Today's Features

I didn’t write week before last because I had company that came on Friday and stayed through the weekend. They left early Monday morning, and by that time I was so befuddled, I had forgotten what day it was. I just went to the TV room and sat down. It was Tuesday before I realized I had missed Monday. That’s the way my life is going lately.

In his new book, “The Best Cook in the World: Tales From My Momma’s Table,” author Rick Bragg wrote: “In a South that no longer seems to remember its heart, our food may be the best part left.”
This poignant statement was clearly demonstrated at the historical society picnic last week where a variety of Kentucky old-time recipes, along with a pinch of Owen County flavor, came to life.
There was no denying member Stella Gibson’s pickled beets took the center of attention, along with Peggy Trinkle’s bean salad.

As they traveled into Kentucky, early settlers brought with them what little household items they possessed, along with their livestock, their recipes and their home remedies that had been passed down from one generation to the next.
Turpentine and kerosene were two of the most widely used ingredients in home cures. Many Owen countians recall that as children they were given a worm preventative consisting of a  teaspoon of sugar laced with a drop of turpentine.

They were called the “ragtag and bobtail of creation” and the Kentucky volunteers joining up to fight in the War of 1812  were in no way fashionable. Some wore large floppy hats, while others sported coonskin caps. Their pants were made of various materials from homemade linsy to buckskin, and though many wore shoes, a great number wore moccasins or went barefoot.
According to Col. Orlando Brown, who was a child when Kentucky’s citizen soldiers rendezvoused at Georgetown, the dress of the Kentucky militia was anything but uniform.