April 3, 2025 • 38 mins
Helen McKinney, Executive Director of the Shelby County Historical Society, reveals the rich historical significance of Shelby County and the many programs preserving its heritage. As a descendant of Samuel Boone (brother to Daniel and Squire), Helen brings a personal connection to the county's frontier past while leading efforts to celebrate America's upcoming 250th anniversary.
- Historical Society programs include the popular History Matters Speaker Series with 50-75 attendees per session
- Award-winning summer history camp engages 65-70 children annually with a waiting list for participation
- Science Hill Female Academy celebrates its bicentennial in 2025, founded by Julia Tevis as one of the first female academies west of the Alleghenies
- Plans for America's 250th birthday include History Minutes videos, special programming, and a grand parade in 2026
- The Historical Society is investigating the Simpsonville Massacre site where Confederate guerrillas killed Black Union soldiers
- Hidden wonders like underground tunnels beneath Shelbyville and historic tombstones at the library grounds reveal unexplored aspects of local history
- The museum is open Wednesday-Friday 10-4, Saturday 10-2 with membership starting at just $25 annually
Visit www.shelbykyhistory.org or contact director@shelbykyhistory.org to learn more about becoming a member, volunteer, or supporting their historical preservation efforts.
Do you know someone who would be an excellent guest on Kentucky Hidden Wonders? You can nominate them by filling out the form linked HERE or going to visitshelbyky.com/podcast and scrolling to the bottom of the page.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Janette Marson (00:21):
Welcome to Kentucky Hidden Wonders.
I'm Janette Marson.
and I'm Mason Warren.
Together, we're uncovering the secrets, stories,
and hidden gems of ShelbyCounty, Kentucky.
Mason Warren (00:32):
From unforgettable places to off-the-beaten-path
adventures.
Join us as we explore Kentuckytreasures and Shelby County's
best-kept secrets.
Our guest today is HelenMcKinney, who is the Executive
Director of the Shelby CountyHistorical Society.
Helen, thanks for being here.
Janette Marson (00:48):
Thanks so much for being here.
We're super excited.
Helen McKinney (00:51):
Thank you for having me.
Janette Marson (00:52):
Why don't you tell us a little bit about
yourself and just how you cameto be at the Historical Society?
Helen McKinney (01:01):
Okay, sure, well , I'm a Kentucky native.
I grew up in Oldham County,just one county over, pretty
close.
I grew up on a dairy farm.
I have a background in museumwork, history, things like that.
Went to Bellarmine College, BAin history and English.
So I'm a freelance writer too,so that kind of plays into every
job I have.
But I'm also a Kentucky Colonel, living history reenactor and a
(01:24):
direct descendant of SamuelBoone, who was an older brother
to Daniel Boone and Squire Boone, who established Painted Stone
Station here in Shelby County.
Janette Marson (01:32):
That is very cool.
Helen McKinney (01:34):
Kind of in my DNA to be in this job and I came
on board.
I've been there fully a yearnow.
Actually, I've been a member ofthe Historical Society off and
on over the years.
Actually, I've been a member ofthe Historical Society off and
on over the years and inprobably 2023, Brian Cushing,
the previous executive director,asked me to be part of a 250th
committee and we'll kind of gointo that later, probably, and
(01:54):
explain that.
But America's having a greatbig birthday party, so 250th and
he asked me to be on acommittee and from there he kind
of left.
A few months after that theyoffered me interim last January
and I think it was aboutmid-March it was pretty close to
this time of year.
I came on as permanent.
It's just part-time.
Wish it was full-time so wecould do more.
We do a lot of things.
(02:15):
It's a part-time position andI've been in that since about
this time last year.
So it's like I said, it's kindof in my DNA to do these things.
Janette Marson (02:23):
That is amazing.
I love the part of the tie-inwith Daniel Boone and everything
.
You should dress up likeRebecca Boone every day at the
Historical Society
Mason Warren (02:34):
Has that happened before?
Janette Marson (02:34):
The previous directors executive directors
have dressed in period clothing.
Helen McKinney (02:40):
It's just kind of our thing.
You know, brian worked atLocust Grove, so when you do
that kind of job it's justnormal.
I know other people look at usand think—the comment I get most
is are you Amish?
That's so funny.
No, I'm like.
No, I'm 1781, frontier,Kentucky.
So you know, when you put thoseclothes on, it means a lot to
me because I'm a descendant.
So I don't know that it meansmore.
(03:00):
I think it does.
But I just feel like I just putthose clothes on, they're like
a second skin, it feels normaland everybody else is like, well
, that's kind of weird, but tome it's normal, those things are
normal.
And when you're a reenactor,especially as a descendant, you
walk out on that battlefieldwhen you're actually doing a
reenactment and it's real.
I mean, history does come alivein a lot of different ways.
Janette Marson (03:20):
Well, I love dressing up and being other
people, and I have probablymentioned this before to you,
helen, but I am a descendant ofHenry Banta, which followed
Squire Boone here to.
Painted Stone yes, from the LowDutch community.
So that's my little tie tohistory, but I know the
(03:42):
Historical Society does so much.
Just give us a little overviewof some of the things that you
do at the Historical Society.
Helen McKinney (03:50):
Okay, sure, our mission is to preserve and
promote the knowledge andappreciation of Shelby County
and Kentucky history, the wholestate.
We like to tie it all together.
We do that in a variety of ways.
We have lots of programs.
For example, last year westarted a series called History
Matters Speaker Series and thelibrary was gracious enough to
(04:12):
partner with us.
We used the Carnegie Center andwe had a series of three to
four programs and we hadanywhere from 50 to 75 people at
each one.
These are evening programs.
You're not really thinkingyou're probably going to get
that many people.
And one of them we featuredPaul Sims, who is a retired
(04:33):
Secret Service agent and we had,I know, 75 people and people
were still coming in once hestarted speaking.
It was just amazing.
So tomorrow night kicks off thefirst one of those.
We are going to feature VivianOverall, who will speak about
the Lincoln Institute.
She's fantastic.
Janette Marson (04:49):
We love Vivian.
Helen McKinney (04:50):
She helps with our summer camp.
She's a special lady so wethink that will be very well
attended.
I know there's a lot going ontomorrow evening but we hope
people come out.
It's at 6 pm at the library andwe're going to follow that with
Meet Julia Tevis on March 20thand I'll kind of touch on that.
But Julia was the founder ofScience Hill Female Academy,
which celebrates 200 years thisyear.
(05:11):
So Cheryl Van Stockham is goingto do that for us and tell
everyone about Julia Tevis.
We may have some extra things.
We may even bring a fewartifacts to show, but we'll
have one more in May to wrap upthe series that will probably
focus on Derby, maybe, orsomething along those lines, or
maybe even our artifacts.
Last year one of our otherprograms, because we had a whole
(05:34):
lot focused on artifactsbetween myself and Sarah Beth
Farabee, who's our vicepresident at the Historical
Society, we put together aprogram of I think we have 14
artifacts and I explained half,she explained half and we
actually got to show them.
Because people are alwaysasking well, what do you do over
there, what do you all do andwhat do you have in your
(05:56):
collection?
Because we have a limited spacewhere we can display and we
have a lot of stuff we're alwaystaking in collections.
So Sarah Beth thought well, whydon't we do this program and
kind of see where it goes?
And people were reallyinterested in that.
We got enough feedback to doanother one.
So if our May speaker cannot bethere, we may do our artifacts
At some point this year.
We will.
But it's really cool and we hadsome things from Science Hill.
(06:17):
But that's fun.
And we do things like specialthings for members too.
If you're a member, we havejust a few members only, like a
summer picnic, a Christmasdinner, just to show our members
how much we appreciate them.
Janette Marson (06:32):
You know what this is so silly?
I didn't realize there wasmembership.
I want to be a member.
Helen McKinney (06:37):
Well, that's easy.
I was saving that for the end,but I can jump right into that.
Janette Marson (06:41):
Well, we will save that for the end, but just
know I'm super interested.
Helen McKinney (06:45):
So there's little perks.
Let me say that.
There's little perks if youbecome a member, you get to go
to some of these events, andthat's really to show our
appreciation for your support.
Mason Warren (06:53):
So your episode will be out kind of early April
and so we'll keep an eye on theMay event and add some details
and show description andeverything like that.
So once you get all that set,we'll get that put out.
Awesome.
Helen McKinney (07:09):
Okay, yeah, and just kind of going back to what
we do, we have a hugelysuccessful summer history camp.
Mason Warren (07:16):
I did it as a kid, did you?
Helen McKinney (07:17):
Yes.
Janette Marson (07:18):
Did you Mason?
That's cool.
What's a memory you have from?
Mason Warren (07:22):
that.
Helen McKinney (07:22):
What was your take on it?
Mason Warren (07:23):
It was.
To be honest, it was a minuteago, but it was a great time.
I had always been interested inhistory and kind of the area.
That was always my favoritesubject in school, and so that
was just kind of a fun Didanything stand out, it was
really kind of neat.
(07:45):
It just felt I don't know why,but it was just interesting, and
it was a lot of people thatwere interested in the same
thing, and so it was like, youknow, you could ask questions,
you can get involved in thingslike that, and so it was a good.
Helen McKinney (07:58):
Do you remember what it focused on?
Because they've done all kindsof stuff.
Mason Warren (08:00):
I cannot remember.
I know Duann Puckett was there,john Graham.
Helen McKinney (08:08):
Probably Sharon Hackworth.
Sharon Hackworth was there.
Mason Warren (08:11):
So so I mean all of these people that are still
uh, involved, uh, with theexception of Duann.
Helen McKinney (08:16):
Yeah.
Mason Warren (08:16):
Uh, but, but yeah, no, it was a great time and we
the one memory that I have, uh,or one of the memories that I
have that kind of stands out uh,we were at Grove Hill Cemetery,
yeah, and we were just kind ofwalking along the path and I
looked down and I'm like, oh,there's my great-grandfather's
headstone.
Helen McKinney (08:34):
I mean like, it was just kind of fun to see yeah
.
Mason Warren (08:36):
Yeah, absolutely, it kind of makes it real it was
like seven or something likethat, and so I hadn't really
seen been there before to thecemetery or anything like that,
and so it was just kind of I'mlike, oh well, he has my same
name.
I'm like, oh, that's so-and-so.
But it was just kind of a funconnection there.
Helen McKinney (08:54):
We try to make it fun in all our programs.
We want people to have fun andlast year I know we had 65 to 70
kids in a waiting list.
Janette Marson (09:01):
Oh, that's amazing.
Helen McKinney (09:07):
The students who are still eligible from last
year, age-wise, get to come back.
They get first dibs at it, butthen we open it up.
So I mean we have a waitinglist.
We're going to try to do alittle more this year, but we're
also going to have a goodportion of it over at Science
Hill.
We're incorporating ScienceHill into a lot of things.
So Matt Burnett has let us usethat for camp.
Three-day camp first part ofJune I think.
The dates are 3rd through the5th.
But, like I said, we have awaiting list.
(09:30):
It's won awards.
I know three to four KentuckyHistory Awards.
We won one last year for theprevious year for the camp.
But it's just amazing.
So that's fun.
And we speak to school groupstoo.
Back in January, mid-january wehad a group of 45, 46
homeschoolers come in, asked tocome in.
About 13 of those was parents,the rest kids, and we had an
(09:53):
amazing program on artifacts andthings that we had in the
museum at the time.
We speak to the young leaders,leadership Shelby.
So you know, if anyone justcontact us if you want to come
in or you want me, I'm trying toestablish a program called
History in a Trunk and take itinto the elementary schools, if
they can't come to us.
(10:13):
I want to go to them.
Janette Marson (10:14):
Oh, that's a great idea.
Yeah, great idea.
Helen McKinney (10:17):
And the Kentucky Historical Society does
something.
They may even call it that Ithink I can get away with
calling it that but they kind ofare geared for more middle and
high schoolers and this is formore elementary.
Elementary is kind of my level,my age, more my focus, and we
are starting a junior historicalsociety that's going to target
older kids, but I wantedsomething specifically for
elementary.
(10:37):
So you know we're limited onspace.
We can't get 90 kids in themuseum at one time, so I'm
getting together history in atrunk to take it to them, which
literally we have like an oldtrunk or a tote.
I'll make use a tote orprobably an old trunk, where I'm
going to fill it with like fiveto six artifacts, maybe some
reenacting clothes they canactually try on.
We talk about the Revolor, justto make it fun.
(11:00):
History should be fun.
It shouldn't be boring anddates and all that dull stuff.
It should be fun like the camp,like you remember going to camp
.
Well, no matter what your age,we want you to get out of what
we do.
So we speak to school groups.
We also this is a big thing forthis year we have an annual
publication that we try to doevery year.
This year we'll focus onScience Hill, the female academy
(11:21):
, the inn or the restaurant inWakefield Scarce.
It is their bicentennial, thebicentennial of Lafayette, which
I'll kind of that kind of goeswith some of our 250th.
So there's a lot going on, butwe wanted to focus that.
It's neat.
We've got a lot of stories.
Actually, we have a meetingtomorrow.
We're in the process of stillgetting the stories for that
publication, but I think it'sgoing to be a really good one
(11:43):
and it's going to tie inWakefield Scarce Galleries as
well.
Matt's going to write anarticle for us.
It's going to be really good, agood thing to look for.
Janette Marson (11:51):
Go back to Lafayette and explain to the
listeners who that person wasand the connection with Shelby
County.
Helen McKinney (11:59):
Yeah, mark Anty Lafayette obviously was a
freshman helped America win thewar, briefly said, was a good
friend of Washington.
He was younger than Washingtonand about 40, 50 years later,
after the war had ended, on May13, 1825, he visited Shelbyville
and if you've been by ouroffice on Main Street you've
(12:20):
seen the red, white and bluepatriotic-looking sign that is
dedicated to Lafayette's May 13,1825 visit.
So we're planning a lot ofevents to go with that in camp,
we're going to tie all that inin the 250 years and we plan to
have a big celebration,hopefully on May 13th this year.
But Lafayette was veryimportant.
They say that when he cameScience Hill opened in, I
(12:43):
believe, march 25th 1825.
Well, six weeks later hevisited Shelbyville, as the
story goes, and was at, I wantto say, mcgowan Tavern.
It was a tavern.
They had a ball.
The Kentucky State HistoricalSociety has a ball gown that was
worn at that ball.
Oh, wow it was on display whenthey put up the marker.
Janette Marson (13:02):
Right.
Helen McKinney (13:03):
But the story goes and we're really looking
into this.
This will be one of ourarticles.
To give you a little previewthis is going to be a good one.
Now, this is not historicallydocumented as yet, but we're
working on it.
They say so.
Lafayette came six weeks afterJulia opened her school and they
say he asked for her to comevisit with him and converse in
French because, if you thinkabout it, he had been in France,
(13:25):
he was out of America, probablyno longer spoke as much
American.
So when he came back to Americaon that farewell tour he did
1824, 1825, they say he spokewith Julia and, as accomplished
as she was, she taught French,latin, all the amazing things
girls at that time weren'treally exposed to.
So they say they conversed inFrench because she was the only
(13:46):
person in town that could speakFrench.
So they say so it makes a nicestory.
Janette Marson (13:50):
We don't know.
Oh, it does yeah.
Helen McKinney (13:56):
But just to give you a little teaser about our
publication.
Actually, sarah Beth is workingon an article on that, so
that's fascinating.
But yeah, that's one way toremember him too 1825 was a big
year for Shelbyville.
Mason Warren (14:05):
1825 was it was.
Helen McKinney (14:07):
A lot happened.
Yes, anything else in?
Janette Marson (14:08):
1825?
Or were those the two biggies?
Helen McKinney (14:10):
Those are the biggies for this year that we're
really plugging.
Janette Marson (14:13):
Okay, well, those are big enough, they are.
Mason Warren (14:17):
Sarah Beth that you've mentioned.
She's going to be a guest on afuture episode to talk about the
history of the library and howit's a Carnegie Library, and the
resources in the.
Kentucky Room and everythinglike that.
Helen McKinney (14:26):
Yes, yes, her and I together that was one more
thing I was going to point outwork on genealogy.
More so her, because I'mrestricted to only so many hours
a week.
But she handles a lot of therequests because people have a
lot of interest and the olderyou get, I think you just
naturally want to know.
But we have requests I mean wehave them from all over people
wanting to know about theirancestors.
(14:48):
So she helps with that.
That's a big part of what we doin our collections.
We're always looking to add tothe collections.
We have a lot of stuff storednot at the museum because we
just don't have the space.
So we try to rotate out.
It's kind of a job carryingthings back and forth when not
everything's together.
So we just this year changedout and put up a new exhibit on
(15:09):
Science Hill, which an exhibitwould be our next biggest thing
that we have.
So that will run to the end ofthe year.
We're really excited.
You'll see all kinds of thingsIf you drop by and see our
exhibit.
You'll see actually you'll seea dress.
I hope I get this right MattBurnett's great grandmother, I
believe he has lent us a dress,maybe her graduation dress that
(15:31):
she wore when she graduated fromScience Hill To recall what
year I want to say early 1900s.
It's amazing.
So it's there for you to see.
We have a lot of documents andkind of paper-like programs and
catalogs and a lot of photos,class photos of the girls that
went there.
So it's a good exhibit.
(15:52):
It gives you a good idea ofjust how important Science Hill
was, because it was like thefirst female academy west of the
Alleghenies pretty much.
I think there was somethingsimilar in Nashville when Julia
opened her academy, because shereferenced it in her book that
she wrote an autobiography.
But I mean it was amazingbecause I kind of get a giggle
(16:13):
when you read her autobiographyyou learn about in the
wilderness Shelby was in thewilderness still in 1825.
But just the just the thoughtthat she offered a school that
taught Latin, greek botany, Imean everything that you know
you wouldn't get in a one roomschoolhouse, let alone boys
wouldn't get that education.
So it kind of made me wonder,you know, why would you send
(16:35):
your daughter in the wildernessin 1825?
You know it was a special placeto think.
Why am I going to send mydaughter there?
Right, and these people hadmoney too, right Primarily, and
a lot of them were from thesouthern states, because there's
even instances one of theladies that graduated I think
she was in one of the lastgraduating classes.
Rosella Davis has written somememoirs, been on a KET program
(16:59):
and made the comments and I'veseen that she's made in her
writings that a lot of them werefrom the southern states.
And the girls, if you thinkabout it, because Science Hill
went on from 1825 to 1939.
That was the last graduatingclass but during the Civil Wars
those girls couldn't return home, so some of them were sort of
stranded for four years duringthe Civil War at Science Hill,
(17:22):
and it had day they called them,I think, day boarders girls
that lived there boarders, butthey couldn't go home for like
four years.
So it's a lot of history.
It makes you think.
Janette Marson (17:31):
It does make you think.
Now you mentioned, and I knowwe have a wonderful, wonderful
museum and you've made mentionof it For the listeners.
Talk about the hours whenyou're open, when can they visit
?
When can they visit?
Helen McKinney (17:48):
Sure, we are open Wednesday through Friday 10
to 4, saturday 10 to 2, or byappointment.
You can call check with me.
Sometimes I have to be out.
I don't have any staff.
I'm a staff of, I guess, half aperson.
We're open part-time.
So if you're coming from faraway, I'd suggest you call and I
do have to be out for meetingsor things will come up and we
(18:10):
have volunteers that help staffus.
Janette Marson (18:13):
And is the museum free or is there a charge
?
Helen McKinney (18:15):
No, charge free Very good.
But yeah, and it's good tocheck ahead.
Like I said, we can do otherhours.
My schedule is pretty flexible,but I try to stick to those
hours.
Janette Marson (18:27):
Well, it's been a minute since I've been over.
I want to come over and see thenew exhibit.
Helen McKinney (18:31):
It's neat.
Janette Marson (18:32):
It is a wonderful museum, it really is
wonderful.
Mason Warren (18:35):
Yeah, so is there anything else that you wanted to
talk on about what you all dobefore we move on?
Helen McKinney (18:41):
Just I did want to kind of give a plug.
We have got our JuniorHistorical Society back up and
running.
Danielle Wade is our she'sactually camp director, board
member and junior historicalsociety director.
She's fabulous she has.
We're getting this back up andrunning.
We feel a need for it to workwith.
This will be with probablyolder kids.
(19:02):
We'd like to do field trips.
If we could take it to FortBoonesboro, fort Herod, we're
just up for anything.
So Danielle's getting that upand going.
That's a big thing right nowwe're working on Is it through
the schools?
Through the schools?
She'll work through the schools.
Fantastic, kind of get a clubtogether.
I guess you'd say, and just oneof our other.
We're always looking forvolunteers and help.
(19:23):
We are working on severaldigitization projects as well,
and that is some things.
That's kind of a.
We mentioned some member perks,that's kind of a perk.
We'll have some things on ourwebsite that, if you're a member
, you can access them.
You may not be able to unlessyou're a member, but it doesn't
cost much to become a member, sothat will help researchers,
writers, anyone just interestedin history.
So that's, we have a lot goingon.
(19:44):
Gotcha.
Mason Warren (19:45):
So there's an exciting anniversary coming up
in 2026.
America is turning 250.
There are celebrations plannedthroughout the country, but the
Shelby County Historical Societyis kind of taking the lead on
that for Shelby County, I think.
So can you talk about what youall have planned for that?
Helen McKinney (20:04):
Yeah, sure, and that goes back.
That was started by BrianCushing, started a committee and
we're calling ourselvesCountdown to USA 250.
And actually we had a bigkickoff last year.
It was the Day of theIndependence Day Parade.
I think that's always the lastSaturday in June.
We had some demos.
Well, we had some demos alongthe parade route in front of
(20:28):
Centenary United Methodist.
We had kind of like a Revoirencampment parade route in front
of Centenary United Methodist.
We had kind of like a Revoirencampment.
And then we had at ourHistorical Society.
As the parade passes right bythere, we had a lot going on
there too.
We had a special display fromthe Kentucky State Historical
Society displayed the stateconstitution.
So that was really exciting tohave that.
(20:50):
We had a lot of people come inand the SAR Sons of the American
Revolution Museum in Louisvillealso came out and displayed
some artifacts.
So we like to partner Anyway wecan partner.
That was really cool.
We had good traffic but it wasamazing to see that, like 1792
state constitution right therein front of you.
That was amazing.
So we kicked off.
(21:10):
We've got some programming.
That was amazing.
So we kicked off where we'vegot some programming that also
goes along with our programmingfor this year.
We're going to kick off April15th a new series entitled With
Liberty and Justice for All, andI've got one more speaker to
nail down.
It should be set Soon as I getthat I'll release information.
But April 15th we're excited tohave Jim Holmberg from the
Filson Historical Society.
I think he's going to talk moreabout the Clark family.
(21:33):
But all these programs willfocus on the Rev War years and
how it really began, although wedo want to encompass, you know,
250 years of history.
That's a lot of history and wewant to point out Shelby
County's contributions as we dothis.
But one of the other excitingthings this is really cool.
This hopefully, will come outnext month we are developing
something called History Minutes.
(21:54):
It's going to be probably morelike a YouTube social media type
thing where literally in 60seconds, someone will have a
narrator to give you a few factsabout, say on this day in
history is how it will begin.
It's based on the bicentennialminutes that were done in 1976.
So you know, we'll start offlike on this day in history,
(22:16):
maybe tell you something aboutthe Boston Tea Party or some
fact from those years.
But we're also going to focusas much as we can on just a
brief fact from Shelby Countyhistory that ties in.
Like Squire Boone was here thenduring the war Overall in
Kentucky.
You know we'll have thingsabout Fort Boonesboro.
We'll get a little nod in there.
We're working on writing thescripts but that'll just kind of
(22:39):
be another visual where you'llsee 60 seconds, you'll hear a
little fact and you'll see somepictures and that's what we're
working on now.
So we hope to get that going bynext month and then that'll
last like a year and threemonths till we actually get to
2026.
Which, when we do get to 2026,our goal is to have a humongous
(23:00):
parade in Shelbyville Justeverything red, white and blue
bunting everywhere, everythingyou can see red, white and blue
bunting everywhere, everythingyou can see red, white and blue
devoted to our veterans.
So that's really the end goalfor us with the 250th.
That sounds fantastic.
And you ask about.
I'll throw this out there.
You ask about Lafayette.
He will literally return toShelbyville May 13th this year.
(23:21):
We hope, if all plans go well,he will literally return to
Shelbyville May 13th this year.
We hope, if all plans go welland we tie to trying to like
Main Street events like WildAbout Shelbyville music festival
, art festival we will tie intothat.
We are going to have a flagdisplay during that inside and
out to kind of draw someattention.
(23:42):
Last year we did that and hadsome SAR guys demoing and it was
great.
So that will be a tie-in tokind of Lafayette and he'll come
back to Shelbyville May 13th ifall goes well, when we put up
the sign.
The president of the LafayetteTrail, julian Itcher I know I
won't pronounce his name, right,julian came and spoke and he
has agreed to come again.
(24:02):
He wants to give a program.
We're kind of going torededicate our sign.
We have a lot of special thingsplanned for May 13th so we'll
be rolling that out soon.
But that's you know.
We just try to tie a lot ofthings into one program and give
you a good like a visual.
We'll have demos and things togive you a visual of history,
not just read you something.
Janette Marson (24:21):
Right, always making it fun.
Just read you something Right,always making it fun.
I knew you were going to saythat, yes, fun and engaging.
Helen McKinney (24:25):
That's the purpose.
So yeah, and like I said, we'llculminate in that big parade in
2026.
And we have a committee.
You know, if you want to jointhe committee, you don't have to
come to every meetings.
We try to meet once a month tokeep on track.
Keep it going, keep themomentum going.
Janette Marson (24:44):
I've wanted to come to the meeting.
Helen McKinney (24:46):
Every single one of them has been a conflict,
yeah it's a conflict with mesometimes oh my gosh, I don't
even know what's happening.
Yeah, but you know, and ifyou're interested I'll send you
notes.
If you come to one meetingyou'll get the gist of it.
But we are trying to plan theseevents to be 250th events for
the year and we'll add things asthe year goes along.
There'll be more to add, butit's just to give people the
(25:07):
idea that, hey, it's a big dealto celebrate 250 years of
anything, it only happens once.
So we want people to be excited,to be excited for Shelbyville,
for America, I mean, this isAmerica's big birthday.
Janette Marson (25:18):
Well, that's exciting.
As we know, and people that arelistening are finding out,
Shelby County is so rich inhistory, we're so blessed to
live here and there's so manythings to know about.
What would you say would be oneof your favorite little facts
or historical things thathappened in Shelby County?
Helen McKinney (25:40):
Well, being a Boone descendant, I'm going to
zero in on Squire Boone'sPainted Stone Station.
Janette Marson (25:44):
Right.
Helen McKinney (25:45):
Or Uncle Squire's I would have called him
.
He would have been like myeighth, ninth great uncle In
1781,.
I do the reenactments with thePainted Stone settlers.
I've done that for a long timeand it's just thrilling.
I mean that history.
We get a lot of requests andcomments and questions about P
stone even today.
So we would um like with thehistorical society.
(26:08):
We'd like to put someprogramming in place going
forward and uh, kind of focus onthat too.
And again, that's one thingthat goes along with the 250th,
but I'm a little partial to theboone history absolutely so, as
I had mentioned previously umhenry banta.
Janette Marson (26:21):
so he was at and that family was at Painted
Stone, and then I alwayswondered how in the world did
they get to Shaker Village?
Was it Indian attack, I guess?
Helen McKinney (26:31):
Painted Stone.
Yeah, in September of 1781, thesettlers were fleeing because
they had been harassed by thenatives so many times.
So on a September day in 1781,they decided to flee to Lynn
Station, which was part of theBeargrass Stations in Louisville
, and they were attacked aboutmid-route.
It would be the town ofEastwood today, if you're
(26:52):
familiar with Middletown thelittle base spot Eastwood.
That's about where it happenedand you know there wasn't.
I mean, historically they'vesaid there were a lot of people
killed.
There wasn't.
It was probably only about 13people, but people did lose
their lives, but it was such amassacre.
So but the rest of the settlersthat made it straggled into Lynn
(27:15):
Station and we have, you know,in things like the Draper
manuscripts there's a lot ofreferences to the settlers.
That's how we have theirstories.
And there's a historian, vinceAkers, who I believe he lives in
Ohio, he's not from here, hehas come to the Painted Stone
Long Run Massacre event but herecorded that Low Dutch history
and he's who we reference as themajor historian.
(27:36):
We have basically his documenton our website, but he is the
one that took the time to recordit and piece those things
together and tell us what weknow about Painted Stone Station
.
Janette Marson (27:47):
Fantastic.
So I have a couple burningquestions.
Mason may have burningquestions as well.
Okay, I don't know if you'llknow or not, so of course our
show is called Kentucky HiddenWonders.
So this is definitely a hiddenwonder and I have wondered.
So under Shelby County thereare all these tunnels.
So when they were redoing thesteps on the courthouse they
(28:10):
found a tunnel that wentsomewhere.
I think at Serendipity CandyKitchen she has a tunnel.
What are these tunnels that arehere in Shelby and what
historically were they used for?
Do you know?
Helen McKinney (28:24):
I don't quite know Now.
Trace Kirkwood I've heard himtalk about it.
He's our president of theHistorical Society, but I've
heard him talk about thoseunderground tunnels just used by
the city.
I really don't know.
It is fascinating.
I wish we could do some kind oftours and things.
Janette Marson (28:37):
Oh, I do too For the courthouse.
I have said what you put thecement on before I could strap
on a flashlight and go throughit.
Helen McKinney (28:46):
Yeah, who knew?
But?
Yeah, there's like a wholeother little city under there
there is.
Yeah.
Janette Marson (28:51):
And then the other question.
So at our library, our CarnegieLibrary, there are all these
old tombstones and then as youlook at the grounds there are
indentations where the graveswere.
I know there is historicalsignificance with that area.
Can you tell the listeners alittle bit about the library?
I can tell you what I'vediscovered.
Helen McKinney (29:09):
Now, Sarah Beth would be able to tell you
exactly who they are andeverything about them.
But from what I understand, thechurch that is there on the
corner, like across from thelibrary, the Presbyterian Church
right beside us from what Iunderstand, they either own land
there or I'm not sure if that'sthe original location for that
church, but I think it belongedto that church.
It was a graveyard thatbelonged to them, but the church
(29:31):
, of course, is now hoppedacross the street on the corner,
but the graveyard remains.
So, as much as I can come upwith, I think it tied into that
church.
But of course, the city lookstotally different now.
Janette Marson (29:43):
Oh, it does.
And those tombstones, they'revery, very old.
Helen McKinney (29:46):
Yes.
Janette Marson (29:47):
And I'm so glad they've preserved them.
Helen McKinney (29:49):
And I'm all about preserving history, yes,
and I think it was just thegraveyard that went to that
church and I might be wrong.
Sarah Beth could tell youexactly.
But you know, in the buildingwe are in the museum is in the
manse that went with thePresbyterian Church.
I think it dates to 1872,something like that.
Janette Marson (30:08):
And that's another reason to go to the
museum at the Historical Society.
It's a neat old building.
It is a neat old building andeven the grounds that surround
it are really, really— thegarden out back everything.
Mason Warren (30:20):
It's very pretty.
Helen McKinney (30:21):
That's a city parking lot behind us, but it's
very pretty and, of course, theVFW is right there across from
us and we are just rich withhistory.
Janette Marson (30:33):
just walking around downtown or anywhere in
Shelby County, you can encounterwonderful history.
Yeah, oh, you know what.
You did not let me know aboutmy membership.
Oh, yes, I will be glad to hearthat.
How does that work?
How does that?
Helen McKinney (30:46):
work.
You can contact the office,stop by.
We're always looking formembers, volunteers, donors,
because we try to keep all ourprograms free, except for camp,
but it's kind of hard to do that.
We do have to have sponsors fordifferent things, volunteers,
especially camp.
But just for as little as $25and up you can be a member.
We will probably kick off nextmonth our annual fund drive
(31:10):
which we target our members.
But, like I said, anybody canbe a member.
There's no requirements.
We have different levels,starting at $25 and up.
Janette Marson (31:21):
Is that a year annual?
Yes, okay.
Helen McKinney (31:23):
Yeah, but an interesting thing, it's $100.
We have like everything labeledso, for example, if you give
$100, you're at the Julia Tevislevel.
So we thought we might kind ofchallenge people this year.
I call this year the year ofJulia, since there's a
bicentennial, all these thingswith Julia Tevis signed sale To
(31:43):
me it's like the whole year is ayear of Julia, but we're kind
of going to challenge and seehow many people would give at
that level.
Or we have so manybicentennials.
If you can do it, can you give200?
You know that really helps.
It goes a long ways because wedo have expenses.
We're even going to be workingon an archaeology project.
(32:03):
We did get some funding for it,but we're going to target high
schoolers and work on anarchaeology project, which is
exciting.
That is super exciting.
I want to be a part of it.
Janette Marson (32:14):
So you know what we could, even on our podcast,
put a challenge out like 250.
Helen McKinney (32:22):
Yeah, yeah.
But I was like, hey, it'sbicentennial If you want to give
200,.
Julia Tevis level is 100.
But we always need thosecontributions to have the events
like the 250th, to keep thingsup and running and going Because
, like I said, we want toprovide free programming as long
as we can.
Janette Marson (32:39):
But we do have expenses.
Well, that is incrediblyaffordable and everyone should
be a member of our fabuloushistorical society.
Anything else you'd like to add?
Have we missed anything?
Helen McKinney (32:52):
We got a lot going on.
Janette Marson (32:54):
Have we missed anything?
Mason Warren (32:56):
You might have said it and I might have missed
it Website where people canlearn more?
Oh, yes, wwwshelbykyhistoryorg.
Helen McKinney (33:04):
I'm glad you said that we are in the process
of updating that website.
So if everything doesn't comequite up, give us about another
month, okay.
But we're kind of freshening itup, adding some new stuff,
getting that up to par.
You can always contact me,director at shelbykyhistoryorg,
or call the office 502-513-5555,wednesday through Saturday
(33:30):
that's the easiest way.
Just contact me if you have anyquestions or anything.
Janette Marson (33:35):
And you all have a great website.
I've looked at it.
You've got some good videos,some reenactments.
Helen McKinney (33:40):
Yeah, like I, said, we're updating all that
and a lot of things.
That's gotten a lot ofattention is the Simpsonville
Massacre.
The anniversary of that wasJanuary 25th, I believe 160
years.
So members Jerry Miller andJuanita White have been very
involved with that and I thinkWave 3 actually reached out to
me and I think Juanita may beappearing on there.
(34:02):
Jerry's been on WDRB hererecently, so there's a lot of
interest and we even partneredwith Camp Nelson on that date,
january 25th of this year.
They reached out to us to do aprogram and Ali Center just
recently that was last weekpremiered the screening again of
Secrets of the Dead.
Janette Marson (34:21):
That was the episode that focused on the
massacre and just for people whodon't necessarily know just
quickly, could you describe forthem what that was?
Helen McKinney (34:31):
It happened in Simpsonville.
You can see the markers alongUS-60 if you drive through
Simpsonville.
That's in that area was wheresome black Union soldiers were
massacred.
They were attacked byConfederateederate guerrillas
and buried in a mass grave.
That's the information we have.
So jerry jerry and juanita bothhave taken an enormous amount
(34:53):
of time to look into that, andthere are others too.
They have worked with uk, withsome archaeologists, and jerry
is close to.
He thinks he has pinpointedwhere that mass grave is,
because they had to be buriedquick.
You know it was in January.
We're assuming the bodies werestripped.
So it's kind of hard to findlike anything metal or anything,
because they probably took thesoldiers' boots, they took their
(35:15):
uniforms with their metalbuttons.
But they think they havenarrowed down and found the spot
.
So Jerry is going to dig and nomatter what is found one way or
the other, we're going to have aprogram, a follow-up program,
once that happens too.
So we'll have programming thatwe plug in throughout the year.
We don't just set our dates inJanuary, we're just kind of
filling in as we go.
But we will have a program inSimpsonville near that site it
(35:36):
won't be that site to kind ofupdate at Camp Nelson.
There, the head guy at CampNelson, stephen Fann, has
already agreed to come and speak, so that's we may do a panel
discussion.
It's going to be a good programfor everyone to be on the same
track right at that time andknow what's happening going
forward, because if they do findthe bodies of the soldiers,
they are going to, from what Iunderstand, transfer them to
(35:58):
Camp Nelson, which is probablymost fitting.
Janette Marson (36:01):
Right.
Helen McKinney (36:01):
Um, if they find that mass grave.
Um.
So yeah, that's exciting.
That's kind of an ungrowingproject with Jerry and Juanita.
Mason Warren (36:09):
Oh well, that's incredible.
I remember seeing the WDRBstory about that.
Helen McKinney (36:12):
Okay, yeah, yeah , I'm excited for them.
I'm glad they're gettingattention.
They've worked really hardbecause I want to say this
started in maybe 2007 when Jerrystarted on this program, so
it's been a while.
So I know Juanita.
I heard her talk about how shewent through all those soldiers'
pension records to pull outinformation.
Get their names, because wehave their names.
Pull the information.
Janette Marson (36:33):
Oh, so you do.
You know who they are.
A lot of work, yeah, you knowwho they are.
Helen McKinney (36:36):
But she like pieced the information together
from the pension records Because, if you think about it, those
were young men, like maybe 21,19, 21, 22 years old, so they
may not have had families or youknow who are they going to
leave something to and who'sgoing to apply for a pension.
So they put a lot of work intothat to get that history out
there.
Janette Marson (36:54):
Oh well, thank you, Helen, you are a wealth of
information.
Mason Warren (36:58):
Yes, all kinds of good information, thank you.
Thank you so much for being onour show.
I appreciate it.
Helen McKinney (37:02):
Thank you for having me.
We appreciate it.
Janette Marson (37:03):
You've been fabulous Thank you very much.
Mason Warren (37:10):
This has been Kentucky Hidden Wonders.
Thank you to Helen McKinney forcoming on the show to talk
about the Shelby CountyHistorical Society and thank you
for listening.
If you've made it this far,make sure you subscribe and
leave us a review.
It means the world to us.
We'll return with a brand newKentucky Hidden Wonders episode
in two weeks.
Bye everyone.
Kentucky Hidden Wonders is aShelby KY Tourism production.
(37:31):
Your hosts are Janet Marson andMason Warren.
To learn more about Shelby KYTourism and to start planning a
visit, head to visitshelbykycom.
Welcome to Kentucky Hidden Wonders.
I'm Janette Marson.
and I'm Mason Warren.
Together, we're uncovering the secrets, stories,
and hidden gems of ShelbyCounty, Kentucky.
Mason Warren (00:32):
From unforgettable places to off-the-beaten-path
adventures.
Join us as we explore Kentuckytreasures and Shelby County's
best-kept secrets.
Our guest today is HelenMcKinney, who is the Executive
Director of the Shelby CountyHistorical Society.
Helen, thanks for being here.
Janette Marson (00:48):
Thanks so much for being here.
We're super excited.
Helen McKinney (00:51):
Thank you for having me.
Janette Marson (00:52):
Why don't you tell us a little bit about
yourself and just how you cameto be at the Historical Society?
Helen McKinney (01:01):
Okay, sure, well , I'm a Kentucky native.
I grew up in Oldham County,just one county over, pretty
close.
I grew up on a dairy farm.
I have a background in museumwork, history, things like that.
Went to Bellarmine College, BAin history and English.
So I'm a freelance writer too,so that kind of plays into every
job I have.
But I'm also a Kentucky Colonel, living history reenactor and a
(01:24):
direct descendant of SamuelBoone, who was an older brother
to Daniel Boone and Squire Boone, who established Painted Stone
Station here in Shelby County.
Janette Marson (01:32):
That is very cool.
Helen McKinney (01:34):
Kind of in my DNA to be in this job and I came
on board.
I've been there fully a yearnow.
Actually, I've been a member ofthe Historical Society off and
on over the years.
Actually, I've been a member ofthe Historical Society off and
on over the years and inprobably 2023, Brian Cushing,
the previous executive director,asked me to be part of a 250th
committee and we'll kind of gointo that later, probably, and
(01:54):
explain that.
But America's having a greatbig birthday party, so 250th and
he asked me to be on acommittee and from there he kind
of left.
A few months after that theyoffered me interim last January
and I think it was aboutmid-March it was pretty close to
this time of year.
I came on as permanent.
It's just part-time.
Wish it was full-time so wecould do more.
We do a lot of things.
(02:15):
It's a part-time position andI've been in that since about
this time last year.
So it's like I said, it's kindof in my DNA to do these things.
Janette Marson (02:23):
That is amazing.
I love the part of the tie-inwith Daniel Boone and everything
.
You should dress up likeRebecca Boone every day at the
Historical Society
Mason Warren (02:34):
Has that happened before?
Janette Marson (02:34):
The previous directors executive directors
have dressed in period clothing.
Helen McKinney (02:40):
It's just kind of our thing.
You know, brian worked atLocust Grove, so when you do
that kind of job it's justnormal.
I know other people look at usand think—the comment I get most
is are you Amish?
That's so funny.
No, I'm like.
No, I'm 1781, frontier,Kentucky.
So you know, when you put thoseclothes on, it means a lot to
me because I'm a descendant.
So I don't know that it meansmore.
(03:00):
I think it does.
But I just feel like I just putthose clothes on, they're like
a second skin, it feels normaland everybody else is like, well
, that's kind of weird, but tome it's normal, those things are
normal.
And when you're a reenactor,especially as a descendant, you
walk out on that battlefieldwhen you're actually doing a
reenactment and it's real.
I mean, history does come alivein a lot of different ways.
Janette Marson (03:20):
Well, I love dressing up and being other
people, and I have probablymentioned this before to you,
helen, but I am a descendant ofHenry Banta, which followed
Squire Boone here to.
Painted Stone yes, from the LowDutch community.
So that's my little tie tohistory, but I know the
(03:42):
Historical Society does so much.
Just give us a little overviewof some of the things that you
do at the Historical Society.
Helen McKinney (03:50):
Okay, sure, our mission is to preserve and
promote the knowledge andappreciation of Shelby County
and Kentucky history, the wholestate.
We like to tie it all together.
We do that in a variety of ways.
We have lots of programs.
For example, last year westarted a series called History
Matters Speaker Series and thelibrary was gracious enough to
(04:12):
partner with us.
We used the Carnegie Center andwe had a series of three to
four programs and we hadanywhere from 50 to 75 people at
each one.
These are evening programs.
You're not really thinkingyou're probably going to get
that many people.
And one of them we featuredPaul Sims, who is a retired
(04:33):
Secret Service agent and we had,I know, 75 people and people
were still coming in once hestarted speaking.
It was just amazing.
So tomorrow night kicks off thefirst one of those.
We are going to feature VivianOverall, who will speak about
the Lincoln Institute.
She's fantastic.
Janette Marson (04:49):
We love Vivian.
Helen McKinney (04:50):
She helps with our summer camp.
She's a special lady so wethink that will be very well
attended.
I know there's a lot going ontomorrow evening but we hope
people come out.
It's at 6 pm at the library andwe're going to follow that with
Meet Julia Tevis on March 20thand I'll kind of touch on that.
But Julia was the founder ofScience Hill Female Academy,
which celebrates 200 years thisyear.
(05:11):
So Cheryl Van Stockham is goingto do that for us and tell
everyone about Julia Tevis.
We may have some extra things.
We may even bring a fewartifacts to show, but we'll
have one more in May to wrap upthe series that will probably
focus on Derby, maybe, orsomething along those lines, or
maybe even our artifacts.
Last year one of our otherprograms, because we had a whole
(05:34):
lot focused on artifactsbetween myself and Sarah Beth
Farabee, who's our vicepresident at the Historical
Society, we put together aprogram of I think we have 14
artifacts and I explained half,she explained half and we
actually got to show them.
Because people are alwaysasking well, what do you do over
there, what do you all do andwhat do you have in your
(05:56):
collection?
Because we have a limited spacewhere we can display and we
have a lot of stuff we're alwaystaking in collections.
So Sarah Beth thought well, whydon't we do this program and
kind of see where it goes?
And people were reallyinterested in that.
We got enough feedback to doanother one.
So if our May speaker cannot bethere, we may do our artifacts
At some point this year.
We will.
But it's really cool and we hadsome things from Science Hill.
(06:17):
But that's fun.
And we do things like specialthings for members too.
If you're a member, we havejust a few members only, like a
summer picnic, a Christmasdinner, just to show our members
how much we appreciate them.
Janette Marson (06:32):
You know what this is so silly?
I didn't realize there wasmembership.
I want to be a member.
Helen McKinney (06:37):
Well, that's easy.
I was saving that for the end,but I can jump right into that.
Janette Marson (06:41):
Well, we will save that for the end, but just
know I'm super interested.
Helen McKinney (06:45):
So there's little perks.
Let me say that.
There's little perks if youbecome a member, you get to go
to some of these events, andthat's really to show our
appreciation for your support.
Mason Warren (06:53):
So your episode will be out kind of early April
and so we'll keep an eye on theMay event and add some details
and show description andeverything like that.
So once you get all that set,we'll get that put out.
Awesome.
Helen McKinney (07:09):
Okay, yeah, and just kind of going back to what
we do, we have a hugelysuccessful summer history camp.
Mason Warren (07:16):
I did it as a kid, did you?
Helen McKinney (07:17):
Yes.
Janette Marson (07:18):
Did you Mason?
That's cool.
What's a memory you have from?
Mason Warren (07:22):
that.
Helen McKinney (07:22):
What was your take on it?
Mason Warren (07:23):
It was.
To be honest, it was a minuteago, but it was a great time.
I had always been interested inhistory and kind of the area.
That was always my favoritesubject in school, and so that
was just kind of a fun Didanything stand out, it was
really kind of neat.
(07:45):
It just felt I don't know why,but it was just interesting, and
it was a lot of people thatwere interested in the same
thing, and so it was like, youknow, you could ask questions,
you can get involved in thingslike that, and so it was a good.
Helen McKinney (07:58):
Do you remember what it focused on?
Because they've done all kindsof stuff.
Mason Warren (08:00):
I cannot remember.
I know Duann Puckett was there,john Graham.
Helen McKinney (08:08):
Probably Sharon Hackworth.
Sharon Hackworth was there.
Mason Warren (08:11):
So so I mean all of these people that are still
uh, involved, uh, with theexception of Duann.
Helen McKinney (08:16):
Yeah.
Mason Warren (08:16):
Uh, but, but yeah, no, it was a great time and we
the one memory that I have, uh,or one of the memories that I
have that kind of stands out uh,we were at Grove Hill Cemetery,
yeah, and we were just kind ofwalking along the path and I
looked down and I'm like, oh,there's my great-grandfather's
headstone.
Helen McKinney (08:34):
I mean like, it was just kind of fun to see yeah
.
Mason Warren (08:36):
Yeah, absolutely, it kind of makes it real it was
like seven or something likethat, and so I hadn't really
seen been there before to thecemetery or anything like that,
and so it was just kind of I'mlike, oh well, he has my same
name.
I'm like, oh, that's so-and-so.
But it was just kind of a funconnection there.
Helen McKinney (08:54):
We try to make it fun in all our programs.
We want people to have fun andlast year I know we had 65 to 70
kids in a waiting list.
Janette Marson (09:01):
Oh, that's amazing.
Helen McKinney (09:07):
The students who are still eligible from last
year, age-wise, get to come back.
They get first dibs at it, butthen we open it up.
So I mean we have a waitinglist.
We're going to try to do alittle more this year, but we're
also going to have a goodportion of it over at Science
Hill.
We're incorporating ScienceHill into a lot of things.
So Matt Burnett has let us usethat for camp.
Three-day camp first part ofJune I think.
The dates are 3rd through the5th.
But, like I said, we have awaiting list.
(09:30):
It's won awards.
I know three to four KentuckyHistory Awards.
We won one last year for theprevious year for the camp.
But it's just amazing.
So that's fun.
And we speak to school groupstoo.
Back in January, mid-january wehad a group of 45, 46
homeschoolers come in, asked tocome in.
About 13 of those was parents,the rest kids, and we had an
(09:53):
amazing program on artifacts andthings that we had in the
museum at the time.
We speak to the young leaders,leadership Shelby.
So you know, if anyone justcontact us if you want to come
in or you want me, I'm trying toestablish a program called
History in a Trunk and take itinto the elementary schools, if
they can't come to us.
(10:13):
I want to go to them.
Janette Marson (10:14):
Oh, that's a great idea.
Yeah, great idea.
Helen McKinney (10:17):
And the Kentucky Historical Society does
something.
They may even call it that Ithink I can get away with
calling it that but they kind ofare geared for more middle and
high schoolers and this is formore elementary.
Elementary is kind of my level,my age, more my focus, and we
are starting a junior historicalsociety that's going to target
older kids, but I wantedsomething specifically for
elementary.
(10:37):
So you know we're limited onspace.
We can't get 90 kids in themuseum at one time, so I'm
getting together history in atrunk to take it to them, which
literally we have like an oldtrunk or a tote.
I'll make use a tote orprobably an old trunk, where I'm
going to fill it with like fiveto six artifacts, maybe some
reenacting clothes they canactually try on.
We talk about the Revolor, justto make it fun.
(11:00):
History should be fun.
It shouldn't be boring anddates and all that dull stuff.
It should be fun like the camp,like you remember going to camp
.
Well, no matter what your age,we want you to get out of what
we do.
So we speak to school groups.
We also this is a big thing forthis year we have an annual
publication that we try to doevery year.
This year we'll focus onScience Hill, the female academy
(11:21):
, the inn or the restaurant inWakefield Scarce.
It is their bicentennial, thebicentennial of Lafayette, which
I'll kind of that kind of goeswith some of our 250th.
So there's a lot going on, butwe wanted to focus that.
It's neat.
We've got a lot of stories.
Actually, we have a meetingtomorrow.
We're in the process of stillgetting the stories for that
publication, but I think it'sgoing to be a really good one
(11:43):
and it's going to tie inWakefield Scarce Galleries as
well.
Matt's going to write anarticle for us.
It's going to be really good, agood thing to look for.
Janette Marson (11:51):
Go back to Lafayette and explain to the
listeners who that person wasand the connection with Shelby
County.
Helen McKinney (11:59):
Yeah, mark Anty Lafayette obviously was a
freshman helped America win thewar, briefly said, was a good
friend of Washington.
He was younger than Washingtonand about 40, 50 years later,
after the war had ended, on May13, 1825, he visited Shelbyville
and if you've been by ouroffice on Main Street you've
(12:20):
seen the red, white and bluepatriotic-looking sign that is
dedicated to Lafayette's May 13,1825 visit.
So we're planning a lot ofevents to go with that in camp,
we're going to tie all that inin the 250 years and we plan to
have a big celebration,hopefully on May 13th this year.
But Lafayette was veryimportant.
They say that when he cameScience Hill opened in, I
(12:43):
believe, march 25th 1825.
Well, six weeks later hevisited Shelbyville, as the
story goes, and was at, I wantto say, mcgowan Tavern.
It was a tavern.
They had a ball.
The Kentucky State HistoricalSociety has a ball gown that was
worn at that ball.
Oh, wow it was on display whenthey put up the marker.
Janette Marson (13:02):
Right.
Helen McKinney (13:03):
But the story goes and we're really looking
into this.
This will be one of ourarticles.
To give you a little previewthis is going to be a good one.
Now, this is not historicallydocumented as yet, but we're
working on it.
They say so.
Lafayette came six weeks afterJulia opened her school and they
say he asked for her to comevisit with him and converse in
French because, if you thinkabout it, he had been in France,
(13:25):
he was out of America, probablyno longer spoke as much
American.
So when he came back to Americaon that farewell tour he did
1824, 1825, they say he spokewith Julia and, as accomplished
as she was, she taught French,latin, all the amazing things
girls at that time weren'treally exposed to.
So they say they conversed inFrench because she was the only
(13:46):
person in town that could speakFrench.
So they say so it makes a nicestory.
Janette Marson (13:50):
We don't know.
Oh, it does yeah.
Helen McKinney (13:56):
But just to give you a little teaser about our
publication.
Actually, sarah Beth is workingon an article on that, so
that's fascinating.
But yeah, that's one way toremember him too 1825 was a big
year for Shelbyville.
Mason Warren (14:05):
1825 was it was.
Helen McKinney (14:07):
A lot happened.
Yes, anything else in?
Janette Marson (14:08):
1825?
Or were those the two biggies?
Helen McKinney (14:10):
Those are the biggies for this year that we're
really plugging.
Janette Marson (14:13):
Okay, well, those are big enough, they are.
Mason Warren (14:17):
Sarah Beth that you've mentioned.
She's going to be a guest on afuture episode to talk about the
history of the library and howit's a Carnegie Library, and the
resources in the.
Kentucky Room and everythinglike that.
Helen McKinney (14:26):
Yes, yes, her and I together that was one more
thing I was going to point outwork on genealogy.
More so her, because I'mrestricted to only so many hours
a week.
But she handles a lot of therequests because people have a
lot of interest and the olderyou get, I think you just
naturally want to know.
But we have requests I mean wehave them from all over people
wanting to know about theirancestors.
(14:48):
So she helps with that.
That's a big part of what we doin our collections.
We're always looking to add tothe collections.
We have a lot of stuff storednot at the museum because we
just don't have the space.
So we try to rotate out.
It's kind of a job carryingthings back and forth when not
everything's together.
So we just this year changedout and put up a new exhibit on
(15:09):
Science Hill, which an exhibitwould be our next biggest thing
that we have.
So that will run to the end ofthe year.
We're really excited.
You'll see all kinds of thingsIf you drop by and see our
exhibit.
You'll see actually you'll seea dress.
I hope I get this right MattBurnett's great grandmother, I
believe he has lent us a dress,maybe her graduation dress that
(15:31):
she wore when she graduated fromScience Hill To recall what
year I want to say early 1900s.
It's amazing.
So it's there for you to see.
We have a lot of documents andkind of paper-like programs and
catalogs and a lot of photos,class photos of the girls that
went there.
So it's a good exhibit.
(15:52):
It gives you a good idea ofjust how important Science Hill
was, because it was like thefirst female academy west of the
Alleghenies pretty much.
I think there was somethingsimilar in Nashville when Julia
opened her academy, because shereferenced it in her book that
she wrote an autobiography.
But I mean it was amazingbecause I kind of get a giggle
(16:13):
when you read her autobiographyyou learn about in the
wilderness Shelby was in thewilderness still in 1825.
But just the just the thoughtthat she offered a school that
taught Latin, greek botany, Imean everything that you know
you wouldn't get in a one roomschoolhouse, let alone boys
wouldn't get that education.
So it kind of made me wonder,you know, why would you send
(16:35):
your daughter in the wildernessin 1825?
You know it was a special placeto think.
Why am I going to send mydaughter there?
Right, and these people hadmoney too, right Primarily, and
a lot of them were from thesouthern states, because there's
even instances one of theladies that graduated I think
she was in one of the lastgraduating classes.
Rosella Davis has written somememoirs, been on a KET program
(16:59):
and made the comments and I'veseen that she's made in her
writings that a lot of them werefrom the southern states.
And the girls, if you thinkabout it, because Science Hill
went on from 1825 to 1939.
That was the last graduatingclass but during the Civil Wars
those girls couldn't return home, so some of them were sort of
stranded for four years duringthe Civil War at Science Hill,
(17:22):
and it had day they called them,I think, day boarders girls
that lived there boarders, butthey couldn't go home for like
four years.
So it's a lot of history.
It makes you think.
Janette Marson (17:31):
It does make you think.
Now you mentioned, and I knowwe have a wonderful, wonderful
museum and you've made mentionof it For the listeners.
Talk about the hours whenyou're open, when can they visit
?
When can they visit?
Helen McKinney (17:48):
Sure, we are open Wednesday through Friday 10
to 4, saturday 10 to 2, or byappointment.
You can call check with me.
Sometimes I have to be out.
I don't have any staff.
I'm a staff of, I guess, half aperson.
We're open part-time.
So if you're coming from faraway, I'd suggest you call and I
do have to be out for meetingsor things will come up and we
(18:10):
have volunteers that help staffus.
Janette Marson (18:13):
And is the museum free or is there a charge
?
Helen McKinney (18:15):
No, charge free Very good.
But yeah, and it's good tocheck ahead.
Like I said, we can do otherhours.
My schedule is pretty flexible,but I try to stick to those
hours.
Janette Marson (18:27):
Well, it's been a minute since I've been over.
I want to come over and see thenew exhibit.
Helen McKinney (18:31):
It's neat.
Janette Marson (18:32):
It is a wonderful museum, it really is
wonderful.
Mason Warren (18:35):
Yeah, so is there anything else that you wanted to
talk on about what you all dobefore we move on?
Helen McKinney (18:41):
Just I did want to kind of give a plug.
We have got our JuniorHistorical Society back up and
running.
Danielle Wade is our she'sactually camp director, board
member and junior historicalsociety director.
She's fabulous she has.
We're getting this back up andrunning.
We feel a need for it to workwith.
This will be with probablyolder kids.
(19:02):
We'd like to do field trips.
If we could take it to FortBoonesboro, fort Herod, we're
just up for anything.
So Danielle's getting that upand going.
That's a big thing right nowwe're working on Is it through
the schools?
Through the schools?
She'll work through the schools.
Fantastic, kind of get a clubtogether.
I guess you'd say, and just oneof our other.
We're always looking forvolunteers and help.
(19:23):
We are working on severaldigitization projects as well,
and that is some things.
That's kind of a.
We mentioned some member perks,that's kind of a perk.
We'll have some things on ourwebsite that, if you're a member
, you can access them.
You may not be able to unlessyou're a member, but it doesn't
cost much to become a member, sothat will help researchers,
writers, anyone just interestedin history.
So that's, we have a lot goingon.
(19:44):
Gotcha.
Mason Warren (19:45):
So there's an exciting anniversary coming up
in 2026.
America is turning 250.
There are celebrations plannedthroughout the country, but the
Shelby County Historical Societyis kind of taking the lead on
that for Shelby County, I think.
So can you talk about what youall have planned for that?
Helen McKinney (20:04):
Yeah, sure, and that goes back.
That was started by BrianCushing, started a committee and
we're calling ourselvesCountdown to USA 250.
And actually we had a bigkickoff last year.
It was the Day of theIndependence Day Parade.
I think that's always the lastSaturday in June.
We had some demos.
Well, we had some demos alongthe parade route in front of
(20:28):
Centenary United Methodist.
We had kind of like a Revoirencampment parade route in front
of Centenary United Methodist.
We had kind of like a Revoirencampment.
And then we had at ourHistorical Society.
As the parade passes right bythere, we had a lot going on
there too.
We had a special display fromthe Kentucky State Historical
Society displayed the stateconstitution.
So that was really exciting tohave that.
(20:50):
We had a lot of people come inand the SAR Sons of the American
Revolution Museum in Louisvillealso came out and displayed
some artifacts.
So we like to partner Anyway wecan partner.
That was really cool.
We had good traffic but it wasamazing to see that, like 1792
state constitution right therein front of you.
That was amazing.
So we kicked off.
(21:10):
We've got some programming.
That was amazing.
So we kicked off where we'vegot some programming that also
goes along with our programmingfor this year.
We're going to kick off April15th a new series entitled With
Liberty and Justice for All, andI've got one more speaker to
nail down.
It should be set Soon as I getthat I'll release information.
But April 15th we're excited tohave Jim Holmberg from the
Filson Historical Society.
I think he's going to talk moreabout the Clark family.
(21:33):
But all these programs willfocus on the Rev War years and
how it really began, although wedo want to encompass, you know,
250 years of history.
That's a lot of history and wewant to point out Shelby
County's contributions as we dothis.
But one of the other excitingthings this is really cool.
This hopefully, will come outnext month we are developing
something called History Minutes.
(21:54):
It's going to be probably morelike a YouTube social media type
thing where literally in 60seconds, someone will have a
narrator to give you a few factsabout, say on this day in
history is how it will begin.
It's based on the bicentennialminutes that were done in 1976.
So you know, we'll start offlike on this day in history,
(22:16):
maybe tell you something aboutthe Boston Tea Party or some
fact from those years.
But we're also going to focusas much as we can on just a
brief fact from Shelby Countyhistory that ties in.
Like Squire Boone was here thenduring the war Overall in
Kentucky.
You know we'll have thingsabout Fort Boonesboro.
We'll get a little nod in there.
We're working on writing thescripts but that'll just kind of
(22:39):
be another visual where you'llsee 60 seconds, you'll hear a
little fact and you'll see somepictures and that's what we're
working on now.
So we hope to get that going bynext month and then that'll
last like a year and threemonths till we actually get to
2026.
Which, when we do get to 2026,our goal is to have a humongous
(23:00):
parade in Shelbyville Justeverything red, white and blue
bunting everywhere, everythingyou can see red, white and blue
bunting everywhere, everythingyou can see red, white and blue
devoted to our veterans.
So that's really the end goalfor us with the 250th.
That sounds fantastic.
And you ask about.
I'll throw this out there.
You ask about Lafayette.
He will literally return toShelbyville May 13th this year.
(23:21):
We hope, if all plans go well,he will literally return to
Shelbyville May 13th this year.
We hope, if all plans go welland we tie to trying to like
Main Street events like WildAbout Shelbyville music festival
, art festival we will tie intothat.
We are going to have a flagdisplay during that inside and
out to kind of draw someattention.
(23:42):
Last year we did that and hadsome SAR guys demoing and it was
great.
So that will be a tie-in tokind of Lafayette and he'll come
back to Shelbyville May 13th ifall goes well, when we put up
the sign.
The president of the LafayetteTrail, julian Itcher I know I
won't pronounce his name, right,julian came and spoke and he
has agreed to come again.
(24:02):
He wants to give a program.
We're kind of going torededicate our sign.
We have a lot of special thingsplanned for May 13th so we'll
be rolling that out soon.
But that's you know.
We just try to tie a lot ofthings into one program and give
you a good like a visual.
We'll have demos and things togive you a visual of history,
not just read you something.
Janette Marson (24:21):
Right, always making it fun.
Just read you something Right,always making it fun.
I knew you were going to saythat, yes, fun and engaging.
Helen McKinney (24:25):
That's the purpose.
So yeah, and like I said, we'llculminate in that big parade in
2026.
And we have a committee.
You know, if you want to jointhe committee, you don't have to
come to every meetings.
We try to meet once a month tokeep on track.
Keep it going, keep themomentum going.
Janette Marson (24:44):
I've wanted to come to the meeting.
Helen McKinney (24:46):
Every single one of them has been a conflict,
yeah it's a conflict with mesometimes oh my gosh, I don't
even know what's happening.
Yeah, but you know, and ifyou're interested I'll send you
notes.
If you come to one meetingyou'll get the gist of it.
But we are trying to plan theseevents to be 250th events for
the year and we'll add things asthe year goes along.
There'll be more to add, butit's just to give people the
(25:07):
idea that, hey, it's a big dealto celebrate 250 years of
anything, it only happens once.
So we want people to be excited,to be excited for Shelbyville,
for America, I mean, this isAmerica's big birthday.
Janette Marson (25:18):
Well, that's exciting.
As we know, and people that arelistening are finding out,
Shelby County is so rich inhistory, we're so blessed to
live here and there's so manythings to know about.
What would you say would be oneof your favorite little facts
or historical things thathappened in Shelby County?
Helen McKinney (25:40):
Well, being a Boone descendant, I'm going to
zero in on Squire Boone'sPainted Stone Station.
Janette Marson (25:44):
Right.
Helen McKinney (25:45):
Or Uncle Squire's I would have called him
.
He would have been like myeighth, ninth great uncle In
1781,.
I do the reenactments with thePainted Stone settlers.
I've done that for a long timeand it's just thrilling.
I mean that history.
We get a lot of requests andcomments and questions about P
stone even today.
So we would um like with thehistorical society.
(26:08):
We'd like to put someprogramming in place going
forward and uh, kind of focus onthat too.
And again, that's one thingthat goes along with the 250th,
but I'm a little partial to theboone history absolutely so, as
I had mentioned previously umhenry banta.
Janette Marson (26:21):
so he was at and that family was at Painted
Stone, and then I alwayswondered how in the world did
they get to Shaker Village?
Was it Indian attack, I guess?
Helen McKinney (26:31):
Painted Stone.
Yeah, in September of 1781, thesettlers were fleeing because
they had been harassed by thenatives so many times.
So on a September day in 1781,they decided to flee to Lynn
Station, which was part of theBeargrass Stations in Louisville
, and they were attacked aboutmid-route.
It would be the town ofEastwood today, if you're
(26:52):
familiar with Middletown thelittle base spot Eastwood.
That's about where it happenedand you know there wasn't.
I mean, historically they'vesaid there were a lot of people
killed.
There wasn't.
It was probably only about 13people, but people did lose
their lives, but it was such amassacre.
So but the rest of the settlersthat made it straggled into Lynn
(27:15):
Station and we have, you know,in things like the Draper
manuscripts there's a lot ofreferences to the settlers.
That's how we have theirstories.
And there's a historian, vinceAkers, who I believe he lives in
Ohio, he's not from here, hehas come to the Painted Stone
Long Run Massacre event but herecorded that Low Dutch history
and he's who we reference as themajor historian.
(27:36):
We have basically his documenton our website, but he is the
one that took the time to recordit and piece those things
together and tell us what weknow about Painted Stone Station
.
Janette Marson (27:47):
Fantastic.
So I have a couple burningquestions.
Mason may have burningquestions as well.
Okay, I don't know if you'llknow or not, so of course our
show is called Kentucky HiddenWonders.
So this is definitely a hiddenwonder and I have wondered.
So under Shelby County thereare all these tunnels.
So when they were redoing thesteps on the courthouse they
(28:10):
found a tunnel that wentsomewhere.
I think at Serendipity CandyKitchen she has a tunnel.
What are these tunnels that arehere in Shelby and what
historically were they used for?
Do you know?
Helen McKinney (28:24):
I don't quite know Now.
Trace Kirkwood I've heard himtalk about it.
He's our president of theHistorical Society, but I've
heard him talk about thoseunderground tunnels just used by
the city.
I really don't know.
It is fascinating.
I wish we could do some kind oftours and things.
Janette Marson (28:37):
Oh, I do too For the courthouse.
I have said what you put thecement on before I could strap
on a flashlight and go throughit.
Helen McKinney (28:46):
Yeah, who knew?
But?
Yeah, there's like a wholeother little city under there
there is.
Yeah.
Janette Marson (28:51):
And then the other question.
So at our library, our CarnegieLibrary, there are all these
old tombstones and then as youlook at the grounds there are
indentations where the graveswere.
I know there is historicalsignificance with that area.
Can you tell the listeners alittle bit about the library?
I can tell you what I'vediscovered.
Helen McKinney (29:09):
Now, Sarah Beth would be able to tell you
exactly who they are andeverything about them.
But from what I understand, thechurch that is there on the
corner, like across from thelibrary, the Presbyterian Church
right beside us from what Iunderstand, they either own land
there or I'm not sure if that'sthe original location for that
church, but I think it belongedto that church.
It was a graveyard thatbelonged to them, but the church
(29:31):
, of course, is now hoppedacross the street on the corner,
but the graveyard remains.
So, as much as I can come upwith, I think it tied into that
church.
But of course, the city lookstotally different now.
Janette Marson (29:43):
Oh, it does.
And those tombstones, they'revery, very old.
Helen McKinney (29:46):
Yes.
Janette Marson (29:47):
And I'm so glad they've preserved them.
Helen McKinney (29:49):
And I'm all about preserving history, yes,
and I think it was just thegraveyard that went to that
church and I might be wrong.
Sarah Beth could tell youexactly.
But you know, in the buildingwe are in the museum is in the
manse that went with thePresbyterian Church.
I think it dates to 1872,something like that.
Janette Marson (30:08):
And that's another reason to go to the
museum at the Historical Society.
It's a neat old building.
It is a neat old building andeven the grounds that surround
it are really, really— thegarden out back everything.
Mason Warren (30:20):
It's very pretty.
Helen McKinney (30:21):
That's a city parking lot behind us, but it's
very pretty and, of course, theVFW is right there across from
us and we are just rich withhistory.
Janette Marson (30:33):
just walking around downtown or anywhere in
Shelby County, you can encounterwonderful history.
Yeah, oh, you know what.
You did not let me know aboutmy membership.
Oh, yes, I will be glad to hearthat.
How does that work?
How does that?
Helen McKinney (30:46):
work.
You can contact the office,stop by.
We're always looking formembers, volunteers, donors,
because we try to keep all ourprograms free, except for camp,
but it's kind of hard to do that.
We do have to have sponsors fordifferent things, volunteers,
especially camp.
But just for as little as $25and up you can be a member.
We will probably kick off nextmonth our annual fund drive
(31:10):
which we target our members.
But, like I said, anybody canbe a member.
There's no requirements.
We have different levels,starting at $25 and up.
Janette Marson (31:21):
Is that a year annual?
Yes, okay.
Helen McKinney (31:23):
Yeah, but an interesting thing, it's $100.
We have like everything labeledso, for example, if you give
$100, you're at the Julia Tevislevel.
So we thought we might kind ofchallenge people this year.
I call this year the year ofJulia, since there's a
bicentennial, all these thingswith Julia Tevis signed sale To
(31:43):
me it's like the whole year is ayear of Julia, but we're kind
of going to challenge and seehow many people would give at
that level.
Or we have so manybicentennials.
If you can do it, can you give200?
You know that really helps.
It goes a long ways because wedo have expenses.
We're even going to be workingon an archaeology project.
(32:03):
We did get some funding for it,but we're going to target high
schoolers and work on anarchaeology project, which is
exciting.
That is super exciting.
I want to be a part of it.
Janette Marson (32:14):
So you know what we could, even on our podcast,
put a challenge out like 250.
Helen McKinney (32:22):
Yeah, yeah.
But I was like, hey, it'sbicentennial If you want to give
200,.
Julia Tevis level is 100.
But we always need thosecontributions to have the events
like the 250th, to keep thingsup and running and going Because
, like I said, we want toprovide free programming as long
as we can.
Janette Marson (32:39):
But we do have expenses.
Well, that is incrediblyaffordable and everyone should
be a member of our fabuloushistorical society.
Anything else you'd like to add?
Have we missed anything?
Helen McKinney (32:52):
We got a lot going on.
Janette Marson (32:54):
Have we missed anything?
Mason Warren (32:56):
You might have said it and I might have missed
it Website where people canlearn more?
Oh, yes, wwwshelbykyhistoryorg.
Helen McKinney (33:04):
I'm glad you said that we are in the process
of updating that website.
So if everything doesn't comequite up, give us about another
month, okay.
But we're kind of freshening itup, adding some new stuff,
getting that up to par.
You can always contact me,director at shelbykyhistoryorg,
or call the office 502-513-5555,wednesday through Saturday
(33:30):
that's the easiest way.
Just contact me if you have anyquestions or anything.
Janette Marson (33:35):
And you all have a great website.
I've looked at it.
You've got some good videos,some reenactments.
Helen McKinney (33:40):
Yeah, like I, said, we're updating all that
and a lot of things.
That's gotten a lot ofattention is the Simpsonville
Massacre.
The anniversary of that wasJanuary 25th, I believe 160
years.
So members Jerry Miller andJuanita White have been very
involved with that and I thinkWave 3 actually reached out to
me and I think Juanita may beappearing on there.
(34:02):
Jerry's been on WDRB hererecently, so there's a lot of
interest and we even partneredwith Camp Nelson on that date,
january 25th of this year.
They reached out to us to do aprogram and Ali Center just
recently that was last weekpremiered the screening again of
Secrets of the Dead.
Janette Marson (34:21):
That was the episode that focused on the
massacre and just for people whodon't necessarily know just
quickly, could you describe forthem what that was?
Helen McKinney (34:31):
It happened in Simpsonville.
You can see the markers alongUS-60 if you drive through
Simpsonville.
That's in that area was wheresome black Union soldiers were
massacred.
They were attacked byConfederateederate guerrillas
and buried in a mass grave.
That's the information we have.
So jerry jerry and juanita bothhave taken an enormous amount
(34:53):
of time to look into that, andthere are others too.
They have worked with uk, withsome archaeologists, and jerry
is close to.
He thinks he has pinpointedwhere that mass grave is,
because they had to be buriedquick.
You know it was in January.
We're assuming the bodies werestripped.
So it's kind of hard to findlike anything metal or anything,
because they probably took thesoldiers' boots, they took their
(35:15):
uniforms with their metalbuttons.
But they think they havenarrowed down and found the spot
.
So Jerry is going to dig and nomatter what is found one way or
the other, we're going to have aprogram, a follow-up program,
once that happens too.
So we'll have programming thatwe plug in throughout the year.
We don't just set our dates inJanuary, we're just kind of
filling in as we go.
But we will have a program inSimpsonville near that site it
(35:36):
won't be that site to kind ofupdate at Camp Nelson.
There, the head guy at CampNelson, stephen Fann, has
already agreed to come and speak, so that's we may do a panel
discussion.
It's going to be a good programfor everyone to be on the same
track right at that time andknow what's happening going
forward, because if they do findthe bodies of the soldiers,
they are going to, from what Iunderstand, transfer them to
(35:58):
Camp Nelson, which is probablymost fitting.
Janette Marson (36:01):
Right.
Helen McKinney (36:01):
Um, if they find that mass grave.
Um.
So yeah, that's exciting.
That's kind of an ungrowingproject with Jerry and Juanita.
Mason Warren (36:09):
Oh well, that's incredible.
I remember seeing the WDRBstory about that.
Helen McKinney (36:12):
Okay, yeah, yeah , I'm excited for them.
I'm glad they're gettingattention.
They've worked really hardbecause I want to say this
started in maybe 2007 when Jerrystarted on this program, so
it's been a while.
So I know Juanita.
I heard her talk about how shewent through all those soldiers'
pension records to pull outinformation.
Get their names, because wehave their names.
Pull the information.
Janette Marson (36:33):
Oh, so you do.
You know who they are.
A lot of work, yeah, you knowwho they are.
Helen McKinney (36:36):
But she like pieced the information together
from the pension records Because, if you think about it, those
were young men, like maybe 21,19, 21, 22 years old, so they
may not have had families or youknow who are they going to
leave something to and who'sgoing to apply for a pension.
So they put a lot of work intothat to get that history out
there.
Janette Marson (36:54):
Oh well, thank you, Helen, you are a wealth of
information.
Mason Warren (36:58):
Yes, all kinds of good information, thank you.
Thank you so much for being onour show.
I appreciate it.
Helen McKinney (37:02):
Thank you for having me.
We appreciate it.
Janette Marson (37:03):
You've been fabulous Thank you very much.
Mason Warren (37:10):
This has been Kentucky Hidden Wonders.
Thank you to Helen McKinney forcoming on the show to talk
about the Shelby CountyHistorical Society and thank you
for listening.
If you've made it this far,make sure you subscribe and
leave us a review.
It means the world to us.
We'll return with a brand newKentucky Hidden Wonders episode
in two weeks.
Bye everyone.
Kentucky Hidden Wonders is aShelby KY Tourism production.
(37:31):
Your hosts are Janet Marson andMason Warren.
To learn more about Shelby KYTourism and to start planning a
visit, head to visitshelbykycom.
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