madisonville and we're pretty fortunate.
We've got a lot of good kids and parents that are involved.
>> It's a great family sport.
You're not going to find a better sport if you want to spend time with your kids and parents.
>> It's hard when you have to race your friend, because you both want to win, and you want them to win, but when you win, you're really proud of yourself, because you know everyone here is really good and just as good as each other.
>> For 30 seconds, they want to kick each other's butt, but other than that, they love spending time with their competitors, and not many sports do they actually have such a bond with their actual competitors.
What they get to learn, how to race responsibly, ethically, and have so much fun doing that.
What I enjoy the most are the ones that don't have a lot of experience, and they're just happy.
They're just happy they got down the hill.
They didn't hit the guardrail.
They didn't run across the line.
In the beginning, they're kind of a little swervy and then, as the day goes, the car gets straighter and gets straighter.
You can see the confidence build in the child, >> and once the child believes in themselves, that makes all the difference in the world.
When you get the bug for Soapbox, you travel.
>> You've got, here, people from Georgia.
You've got people from West Virginia.
You've got people from Northern Kentucky, Southern Kentucky, Western Kentucky, all over the place.
We race all over the country.
We love Kentucky people and racing up here.
It's a great facility.
Last year, we drove over 33,000 miles and a couple of flights for races.
So, we're a little bit addicted to it.
You can travel across the nation, and you don't have to if you don't want to.
You can stay locally and easily qualify.
This is called a rally race.
The easiest comparison is NASCAR.
All the kids here today are racing to earn points.
After they've earned enough points, they'll get an invitation to go to the world championships in Akron, Ohio in July, and compete on the world level.
>> When I started, we raced downtown on Main Street, and after I raced for about four years, we finally got the funding to pave our own track, and that was really nice for us.
We were able to start having rally competitions and expand a lot locally.
It gave it a sense of home.
>> It's a track that you have to stay focused, from the beginning to the end, because if you give up that little bit, the other guy is going to catch you.
>> For our local race, we used to run on one of the city streets.
The Lions Club got together, and after actually seeing the track in Bowling Green, I thought, "Hey, we could do this in Owensboro  and so they raised the money and had the track build out here.
If >> you go to Owensboro, it's a much faster track, shorter track.
The >> kids, when they cross the finish line, are going probably 35, 36 miles an hour.
>> Bowling Green is a longer track, faster than us but slower than Owensboro.
Once this track was established, and working with the other two tracks, all of a sudden we saw more world championships being won by Western Kentucky drivers.
It just kind of helped make them more rounded drivers because they were on three totally different tracks.
And I was the first world champion to ever come out of the state of Kentucky, and since then, we've had seven.
>> I won in 2015.
So, that was my third year in Akron, and I was only 11 at the time.
It was just such a great experience.
When you win like that, you just feel like you're on top of the world.
When my son won the world championship, [MUSIC] >> nothing but tears, because everybody works hard.
Everybody works hard to get there.
When they win, your stress levels drop pretty fast, and your emotions change quite a bit.
It's been one of the best things that's ever happened to me, so I recommend it to anyone.
[MUSIC] >> Just outside of downtown is the Rocky Hollow Park where locals come to escape the hustle and bustle of the city, to walk the trails, play disc golf or basketball, or take in a show in this beautiful amphitheater.
I think I may go wander around the park >> to take in some more scenery, and here's a new story for you to take in.
>> This is sacred ground.
It was a community that was thriving and had people live there that gave much back to this county in this history of Woodford County.
[MUSIC] >> We all share it together as family, and >> this was a loving and peaceful >> place.
Huntertown was an African American Hamlet settled in 1871, and a Hamlet was a community of formerly enslaved people who were able to purchase their own property and start their own lives in a new place with freedom after the Civil War was over.
>> In 1871, the first five acre tract was purchased by a US colored troop veteran, Jerry Gatewood.
Soon after, African American families settled there, and together, they formed a community.
>> It was a thriving community for over 130 years.
>> Residents had almost everything they needed to survive and make a living, tobacco fields, vegetable gardens, livestock, stores, and most of all, each other.
An important element in the community was the Huntertown Colored School, >> which operated from 1895 until 1940.
>> Anything they needed to travel for, they were able to catch the Riney B, which was a railroad that ran straight through Huntertown, and operated until 1932 when the railroad was discontinued.
>> was born and raised here, and I picked black berries along the railroad tracks, and people would buy them from me in the summertime.
>> We never had running water out there.
They always called the land crawfish land.
>> A lot of the times, the land that was sold to former slaves was not land that would be suitable for agricultural purposes, so it was a wetland.
It had always had issues with water.
>> Residents found ways to live around the flooding problems up until the community was split.
Once the Bluegrass Parkway Project was complete in 1965.
>> They really hurt everybody when the BG Parkway came through, because it took my aunt's, her house, and some of the other residents' >> homes when they put that bridge in.
It wasn't long before people started moving.
>> On the community's behalf, Woodford County tried applying for numerous development block grants, but after a series of denials, they decided to buy out Huntertown residents with a different block grant and allow them to relocate.
>> When they >> offered everybody the funding for their homes and everything, I was really sad, but it was going down, and a lot of the people that I knew was passing away.
>> While teaching social studies at Woodford county high school, Sue Finney and her academy students decided to focus on the story of Huntertown.
>> As I began to understand the stories of this place, it just captured my heart, and I said, "When I retire, we're going to make this happen."
>> Once Sue retired in 2018, she and a group of volunteers came together >> and began digging deeper into the history of the Huntertown community.
In 2019, Woodford County's Parks and Rec Department agreed to take on the remaining 38 acres in Huntertown as part of the Woodford County Park System.
The group of volunteers began restoring what was left of Huntertown.
What we want to see >> happen is to interpret the community of Huntertown in a way that will engage the whole community today.
>> In August 2021, on the 150th anniversary of the Huntertown community founding, the land was dedicated as a community >> interpretive park.
The park project >> is still in the early stages, but volunteers planned for it to be a green space that preserves and celebrates the rich history of Huntertown as well as the history and significance of wetlands.
It's expected that the park will offer things such as: a pavilion for gatherings, a community garden space, ghost structures of former buildings in Huntertown, a memorial for formerly enslaved war troops, and even an outside classroom for >> students.
It's very relaxing to go out there now, because it's quiet.
It's peaceful.
It's wonderful.
It brings back a lot of childhood memories, and it's comforting when I go out there and walk around, and the pavilion that they're going to put out >> there, I'm looking forward to that because it would >> give families a chance to go out and have picnics >> and family reunions and all.
I think it's the most wonderful thing I've seen in a long time, and thanks be to God that I was here to see it.
So many of them gone on and didn't see it, but I imagine they are looking down [MUSIC] >> today.
Did you know that Somerset is the official car cruise capital of Kentucky?
The claim to fame is on behalf of the Somernites Cruise, which transforms the city into a car enthusiast extravaganza once a month from April to October, lining the streets with hot rods, Mavericks, Camaros, and more.
This car show has a history spanning over 20 years, and is so popular people travel from far and wide to witness this showcase of high end vehicles, and now I'm going to get a better [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] >> view.
You see stuff here that you won't see at the normal hundred car, car show.
Here, you'll see anything from a Kaiser to a Cadillac to a Corvette to a Nova to a Camaro, Mustang.
You name it.
They've >> got it here.
Somernites is a local car event that has expanded >> nationally.
We have cars from classic cars, >> from anything 25 years old and newer, as long as it's a classic or a modified performance car, if there's three modifications to the car, or if it's a factory muscle >> car.
Anyone can participate in the event, antique as >> well.
So, we try to reach all the different genres of vehicles, and give someone something to come to Somernites for.
Somernites cruise was founded by a group of guys who attended different shows in other states, and decided that we wanted to do something in our community.
So, we went to the City Council and proposed the idea of doing events, and that's how it got started.
City Council agreed.
In April 2001, we had our first show, and we >> had 275 cars at that first show, and it's just grown since then.
Our largest show is over 2,000 cars, and we'll average, if it's pretty weather, 1,200 to 1,500 cars a >> month.
It's just amazing what it's done.
The community has embraced it.
The town has embraced it, and they've been able to help support us, and that's what's caused it to grow.
We have an economic impact of somewhere between eight and 12 million dollars a year.
You figure that, over the last 21 years, we're talking $150 million plus.
So, the businesses love it.
The hotels, the restaurants, the gas stations, they all benefit, and that trickles down to all the other businesses too, but it's more than just that.
It's a community event.
It's a family oriented event.
It's neat when you see multiple generations walking around together downtown.
You see the grandfather telling the grandson, show him what kind of car that he used to drive, and we've done it so long now that we've seen a generation grow up that doesn't know Somerset without Somernites Cruise, and that's all they ever known is, the fourth Saturday of every month, they've got a free event to go to.
I've been coming to the Cruise for around 18 >> years, and we've really enjoyed it.
Matter of fact, three months ago, we had open heart surgery, and we were here last month.
They hauled me around here, gave me a picture of my truck, my Blonde >>  66.
We will typically have first timers from 12 to 15 states every month, and we've had attendees from 48 states and three or four foreign countries with cars, not spectators, that s participants.
So, that's pretty >> impressive.
Everybody has a way to connect with their vehicles, and they're always happy to talk about what they've done to their vehicles, how many times they've come here, or how long they've owned it.
We've seen so many people that talk about their restoration process of the cars and the trucks, and it's just really >> interesting.
Somernites Cruise was designated as the car cruise capital of Kentucky by the state legislature.
They passed a bill.
So, that s what we use in all our advertising.
That's pretty high praise.
We say it's a full-time job now.
The team and the board, basically, we'll work all year in order to have a good event throughout the seven months that we're here, April through October.
Everybody you see in a yellow shirt is a volunteer puts their own time, in the early years, spent their own money to make this thing grow, because we didn't have any money back then, so we all spent our own.
You'd see them out there working all the time, heat, cold, rain.
They do it because they love it.
Our organization is just a tight-knit family, and our volunteers, and we've made some lifelong friendships over the last 21 years.
That's one of the things that keeps Somernites Cruise going is we know that when we're done, we won't be seeing each other as much.
We might see each other out at a restaurant or a store, but we won't be hanging out with each other, and everybody enjoys everybody.
Nobody is ready to give >> that up yet.
I guess our main goal is to create an event and an atmosphere for those that love cars to be able to come to, but also for those who may not even be considered a car person to be able to have a family event that folks can come to, bring their children, not to be worried about crazy things taking place, and to give back to our [MUSIC] >> community.
Wow, this is a really cool event, and I'm ready to join in the fun.
I'm going to get buckled in, and you can buckle up for one last story before we end the [MUSIC] >> show.
As you look at a map of Kentucky, you will see a state defined by the Ohio River to the North, the Mountains of Appalachia to the East, and a long, straight Southern border, shared with Tennessee, but as you approach the city of Franklin and Southern Simpson county, the border of Kentucky forms an >> unexpected triangle.
The triangular jog is just one of those unexplained, weird things.
My thought is that the surveying party that was coming in through in 1779 just simply took off in the wrong direction one >> morning.
Reasons for the jog vary, from iron ore deposits disrupting compass directions to a farmer bribing surveyors with a barrel of bourbon to keep his farm in [MUSIC] >> Kentucky.
Standing along Highway 31, where the Kentucky border should have been, is the Sanford Duncan Inn, once a stopping point for travelers in the 1820s, but just a mile south, deep in the triangle, was another stopping point for >> some.
Being a few miles south of where it should have been, the Kentucky-Tennessee border made it a convenient place by a few miles for gentlemen from Nashville to come up and settle their differences with pistols, dueling here.
It was called Linkumpinch Dueling Dround.
We don't know where the name comes from, we don't know what it means.
You could step across the state line out of Tennessee.
Tennessee Sheriff wouldn't follow you, because you were out of his jurisdiction.
You could fight your fight, your duel, and if you survived, you could step across the line, back into Tennessee, and the Kentucky Sheriff wouldn't chase you, because you're out of his jurisdiction.
The mistake in this border has never been corrected.
The jog still exists, though not everyone knows about it.
I can judge the quality of a map by whether it includes the triangle jog.
It's amazing how often map makers will just leave it [MUSIC] >> out.
I hope you've enjoyed your time in Somerset as much as I have.
There is so much to do and see in this city.
We've barely scratched the surface, and I can't wait to get back to visit again.
I'll leave you with this moment, and we'll see you next time.
I'm Doug Flynn, enjoying life, Kentucky [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] >> Life.
Funding for this program is made possible in part by the KED Endowment for Kentucky Productions.