March 4, 2025 • 46 mins
Experience the Knob Creek Conservancy: Nature Trails and History in Hodgenville, Kentucky.
Welcome to another exciting episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series podcast! Today, we're thrilled to bring you a conversation with two exceptional guests, Jimmy Shaw and Jim B. Phelps, representing the historic destination of Hodgenville, Kentucky, and the Knob Creek Conservancy.
Jimmy hails from an area rich in history, with deep roots tracing back to Abraham Lincoln. Known for its charming small-town vibe, the community boasts eateries offering classic short-order meals. Jimmy takes pride in his region's heritage, where visitors can explore a museum dedicated to Lincoln, indulging in the historical richness the area is celebrated for.
Jim B. has lived in Hodginville nearly his whole life. After attending college in Lexington, KY, he returned to his hometown to pursue a career in education. His journey took an unexpected turn when his father became the mayor, leading to the rediscovery of unused city property at McDougal Lake.
Jimmy and Jim B. share their deep roots in the community and their passionate efforts to promote this hidden gem with other community leaders. You'll hear how the Knob Creek Conservancy has transformed unused land into a thriving hub for outdoor enthusiasts, offering hiking, mountain biking, and more against the backdrop of breathtaking natural beauty.
TOPICS DISCUSSED
History of Hodgenville
- Importance of Abraham Lincoln's birthplace and boyhood home
- Historical context and significance of LaRue County and Hodgenville
Knob Creek Conservancy
- Formation and development of McDougal Lake
- Creation of hiking trails and conservancy efforts
- Community and educational involvement
Outdoor and Recreational Opportunities
- Details about trail systems and outdoor activities
Local Events and Attractions
- Downtown attractions and events
- Lincoln Jamboree, Lincoln Days festival, and local shops
- Connections to other regional attractions
- Notable places like Bardstown and Fort Knox
Concluding Remarks
- Invitation and hospitality for visitors
CONNECT HODGENVILLE AND THE KNOB CREEK CONSERVANCY
To see everything Hogenville and the Knob Creek Conservancy has to offer, check out their website at https://visithodgenville.com and https://www.knobcreekconservancy.org, and their social channels for the latest updates:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/knobcreekconservancy
NEXT STEPS
Visit us at https://outdooradventureseries.com. We welcome likes, comments, and shares.
KEYWORDS
Visit Hodgenville, Knob Creek Conservancy, Lincoln’s birthplace, Outdoor Adventure Series, Podcast
#VisitHodgenville #KnobCreekConservancy #LincolnBirthplace
#OutdoorAdventures #Podcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Howard (00:07):
Hello everyone This is Howard.
Foxx and welcome back foranother episode of the outdoor
adventure series podcast wherewe celebrate individuals and
families businesses andorganizations that seek out and
promote the explorationstewardship conservation Access
and enjoyment of the outdoors.
Jimmy Shaw and Jim B.
(00:28):
Phelps are our guests today.
Jim and Jimmy are representingthe destination of Hodgenville,
Kentucky and the Knob CreekConservancy.
Jimmy and Jim, welcome to thepodcast.
How are you guys doing
Jimmy Shaw (00:43):
good.
man.
Thanks for having us.
So we're glad to be here.
We've, we've gotten to know eachother over the last couple of
weeks, Howard, and this is JimB's first podcast.
I'm telling him to smile alittle bit and have some fun.
I do this, I do this probablytoo much and, but we're glad to
be here.
Thanks for the opportunity.
Thank you.
Showcase.
Yeah.
Talk
Howard (01:00):
it is, it's a pleasure, and I'm just excited because I
love history, that was myfavorite subject, and I felt
like as I was doing the researchfor this podcast when you and I
chatted a couple weeks ago tolay the groundwork for it, that
this was going to be reallypossible.
Yeah.
Great.
feeding my, my love of history,and, and I have to say, ask you
(01:23):
first for our listeners and forthe folks that are going to view
the video, uh, first off, Way tothe camera.
Which one of you is Jimmy andwhich one of you is Jim?
Jimmy Shaw and Jim B (01:37):
I'm Jimmy.
I'm Jimmy.
Jimmy Shaw (01:38):
I'm
Jim B (01:39):
Jim.
Jimmy Shaw (01:39):
I'm Jim.
I'm Jimmy Shaw.
It's Jim B.
Phelps.
Yeah.
Howard (01:42):
All right, I love it, I love it.
Now if you would I would love ifyou could share a little bit of
information about yourself, So,Jim B, give us a little bit
about your background and yourconnection to the to Hodgenville
and the county and the communityin your your area of Beautiful,
(02:04):
uh, Kentucky.
Jim B (02:06):
yeah.
So I was born and raised here inHodgenville.
my life, I've been here my wholelife, except for the four years
I attended college in Lexington,Kentucky, uh, came back and was
fortunate enough to be ateacher.
I'm still in the educationbusiness, finishing up my 21st
year.
I now work as the curriculumsupport for, uh, the LaRue
(02:27):
County school system.
and, uh, the whole Knob Creekthing kind of, popped up four or
five years ago when, uh, my dadtook over as mayor and we, uh,
discovered some unused propertythat the city had owned at
MacDougall Lake and, uh, a groupof us kind of banded together
(02:48):
that were outdoor enthusiastsand created the Knob Creek
Conservancy to, uh, promoteconservation, education, and
recreation.
Howard (02:58):
Excellent.
And great background.
How did you decide to go intoeducation and become a teacher?
Cause that's a hard profession,but you know, you're making a
difference in kids lives.
Jim B (03:09):
Yeah, my mom was actually a teacher.
So I lived and breathed theteaching world or education
world, staying after school withher and and I just like people.
I like to help people, uh, lovesports and I had a real good,
uh, experience in school here atLaRue County.
And when I, I don't know, it wasjust kind of one of those things
(03:32):
was in college and I was like,you know what, I think I want to
go into teaching and It allworked out thankfully.
And here I am.
Howard (03:40):
Very good.
Well, I appreciate you sharingthat.
So now I have to ask, how didyou meet the guy next to you?
Jim B (03:47):
we go way back.
I think.
I think we were, I got somepictures at home where we were
in preschool together.
So Jimmy was the year ahead ofme and, and, uh, high school.
So, we played little leaguesports together, uh, probably
hung out at each other's house.
here and there.
Howard (04:03):
Okay, okay.
Now, Jimmy, I, I recall when wefirst had that conversation, I
mentioned I'm going to need somephotos to put up on it for our
banners and our show notes, so Iwant to see that picture of you
guys in preschool, okay, for theshow notes, so just no pressure.
All right.
Excellent.
So, Jimmy, tell us a little bitabout yourself.
(04:23):
What's your background?
Jimmy Shaw (04:25):
Yeah, So I, um, won Jimmy Shaw.
I think one of the things that'sunique, Jim B and I both, I'm,
I'm junior Jim B's the, are youthe third or fourth?
You're the third.
So he, he, my son's the third.
His son is goes by Burke and hishe's the fourth.
And so we have just deep rootshere in the community.
I shared that with you, Howard,and I usually describe myself to
(04:47):
people is like, I do this quiteoften.
And how do you describeyourself?
But I, I've got a littlepersonal saying of just faith
family.
Adventure and then doing workworth doing.
So born and raised the countygoes back.
We've got deep lineage in thecounty.
So the LaRue County, I was aLaRue, um, goes back eight or
nine generations.
(05:07):
The county is named after myfamily.
Both of our families have beenprominent members of the
community for a long time.
And so we just hope we're doingsome justice to that.
But I've lived here my wholelife.
Other than my college days, Iwent to school at the University
of Louisville.
I'm an engineer.
I own a business called ZionSolutions Group and own some
real estate businesses.
(05:28):
And, um, my family, I've gotfour kids.
they're my world.
my wife's Holly.
She's put up with me for 15 plusyears.
And, uh, LaRue County is a smallfarming community.
And I think Jim B and I bothshare in the fact that we really
could have probably goneanywhere and, uh, and had
careers in, in, in any location.
And we both, I think share thesame same mindset of that.
(05:52):
We wanted our children raised inthis community where we were
raised.
It made us who we are.
It's the fabric of us.
And just it's, it's a greatcommunity full of great people
and a rich history that we'regoing to get to.
So that's just a little bitabout me, but yeah.
Howard (06:06):
Excellent.
No, I appreciate that.
Let's talk a little bit, if wecould, about the history.
I mean, you, you, LaRue County.
and you've, you've gotHodgenville, so all this
interconnection, how far doesthis history go back and what
are some of the significant, uh,highlights that are important
for the visitor if they want tocome and either partake in the
(06:29):
outdoor adventure, or maybe theywant to get immersed in history,
or I imagine you also have somegreat food and, uh, beverage and
music around you as well.
But what's a little bit aboutthat history, Jimmy?
Jimmy Shaw (06:40):
Yeah, for sure.
So I think we got to start withwhat we're probably best known
for.
Hopefully, how I describe it is,um, Abraham Lincoln was born
about two miles from where we'resitting today.
So there's a National Historic,um, Park, I think is what they
call it.
And then there's another placewhere when they move from from
where he was born to anotherplace called Knob Creek, the
(07:03):
boyhood home.
So our Jim B probably knowsbetter than I do when the city
was formed, and it was in the1800s, and I'm gonna get it
wrong, so I'm gonna let him knowit and say it for exact, because
somebody will listen to this andbe like, he has no idea, but our
biggest, richest history isgoing back to Lincoln, so
that's, um, what we, what we'vebeen known for.
there's in the general area,Howard, I think you've got to
(07:24):
look at.
We've obviously got good littledive places to eat.
We'll talk about Leahy's.
We'll talk about a few of theother places here to eat and
still get that.
That that short order type mealthat small communities are
famous for.
We've got a museum that'sdedicated to Lincoln.
we've got a rich, history interms of we are in the Bible
belt.
So we've got more, I don't evenknow the number of churches we
(07:46):
have in the area, but it's alot.
We're nestled really betweenBowling Green and Louisville.
We're dead center of centralKentucky.
So we're 65.
Bowling Green's got the CorvetteMuseum.
It's got, a Mammoth Cave, aNational Park, one of the most
visited National Parks, is aboutan hour, 60 to 90 minutes south.
(08:08):
Louisville, which is the biggestcity, is about 60 minutes north.
Lexington's about 60 minutesnortheast.
So we're nestled in a good spot.
Bourbon, a lot of people reallyknow Kentucky for a few things,
racing, horse racing, andbourbon.
And, uh, So we're right in themiddle of, within an hour, you
(08:28):
could go visit some of theworld's most recognizable brands
of bourbon and the tourismaround it, but specific to
Hodgenville, I think Jim B and Iare here to just promote, like,
we're a small farming communitywith a rich history.
It goes back to Lincoln, that'sour anchor, and then Jim B has
led, he's too modest about this,Howard, but he's led just a real
(08:49):
revitalization effort in termsof making this more of an
outdoor location, more of anoutdoor, what your podcast is
about.
It's a destination now in termsof, we've got hiking, we've got
fishing, you can kayak, we'vegot a trail system that's pretty
awesome that we've self built.
Hey, while you're here, you cangrab a cheeseburger at Leigh
Hayes, you can go visit theLincoln Museum, you can ride
(09:11):
around a small town in America,and then you can go see where
Lincoln was born and where hemoved
Howard (09:16):
it.
Jimmy Shaw (09:17):
That's a, that's a high level overview of some of
the attractions.
Yeah,
Howard (09:21):
No, that's that's actually perfect.
Jim.
Jim B.
If you want to add another layerto that, I'm curious if you know
this answer if and if you don't,I'm sure it's going to be
significant.
The number of visitors or theeconomic impact that you all
have with folks coming in,whether it's a day trip.
(09:44):
I mean, like,
Jimmy Shaw (09:44):
I know it.
It's about 400, 000 people iswhat, what some, some stats that
we've had, and that number mayfluctuate up and down, but
there's probably about 400, 000people that come in and visit,
visit the National Park and justspill over through the tourism,
through Lincoln Museum andthrough Mammoth Caves.
So I've heard that number, maybewrong.
I think
Jim B (10:02):
that's in the Lincoln Museum, uh, Iris LaRue and Rob
Thurman.
Iris is the director and she'sbeen a big part of, of kind of.
know, helping to makeHodgenville a destination.
And so is Rob Thurman.
they tracked, they have visitorsyearly from, uh, or annually
from all 50 states, but I think,uh, in 2024, they counted 35,
(10:25):
uh, visitors from 35 foreigncountries
Howard (10:28):
Oh, wow.
Jim B (10:28):
the Lincoln Museum.
So
Howard (10:31):
very cool.
That's
Jim B (10:33):
And then right downtown, Jimmy mentioned Leigh Hayes.
the Lincoln Museum is rightdowntown.
It used to be a square, and itwas a pretty typical, uh, square
of Kentucky, the small towns inKentucky that were the, the
courthouse was the center of thetown.
It was on the square.
Our courthouse actually burneddown, if I'm not mistaken,
twice.
But, so we, when we were kids,uh, the courthouse was not
(10:57):
there.
It was already gone, but rightdown in the center of town was
the Abraham Lincoln statue.
that's similar to the statue atthe Lincoln Memorial in D.
C.
And, uh, they have now turnedthat into a circle.
Squircle.
Call it a squircle now.
A squircle.
Yeah.
So the Lincoln Museum's rightdowntown and you've got the
Sweet Shop, which is kind of anationally famous, uh, fudge and
(11:19):
ice cream place.
Uh, and then of course, LeighHayes.
We're going to keep talkingabout Leigh Hayes.
It's been around forever andit's the world's greatest
cheeseburger.
Howard (11:26):
come for a visit, I want to go, I'm definitely going to
go to Leje.
I'm a cheeseburger guy.
I love my cheeseburger.
Jim B (11:32):
a good one.
So right downtown, if a visitor,they're.
Two and a half, three miles awayfrom the birthplace.
They usually come into town and,uh, hit the sweet shop, hit lay
Hayes and hit the Lincolnmuseum.
Jimmy Shaw (11:43):
Vibe coffee.
Vibe coffee.
It's there now.
And we got a couple of littleboutique places that you can do
some shopping and just, there'sbeen a.
There's been an effort to, todraw people into downtown.
Um, we've had a couple, we'vegot a, we've got a restaurant
called the 16th.
that, that is not, it, it's,it's downtown as well.
(12:03):
And we've really tried to mixthe, the group of, you've got
people coming in Howard, andthey want something to do.
And people want to eat, theywant to shop, and they want to,
they want a destination to cometo.
And so we, we've got a littlebit of all of that.
Jim B (12:15):
And so, kind of a quick history note too.
You know, right downtown, thiswas before Jimmy and I.
It had a bowling alley.
It had two car dealerships.
we had a motel where the, uh,heard lots of stories about, I
think my great grandfather wasinvolved to playing cards a
little too late at the motel onthe square.
(12:37):
But, uh, We lost a lot of thatin the sixties after the, uh,
development of the interstatesystems, interstate 65.
So as Jimmy said, Hodgenvillecentrally located and you can
get about anywhere.
So it's kind of a hub.
Uh, 31 was the main road thatcame through before the
interstate system, so it waskind of a boom town.
(12:59):
And of course then the, theinterstate system was built and
we lost a lot of that.
Uh, we lost a lot of thosestores traffic.
A lot of the, a lot of thetraffic coming through, so.
Since probably the nineties,late nineties, maybe early
nineties, they've, people evenbefore us have really worked
hard to revitalize.
(13:19):
The downtown feel and I thinkwe're headed in the right
direction.
Absolutely.
Howard (13:23):
it.
It sounds fantastic.
And, in a lot of the interviewsthat I've had, whether it's off
route 66, some of thedestinations, like 29 palms, uh,
Which is the Joshua TreeNational Park here in Las Vegas
where I live Boulder City and wedo a pod we help them produce
(13:45):
their podcast the best damnpodcast but when that interstate
went up Boulder City was justlike cut off and they recognized
like you guys have beenrecognizing the the importance
of history and tourism and Andfinding reasons to come into
this destination and I love whatyou have done and and I'm going
(14:06):
back to that map I saw on theVisit Hodgenville site, within
three hours, two and a halfhours, you can come in, have a
great day, or even stay over insome of the boutique bed and
breakfast or the Airbnbs andthen.
Go back home.
So you got a great weekend, longweekend destination.
I love that.
(14:27):
When did the, the idea of thisconservancy around this land
that the city had and MacDougallLake, because that, that takes a
lot of foresight there.
Is this because.
People want to get outside.
They want to be in nature.
And, I'm very interested in theidea of mental health in nature.
(14:48):
And so the idea that I can goout of my downtown area and go
walk in a park on a trail,that's exciting.
And how did, uh, how did the,the conservancy begin to come
about?
Which one do you want to teethat one up?
Jimmy Shaw (15:04):
this is all Jim B.
So, yeah,
Jim B (15:06):
let me get long winded here.
But, uh, so, like I said, my, mydad became mayor in, uh, 2019, I
think was his first year and,uh, he was just digging through
some files and saw McDougalLake.
So McDougal Lake was popular.
It was a popular fishingdestination here in, uh,
Hodgkinville.
But I don't know that peoplerealize how much land Surrounded
(15:28):
Lake is about 400 acres,including the 100 acre lake.
So you had about 300 acres ofland.
A little bit of that's kind offloodplain unusable.
So, long story short, we, uh, mydad sent me a screenshot of the
map and I was like, man, wecould do something with this
because, Jimmy's hiking trailrunning.
(15:49):
I like to trail run, hike,mountain bike.
Other members of our board.
the same that you're outdoorenthusiast, even some of them
are, nature lovers observingwildlife and plants trees.
So, I reached out to 2 fellowHajim billions, uh, Damon Barnes
and Ben Brian, who both had, uh,some significant experience with
(16:12):
green space, which is a, uh,Conservation organization in
Hardin County, Kentucky, about2020 minutes north of us.
So I reached out to them andsaid, Hey, guys, we got an
opportunity here.
What do you think?
And so those two guys, Damon andBen and myself met with my dad
on, uh, we were January of 2020and we kind of started the ball
(16:40):
like, Hey, can we develop this?
And so, uh, actually, I thinkthat was January of 2019.
Cause we, we broke ground on thetrail in January of 2020.
So I just got that wrong.
We met my dad in January of 19and a year later, we started
breaking ground on building thetrail, uh, at McDougal and in
(17:02):
the meantime.
Howard (17:03):
new.
Jim B (17:04):
Oh yeah.
Brand new.
Howard (17:05):
brand new.
Wow.
Jim B (17:06):
And, uh, we had no money, uh, just some shovels, sweat,
sweat, equity, just a couple ofshovels.
And some, we bought a couple of,what do they call that?
One of the rogue hoes, the roguehoes.
And we, uh, and we, uh, just.
had all the support from thecity and just tore into it.
Uh, and in the meantime, uh, weformed the board, Damon, myself
(17:33):
and Ben, and then, uh, MattFortier, Gary Kanner, DJ Kanner,
Jessica Kassanier, uh, CalebKanner, Gabe Fortier, Tom
Claycomb, Eric Hughes, EricAllen, uh, probably missing
somebody.
There's 12 12 of us, and webanded together and created a
501c3 nonprofit organization.
(17:55):
we kind of rely on, we do allthe, the trail maintenance, uh,
we funded all the signage, uh,we have a membership drive every
spring where people become amember of the Knob Creek
Conservancy and it's fairly lowcost and that's kind of the
money that the supporters andmembers are how we fund
(18:17):
maintaining the trails, uh,updating the trails, building
new trails.
And so we, uh, we worked at theMcDougal Lake, got it.
Got the first side done and inlate spring of 2020.
And then in, uh, 21, we startedon the.
Another section and wound upwith about 10 miles of trail.
Howard (18:40):
Wow.
Jim B (18:41):
uh, we even, uh, we went out to the Hodgman elementary
school to a small woodedlocation beside 1 of our
elementary schools and workedwith the school system and built
a little 0.
3 mile nature trail there.
And, uh, we, we've always had a,a, uh, environmental.
Uh, education research center,uh, that fiscal court owned
(19:01):
called, we all call it pyramidforest, but it's the LaRue
County environmental, uh, uh,education and research center.
It's kind of a mouthful to say,but.
It's one of the true highlymature old growth forest.
It's about 200 acres.
I think the forest is about 80acres that sits on the preserve
and they developed that in 2000and when we formed the
(19:25):
Conservancy, we formed apartnership to go out there and
revise or revitalize some of theprimitive trails that had kind
of been lost.
We put up some new signage, sometrail maps.
So we're just trying to, youknow, keep these areas.
Green, if you will just advocatefor green spaces.
(19:45):
And like you said, uh, peopledon't have to travel out of town
now to get outdoor air.
they can get it here.
Howard (19:53):
That is really fascinating and it's again it's
not lost on this happenedliterally in the last five years
and so Jimmy when you wake up inthe morning, are you going out
for a trail run?
Jimmy Shaw (20:09):
we, we, Jim B and Tom probably use the trail more
than I use it, but yeah, we, we,you all could look us up on
Strava.
We've run it way too many times.
We're actually planning.
I'm the crazy idea guy.
Jim B's a worker.
I'm the crazy idea guy and someother, he's got crazy ideas too,
but we're talking about a groupof us right now doing, you've
(20:31):
heard of David Goggins, I'msure.
Have you heard of Goggins?
Yeah, so there's a 4x4x48challenge and I just casually
asked a group of, of us, there'sabout 10 or 12 of us on like,
hey, who's, who's dumb enough towant to try to do the 4x4x48
challenge?
And, We got about 50 percentresponse back.
A couple of them are like, well,if he does, I will.
(20:52):
And, but we, we use it quitefrequently and, uh, it's, it's
so nice to have it.
I, I was more hiking until acouple of years ago.
And then Jim B's one of theseguys that just, he'll suck you
in if he wants you to do trailrunning with him.
And he's, he's been a trailrunner for 20 plus years.
Well, probably I shouldn't sayyou've run for 20 plus years,
did cross country.
(21:13):
I never ran competitively.
I was a wrestler and did otherathletics and baseball and Jim B
did too, but he, he also ran andyou, you could ask anybody in
Hodgeville.
He's, they, if they see somebodyrunning, Jim B has been that guy
running on the streets ofHodgeville for 20 plus years.
And my journey is about yearthree Howard, but we use it
frequently.
I was more of a hiker, but I'vecome to love running and using
(21:36):
the trail and becoming a trailrunner.
I guess I can classify myself asthat.
My, my little friend group makesfun of me as trail running
Jimmy.
Cause I've ran a trail once andtold somebody in a plane, I was
a trail runner.
And so I got the nickname.
I'm like, well, technically I'vedone it once.
So therefore I am, but now, nowI definitely am.
I've done it a bunch and, uh,it's mountain bike.
(21:56):
I hadn't gotten into mountainbiking as much, but.
You could hike it, you can campon it, you can trail run it, you
can hybrid trials run and walk,which I got a friend that likes
to do that, or you can mountainbike it.
So it's pretty phenomenal.
Jim B's too modest, Howard, butself taught.
Gary Cantor's another.
He's an interesting, Gary was ateacher at the school, longtime
(22:16):
wrestling coach.
Gary lived in Alaska for a yearand he's, he's always been kind
of an outdoorsman, and just lovethe outdoors.
And I think that's what you geton the board.
It's just people that love ourcommunity and love the outdoors,
but.
Between Gary and Eric Hugh, I'mgoing to miss somebody, but
there's a select group of the,the group of four or five, Matt
Fortier, Damon, Jim B's been thehead of it.
(22:39):
They self taught how to buildtrails and they've done a
phenomenal job with it.
And there's work that people paythousands of dollars to get this
done.
And we've, we've just, we'verolled our sleeves up and sweat
equity.
Again, I can't claim any of thework on it.
I bought the air blower thatblows the leaves off and I
donate to the signs.
That's my contribution with allthe things I got going on in my
(23:01):
life.
But
Howard (23:02):
you did your part.
Jimmy Shaw (23:03):
effort of the group.
Yeah.
And all of them do it.
Howard, it's pretty cool becausewe all have the same passage and
everybody
Jim B (23:07):
in the group kind of has their own little niche.
Niche.
Like Jerry's the, the bi, theplant biologist Damon is the,
uh, he, he's the nature, theamphibians.
Yeah.
Uh, I'm more of the recreationand education, but everybody has
their own little piece that theyadd to the
Jimmy Shaw (23:23):
group.
Good group of people.
Just a good group of humanbeings.
Yeah.
Howard (23:25):
That's very cool.
Now I've got two quick questionsand I would love, I'm going to
share the website, the KnobCreek Conservancy website.
Just take us for a quick tour ofit.
But two quick questions.
Dark skies.
When it, when the sun goes down,middle of the night, clear
skies, it's always clear skiesin Kentucky, I'd imagine that.
(23:46):
How are the stars out in that,in the Conservancy area?
Jim B (23:50):
It's dark out there.
So it's a good place to view thestars.
It really is.
We, uh, we got a good group thatdoes night mountain biking when
the weather is good everyThursday.
And, we've seen the, I can'tthink of the name of the comet,
you know, back in October, itwas hanging around this part of
the world.
You could see the comet and thetrails.
You could see, uh, Starlink.
(24:12):
Starlink has been seen outthere.
Howard (24:13):
Oh, yeah.
Jim B (24:14):
you get out there at night, you really get to see
some, some neat stuff.
Howard (24:18):
That's very cool.
The,
Jimmy Shaw (24:20):
It's not Zion Howard or Joshua Tree, darn, but it's,
it's pretty darn, it's pretty,pretty impressive,
Howard (24:26):
pretty, it, it, that's close.
If you can see, the, uh, some ofthe stars, the, the, the, the
comet, that's pretty good.
I'm a star, star guy.
I'm not a, Hey.
an astronomer.
I love my dark sky photography,so I'll go sit and I'll let the
camera click away for a couplehours while I just sit and just
zen out, because that's what Ilike to do.
(24:46):
I, I do need some more trailrunning or biking in me.
I sit too much.
So maybe I can solve thatproblem and come out for a
visit.
What has been the reaction fromthe locals?
and perhaps the, some of thevisitors of coming in, what's
been their aha moment?
What have you, what are youhearing from them, the locals
(25:07):
and maybe some of the visitorsyou may have crossed paths with?
Jimmy Shaw (25:12):
You can take the first portion.
Jim B (25:15):
I think, uh, I think we get lots of compliments and we
get lots of support from thepeople that use it in the
community.
I think when we first, organizedthe conservancy, it was kind of,
uh, you know, seen as maybe justlike a little nature club or
something.
Howard (25:32):
What are you guys up to?
Jim B (25:34):
when we got, our nonprofit status and, and, uh,
then we just started, you know,producing quality trails or
quality experiences, I guess,maybe not quality trails, but
just quality experiences forfolks.
And, I've, I was fortunate.
My dad, took me hiking all thetime.
So I was outdoors early and, uh,we can go to, we're, we're.
(25:57):
An hour's drive from EasternKentucky from the foothills of
the Appalachians, and we get tosee the rock outcroppings and
overlooks.
You can travel an hour West andyou're on kind of a flatter
terrain, uh, and we're kind ofunique because we're set within
the, uh, the rolling hills.
And, the rolling hills,deciduous forest, you've got the
seasonal changes of the trees.
(26:19):
You know, we probably don'tappreciate it as much here
because we can go to thefoothills of the Appalachians
and see the rock formations orwe can go out west and see the,
the Rockies and see the, thetreeless landscape with the,
the, the mountains, but you talkto people.
We've had a couple of peoplethat have come move through into
this area.
They're from, uh, for militarypurposes.
(26:40):
That have kind of come andstarted using the trails and
they might have been, uh, out inCalifornia and I assume they
probably take their outcroppingsin the rocks of California.
Like, we kind of take thedeciduous forest and rolling
hills, but they get here and seethe seasonal changes and can't
believe it.
Um, and I think in all of this,that's probably 1 of my
(27:01):
takeaways is that it's forced meto slow down and kind of look at
nature and respect what we have.
And I think, you know, somepeople have talked about how
pretty or how appreciative theyare of us doing this because
they get to experience thosethings.
And so it's kind of, we alwayswant something we don't have.
(27:22):
And sometimes we don't thinkabout what we do have and and we
take that for granted.
So I think people now it givesthem a chance to get out in the
woods and just see the thechanges of the season that, you
know, all through the year,
Howard (27:36):
I hear that.
And we do take it for grantedwhere we live and we really
don't realize a mile away, anhour away, there's, there's
splendor to be enjoyed andexperienced.
I'm gonna go ahead and justshare my screen, the miracle of
technology here, and I'm gonnabring up the website.
(27:57):
And just give a good shout outfor you guys.
Let me center it up here.
So this is the Knob CreekConservancy website.
which one of you wants to takeus on a little tour?
Jimmy Shaw (28:09):
we just kind of tag team at Howard.
So just go through it.
What you're looking at here isyou're you're looking at an
overhead view of that isMacDougall Lake.
So it's a man made lake.
It was made for, uh, For forwater, right?
It's a watershed that was made.
When was it made?
Jim B (28:25):
was it in the
Jimmy Shaw (28:27):
80s?
Yeah, I think in 86.
Jim B (28:29):
It started in 86.
Jimmy Shaw (28:31):
I told Howard earlier that it's, I look back
at my lineage and my lineagegoes back to MacDougall as well.
So there's MacDougall Creek.
That flows into this, but it wasa, it was a watershed that was
built in the 80s.
However, but it's that's part ofthe trail.
They're the 2nd phase of it.
You see the little outcroppingof the trees right there.
That's the lakeside portion ofthe trail that we talk about.
(28:54):
And if you.
If you look really close underthe promote right there, you can
even see the trail.
How close it you see, like, alittle smiley face between
promote and education.
Move your mouse up
Howard (29:04):
okay,
Jimmy Shaw (29:05):
right?
There is the trail.
You can see that little lineright there.
That's how close it gets to thewater side.
So
Howard (29:11):
Oh, very good.
Jimmy Shaw (29:12):
there's a damn you go across and then you got up in
the big, we call it the bigwoods.
is that right?
Big Woods.
And then there's the lakesidetrail and we've got it, we've
got it broken up to where youcan get some extra mileage in
and take some shortcuts, whetheryou're running, whether you're
biking, if you want to get morein or more or less.
But that's a, that's the 400acres that Jim B talked about.
(29:33):
And then you go down, as you godown, it just goes into our
story of how we got
Jim B (29:37):
started.
That's kind of tells the storyof the, the how it all came to
fruition.
Jimmy Shaw (29:42):
Yep.
Howard (29:43):
very good.
You got the Pyramid Forest.
You got the elementary schoolthat little the little
Experiential trail that I loveit.
There's your there's all theguys who give a shout out to the
current board members.
I love it And so if we go backup here We can
Jimmy Shaw (30:03):
You can become a member.
So we've got it.
If anybody sees this, I mean,our memberships very, uh, we,
we, we are, we're probably ahidden a little hidden treasure.
Really?
We don't push the membershipdrive really hard.
We've got some local businessesthat the community supported.
We've always had what we need.
The leaders of the community.
there's too many to call out.
I've always been very helpfulwith it.
(30:24):
And, uh, we, if you want to bepart of it, like have you, one
of these things is like, how canyou support us?
Well, one, just come visit us.
We love visitors or want tobecome a member.
It's, it's cheap.
We'd love it, and I'd go totrails next if you want.
and just trails, we've got alist of the trail system that if
you go, if you, you look throughhere, you can see how, what we
(30:45):
call the Valley Trail, theLakeside Loop, Slab Ford.
the big woods.
That's just a description
Jim B (30:51):
of all the
Jimmy Shaw (30:51):
trails of them, right?
And
Jim B (30:52):
there's a, on all the trails page, there's going to be
all the trails that we kind ofhave.
If you go
Jimmy Shaw (30:57):
down, keep going down real quick, Howard.
I think we've got kind of a map.
Howard (31:00):
Yeah, Oh, there you go.
Jimmy Shaw (31:01):
there you go.
There's a map of it.
And, and then we've got, do wegot one too?
Do we got the, the, the PDF onhere of the trails within the
area of all of it?
It's on the homepage.
It's on the homepage.
Howard (31:12):
So that photo we were looking at the photo We were
looking at with the picture thatwas like right here.
Jimmy Shaw (31:18):
Yeah, right there.
Right there.
Yes, sir.
Howard (31:20):
so Jim B.
Where did you want to take us?
Jim B (31:24):
No, I was just saying on all the trails page.
There's just a kind of adescription of the trails and
then a, uh, a, uh, a map.
Howard (31:33):
is that this link right here?
Jimmy Shaw (31:35):
Howard, if you go back to the home page, there's
one that shows all if you godown, that's the community,
right?
So if you click on that link,you can, you can see, I don't
know if this is gonna work.
We'll see.
It's gonna pull up Pull it up inAdobe, but this is an overview
of La Ru County, so thesilhouette of the county, and
(31:55):
then we've got a a star systemwith links and directions to
where all the different trails.
It's probably too big.
You, yeah, you might have tozoom it out.
We can't, we can't see it as,there you go.
Whoop.
There we
Howard (32:08):
on.
Hang on.
I got it.
There we
Jim B (32:11):
click on the green things, it'll, it just takes you
to a Google map.
Click on the one, it'll,
Jimmy Shaw (32:14):
it'll take you straight to a, a, the drop of
the link, and it'll give you
Jim B (32:18):
directions.
It'll
Jimmy Shaw (32:19):
give you directions, GPS coordinates to get you
there.
Howard (32:22):
Oh
Jimmy Shaw (32:22):
And, uh, so we created that, but if you go
back, there's five or six thatJim B.
Go back to the Adobe file,please.
Howard (32:29):
All right.
You're asking a lot here, Jim.
Jimmy Shaw (32:32):
Yeah, I know.
I'm checking your navigationskills.
It's right to the left of thattab.
There it is.
So you can see like we gotMcDougall Lake.
We've got the the HodgevilleElementary Educational if the
Howard (32:45):
Oh, yeah, I can see it.
Jimmy Shaw (32:46):
educational trails.
Number two, Abraham Lincoln'sbirthplace has a trail system.
Pyramid Forest has a trailsystem.
And then Knob Creek even has atrail system.
So we're right there where thebig star is, Howard.
That's where we're sitting.
And you see the proximity of howclose everything is.
Howard (33:02):
I love it.
This is, this is like It's funnyhere in Vegas I'm right near
Lake Mead, Red RockConservation, Uh, a couple
desert wildlife refuge, and Idon't get out enough.
I mean, I love on the weekendI'll get out, but you literally
can walk out your door, walk,bike, drive for less than a
(33:25):
mile, and you're right on atrail system.
I love that.
Jimmy Shaw and Jim B (33:28):
that's right.
Yep.
Howard (33:29):
love that.
Alright, let's try to head back.
There we go.
Jimmy Shaw and Jim B (33:34):
I think that's it.
If you go
Jim B (33:35):
back one more time.
Jimmy Shaw and Jim B (33:36):
Yeah.
Jim B (33:39):
And then, uh, the, uh, the other thing up there, the
education, uh, if you click onthe education and you don't have
to click on these necessarily,but, uh, so we partnered with
the school system.
And so two of our, two of ourbiology classes, did research
and created, uh, Yeah.
So the one there on the right isthe nature trail and they create
(34:00):
a website and we have signsbuilt on the trail for the kids
on amphibians, vernal pond,ecosystem, wetland, ecosystem,
native and versus non nativespecies.
And then a pyramid forest.
We highlighted 25 specific treespecies that each kid did
research on.
They designed the sign placard.
(34:21):
I know that's not a greatpicture.
But, uh, but if you, the blueboxes down at the bottom both
take you to the website that wascreated by our high school
students.
Howard (34:31):
Oh,
Jim B (34:32):
so they correspond to signs that we put out on the
nature trail and at pyramidforest.
Howard (34:37):
Oh, wow.
Jim B (34:38):
So we try to, we try to really do things too, to involve
the school system and, just away for us to kind of help the
show the kids, uh, how to giveback to the community.
yeah, each kid got their picturetaken.
We took the old sign off and,and my nephew did one of these,
put the new sign on,
Howard (34:59):
I love it.
Well,
Jim B (35:00):
we just try to, To really bring the community involved.
And I think that's one of thebig, our, our overall goal of
the Knob Creek Conservancy dealswith conservation, education and
recreation.
And those 3 things we just tryto promote as, as much as
possible.
Howard (35:19):
Very nice.
Very nice.
Well, I'm gonna stop sharing.
Thank You for taking on, takingus on this tour.
And I
Jimmy Shaw (35:28):
had to visit Hodgenville page too, Howard,
that you, we won't have timeprobably to go through it, but.
I'd like to hit a few morethings that I left out in the
front whenever you get to thatbefore we wrap up, there's a
couple more places of interestthat
Howard (35:41):
so where,
Jimmy Shaw (35:42):
and around we'll go, we'll, I'll knock them off.
Howard (35:45):
Where would You like me to go then?
Okay.
Jimmy Shaw (35:47):
You don't have to, you can just maybe just show the
Visit Hodgenville webpage and wedon't have to go into it, but
there's, there's a webpagethat's been developed.
If you're wanting to research alittle bit more what you do
here, but we talked about the, alot of the big stuff.
Yeah, there's, there's a page onhere.
If you just things to do atHodgenville and just, you can
just probably stay kind of on,on that.
(36:09):
But a few places I didn'tmention is we got to Lincoln
Jamboree, which is, think of anold, I shouldn't say old.
It's like a, it's a, it's a, Idon't want to call it a
homestead, but it's an opera
Jim B (36:19):
land.
Jimmy Shaw (36:21):
It's like the grand old Opry version and it's been
like 60 plus years and it's,it's pretty, pretty amazing.
We've got, uh, we've got somemade in Kentucky shops.
We've got a bunch of littlesmall gas station and
memorabilia type places.
We've obviously got Abe Lincoln.
The birthplace, we've got theKnob Creek, or that part of the
National Park System, thedowntown, we, we, I feel like we
(36:44):
hit on a lot of that stuff, and
Jim B (36:46):
we've got Crawford Farms, Hinton's Orchard, kind of fall
Howard (36:51):
Oh, there's the hamburger.
Jimmy Shaw (36:53):
Yeah, there's a hamburger.
We've got a creep front.
It's right next.
It's just a one of those thingsyou take for granted where we
have first Fridays we celebrateas a community.
We have one of the months it'sit's they do a car show.
And so there's just 4th of Julycelebration.
You think about things that youtake for granted.
It's like small town communitylife.
(37:15):
And it's just it's a there'ssomething for a little bit of
everybody.
If you if you like Bardstown'sright next door.
Bardstown's got a a great placeto be.
It was voted Reader's Digestbest small town city and in
America at some point in thelast 10 to 15 years, Fort Knox
and General Patton's Museum andthe Fort Knox, the gold vaults,
(37:35):
15 20 miles up the road.
There's just a wealth of Jim Bsaid it best of centrally
located of what we have aroundtown.
There's Kayla's Kayla's is anewer restaurant, but she's,
she's one best burger in thecommunity.
And we, uh, we're just kind of athrowback in time.
And, uh, if, if people route 66is a good, good.
(37:58):
is is a good comparison to some.
I've been all up and down Route66, taking my kids all up and
down.
And like, it's just it's it's aplace from the past.
It's what small America townAmerica used to be pre walmart
pre interstate systems.
And we still got a lot of thathere in that field in Hodgkin
Bill.
If people are looking for that.
So
Jim B (38:18):
we also
Howard (38:18):
I love
Jim B (38:19):
largest Festivals in Kentucky, Lincoln Days in
October to honor a two dayfestival to honor, uh, Lincoln,
it's a, so it's,
Jimmy Shaw (38:32):
we'll keep talking, Howard, you're going to have to
shut us off.
Howard (38:34):
Yeah, well, I tell you what this there's just a lot
here and I'm loving it I'm gonnastop sharing just in the
interest
Jimmy Shaw (38:41):
big, another big thing we probably ought is we've
got a bike route.
more about this, but likethere's a national bike.
What, what is it?
Yeah.
Jim B (38:48):
So real quick, the, uh, the transcontinental bike route
that goes from, uh, East coastto West coast.
So in May, um, In May, we havethe folks coming in from, uh,
let me get this right.
Those would be the, the folkscome and stay.
our local parks and recreationallows them to come in and
shower.
(39:09):
It's probably one of the bestplaces, uh, according to the
people that travel on it, thatwhen they come through, it's one
of the most hospitable placesbecause we give them a place to
sleep with a roof over theirhead, air conditioned, and they
have showers.
So the people start stopping in,in, uh, May.
Those are the folks coming fromthe East coast heading West.
And then, uh, May, June, July,all the way up into September,
(39:33):
you'll have people stopping inthose are the people coming from
the West coast.
The West coast folks, I think,have to start a little later to
let the mountains clear of thesnow.
And then we got us bike route23, which comes from Tennessee
and actually ends at AbrahamLincoln birthplace.
So we get a lot of visitors onthe bicycles too.
Howard (39:51):
Excellent.
No, I I like I need to get on aplane Or drive, whatever's best,
and stay and just enjoyeverything you guys have to
offer.
It's exciting.
and I,
Jimmy Shaw (40:05):
Howard.
We'll put you up.
We'll feed you a cheeseburger.
You can come visit the office isright downtown's literally 100
ft.
Walk right over here.
Howard (40:16):
I love, see, I like the fact that you can probably walk
out the door and go get a goodcup of coffee and a
cheeseburger, and it's like,this is excellent.
Hey guys, I really appreciateyou taking the time to, uh, Join
us and share your story and thisbeautiful destination with our
listeners and really taking partof this outdoor adventure series
(40:37):
adventure and you guys have awonderful destination and I
again Jimmy, Jim B I appreciateyou both taking the time to, to
join us.
Jimmy, if, now we've got thebacklinks to the, the websites,
the NobCreeConservancy.
org, that link.
We've got, and we'll also havethe backlinks to your Facebook
and Instagram pages on our shownotes.
(41:00):
We'll have the backlink to theVisit Hodgenville website as
well.
Any other places you'd like us,and we'll, we'll do some shout
outs and back links to some ofthe businesses that you shared
as well.
Any, anything else that you'dlike to share with us before we
sign off today?
Jimmy Shaw (41:18):
I think we've done a we've we've probably scatter
shot as much as we couldeverything that we can think of.
So, if we missed anybody ormissed anything, it wasn't
intentional.
And I would just say.
One of the things we're knownfor is just hospitality.
So, you can put our, I can'tspeak for Jim B, but I think
you'd be okay with this.
It's like, I'll put my emailout, he can put his out.
(41:40):
Like if somebody's coming intotown, we, we, we, we're glad to
host.
We're glad to help.
We're glad to answer questions.
You'll find we're still smalltown friendly.
And, So the communities, wehaven't said this hour, but
there's about probably 4, 000people in downtown and
Hodgenville, and there'sprobably 12 to 14, 000 in the
whole community in terms of thesize of our, our, our county.
(42:01):
And, um, my kids are here for areason.
I like the people I live next toand my neighbors and I want them
raised in this with thisheritage.
And so
Howard (42:10):
You, you literally have, you literally have thousands of
what I call brand ambassadors.
Because this is your brand andyou've got the whole community.
It's as you are describing verywelcoming And you guys have done
a phenomenal job.
I just can't believe this is youknow The the Conservancy's only
been around for five years or soand just was an idea of your dad
(42:33):
Jim B, but I think it'sphenomenal and I will take you
up at some point because I wantto come visit because I'm always
looking for my next place tolive, by the way, I didn't, I
usually share that on myepisodes, uh, before we head
out, Jim B, how does this feelto be on your first podcast?
This was easy, wasn't it.
Jim B (42:51):
he did.
Yeah, I guess I got a longwinded, but yeah, just, we
appreciate you.
Reaching out to us.
I'm glad it all worked out.
Jimmy Shaw (43:00):
Howard.
You've had a bunch of people.
How's he done on his firstpodcast?
Howard (43:03):
I think you did
Jimmy Shaw (43:04):
A, B, or C.
Howard (43:06):
I I, I'd, I'd give you a five stars.
I give you.
five
Jimmy Shaw (43:09):
you go.
Howard (43:10):
So,
Jimmy Shaw (43:10):
had to warm him up a little bit.
We had to ramp him up, but he'ssmiling.
He's loose.
Now he's ready to talk.
He's ready for part two.
Howard (43:17):
yeah, and, and Jimmy, if you need somebody to back you up
on one of your episodes, I can'tdo it, well, Jim Beal, take,
take over the, uh, the mic.
Jimmy Shaw (43:25):
he's, he's got the check Mark now.
So he's, I told him it would beeasy.
I said, it's just talking.
That's all it is.
And.
Howard (43:31):
It's a piece of cake.
Hey guys, I really appreciateit.
Again, we're gonna hopefully getsome photos for the website on
our show notes.
We'll have all those backlinksand really, I'm excited for my
listeners to hear about thislittle area of heaven in
Kentucky and It's been great.
(43:52):
Great to get to know you guys.
So thank you for taking timetoday.
Jimmy Shaw and Jim B (43:55):
Yeah.
Thank you.
Really appreciate it.
Howard (43:57):
All right, listen, stay in the line.
We're going to do a real quickclose and Three of us can have a
final chat.
Jimmy Shaw and Jim B (44:03):
Sounds
Howard (44:03):
All right, folks.
You've just been listening toanother episode of the Outdoor
Adventure Series podcast.
We had the pleasure of meetingJim B.
Phelps, Jim B., and Jimmy Shaw,who Our literally have history
back to the 1800s with the, withthe county and with the, the,
(44:26):
the, really this community andthe wonderful work and passion
that they have, uh, introducedwith their.
Friends and colleagues andreally in making this a stellar
destination, uh, for youroutdoor adventure.
So, you know, you can visit, uh,Hodgenville, it's right in this,
(44:47):
cup, two, three hours from someBig cities, Louisville,
Cincinnati, Indianapolis, uh,it's, it's right there for you
for a nice, uh, day trip or evena long weekend just to enjoy a
little history, a little nature,some good food and
entertainment.
Now do make sure you go out, uh,to the websites.
Now we're going to provide theback links to, uh, the Nava
(45:09):
Creek Conservancy and we'llhave, uh, also their Facebook
and Instagram, uh, sites aswell.
And we're going to have abacklink to visit Hodgenville,
uh, so that you can learn allabout the events that are taking
place in this community.
As for us, our episode isavailable on our website,
OutdoorAdventureSeries.
com.
We're also on LinkedIn andFacebook on our Outdoor
(45:30):
Adventure Series pages.
The video of this episode wherewe took a tour.
of the Conservancy, as well asvisit Hodgenville, will be up on
our YouTube channel.
And of course you can listen tothis podcast wherever you get
your podcast from.
I can't think of a better way tolisten to podcasts than go for a
hike, a bike, a trail run.
(45:51):
Just have it on your smartphone,download it, and you can listen
to this wonderful episode.
And if you are in the communityof Hodgenville, Do let, uh, Jim
B.
and Jimmy know what you thoughtof their performance today.
By the way, five starperformance, remember.
Okay, folks, wherever you are,
Jimmy Shaw (46:08):
Oh, only if you liked it, let
Howard (46:10):
only if you liked it.
Jimmy Shaw (46:11):
keep it to yourself.
Howard (46:12):
Keep it to yourself.
I love that.
All right, folks, wherever youare, whatever you're doing, go
out there, have a phenomenalday.
And we look forward to havingyou join us on a future episode
of the Outdoor Adventure Seriespodcast.
Take care now.
Hello everyone This is Howard.
Foxx and welcome back foranother episode of the outdoor
adventure series podcast wherewe celebrate individuals and
families businesses andorganizations that seek out and
promote the explorationstewardship conservation Access
and enjoyment of the outdoors.
Jimmy Shaw and Jim B.
(00:28):
Phelps are our guests today.
Jim and Jimmy are representingthe destination of Hodgenville,
Kentucky and the Knob CreekConservancy.
Jimmy and Jim, welcome to thepodcast.
How are you guys doing
Jimmy Shaw (00:43):
good.
man.
Thanks for having us.
So we're glad to be here.
We've, we've gotten to know eachother over the last couple of
weeks, Howard, and this is JimB's first podcast.
I'm telling him to smile alittle bit and have some fun.
I do this, I do this probablytoo much and, but we're glad to
be here.
Thanks for the opportunity.
Thank you.
Showcase.
Yeah.
Talk
Howard (01:00):
it is, it's a pleasure, and I'm just excited because I
love history, that was myfavorite subject, and I felt
like as I was doing the researchfor this podcast when you and I
chatted a couple weeks ago tolay the groundwork for it, that
this was going to be reallypossible.
Yeah.
Great.
feeding my, my love of history,and, and I have to say, ask you
(01:23):
first for our listeners and forthe folks that are going to view
the video, uh, first off, Way tothe camera.
Which one of you is Jimmy andwhich one of you is Jim?
Jimmy Shaw and Jim B (01:37):
I'm Jimmy.
I'm Jimmy.
Jimmy Shaw (01:38):
I'm
Jim B (01:39):
Jim.
Jimmy Shaw (01:39):
I'm Jim.
I'm Jimmy Shaw.
It's Jim B.
Phelps.
Yeah.
Howard (01:42):
All right, I love it, I love it.
Now if you would I would love ifyou could share a little bit of
information about yourself, So,Jim B, give us a little bit
about your background and yourconnection to the to Hodgenville
and the county and the communityin your your area of Beautiful,
(02:04):
uh, Kentucky.
Jim B (02:06):
yeah.
So I was born and raised here inHodgenville.
my life, I've been here my wholelife, except for the four years
I attended college in Lexington,Kentucky, uh, came back and was
fortunate enough to be ateacher.
I'm still in the educationbusiness, finishing up my 21st
year.
I now work as the curriculumsupport for, uh, the LaRue
(02:27):
County school system.
and, uh, the whole Knob Creekthing kind of, popped up four or
five years ago when, uh, my dadtook over as mayor and we, uh,
discovered some unused propertythat the city had owned at
MacDougall Lake and, uh, a groupof us kind of banded together
(02:48):
that were outdoor enthusiastsand created the Knob Creek
Conservancy to, uh, promoteconservation, education, and
recreation.
Howard (02:58):
Excellent.
And great background.
How did you decide to go intoeducation and become a teacher?
Cause that's a hard profession,but you know, you're making a
difference in kids lives.
Jim B (03:09):
Yeah, my mom was actually a teacher.
So I lived and breathed theteaching world or education
world, staying after school withher and and I just like people.
I like to help people, uh, lovesports and I had a real good,
uh, experience in school here atLaRue County.
And when I, I don't know, it wasjust kind of one of those things
(03:32):
was in college and I was like,you know what, I think I want to
go into teaching and It allworked out thankfully.
And here I am.
Howard (03:40):
Very good.
Well, I appreciate you sharingthat.
So now I have to ask, how didyou meet the guy next to you?
Jim B (03:47):
we go way back.
I think.
I think we were, I got somepictures at home where we were
in preschool together.
So Jimmy was the year ahead ofme and, and, uh, high school.
So, we played little leaguesports together, uh, probably
hung out at each other's house.
here and there.
Howard (04:03):
Okay, okay.
Now, Jimmy, I, I recall when wefirst had that conversation, I
mentioned I'm going to need somephotos to put up on it for our
banners and our show notes, so Iwant to see that picture of you
guys in preschool, okay, for theshow notes, so just no pressure.
All right.
Excellent.
So, Jimmy, tell us a little bitabout yourself.
(04:23):
What's your background?
Jimmy Shaw (04:25):
Yeah, So I, um, won Jimmy Shaw.
I think one of the things that'sunique, Jim B and I both, I'm,
I'm junior Jim B's the, are youthe third or fourth?
You're the third.
So he, he, my son's the third.
His son is goes by Burke and hishe's the fourth.
And so we have just deep rootshere in the community.
I shared that with you, Howard,and I usually describe myself to
(04:47):
people is like, I do this quiteoften.
And how do you describeyourself?
But I, I've got a littlepersonal saying of just faith
family.
Adventure and then doing workworth doing.
So born and raised the countygoes back.
We've got deep lineage in thecounty.
So the LaRue County, I was aLaRue, um, goes back eight or
nine generations.
(05:07):
The county is named after myfamily.
Both of our families have beenprominent members of the
community for a long time.
And so we just hope we're doingsome justice to that.
But I've lived here my wholelife.
Other than my college days, Iwent to school at the University
of Louisville.
I'm an engineer.
I own a business called ZionSolutions Group and own some
real estate businesses.
(05:28):
And, um, my family, I've gotfour kids.
they're my world.
my wife's Holly.
She's put up with me for 15 plusyears.
And, uh, LaRue County is a smallfarming community.
And I think Jim B and I bothshare in the fact that we really
could have probably goneanywhere and, uh, and had
careers in, in, in any location.
And we both, I think share thesame same mindset of that.
(05:52):
We wanted our children raised inthis community where we were
raised.
It made us who we are.
It's the fabric of us.
And just it's, it's a greatcommunity full of great people
and a rich history that we'regoing to get to.
So that's just a little bitabout me, but yeah.
Howard (06:06):
Excellent.
No, I appreciate that.
Let's talk a little bit, if wecould, about the history.
I mean, you, you, LaRue County.
and you've, you've gotHodgenville, so all this
interconnection, how far doesthis history go back and what
are some of the significant, uh,highlights that are important
for the visitor if they want tocome and either partake in the
(06:29):
outdoor adventure, or maybe theywant to get immersed in history,
or I imagine you also have somegreat food and, uh, beverage and
music around you as well.
But what's a little bit aboutthat history, Jimmy?
Jimmy Shaw (06:40):
Yeah, for sure.
So I think we got to start withwhat we're probably best known
for.
Hopefully, how I describe it is,um, Abraham Lincoln was born
about two miles from where we'resitting today.
So there's a National Historic,um, Park, I think is what they
call it.
And then there's another placewhere when they move from from
where he was born to anotherplace called Knob Creek, the
(07:03):
boyhood home.
So our Jim B probably knowsbetter than I do when the city
was formed, and it was in the1800s, and I'm gonna get it
wrong, so I'm gonna let him knowit and say it for exact, because
somebody will listen to this andbe like, he has no idea, but our
biggest, richest history isgoing back to Lincoln, so
that's, um, what we, what we'vebeen known for.
there's in the general area,Howard, I think you've got to
(07:24):
look at.
We've obviously got good littledive places to eat.
We'll talk about Leahy's.
We'll talk about a few of theother places here to eat and
still get that.
That that short order type mealthat small communities are
famous for.
We've got a museum that'sdedicated to Lincoln.
we've got a rich, history interms of we are in the Bible
belt.
So we've got more, I don't evenknow the number of churches we
(07:46):
have in the area, but it's alot.
We're nestled really betweenBowling Green and Louisville.
We're dead center of centralKentucky.
So we're 65.
Bowling Green's got the CorvetteMuseum.
It's got, a Mammoth Cave, aNational Park, one of the most
visited National Parks, is aboutan hour, 60 to 90 minutes south.
(08:08):
Louisville, which is the biggestcity, is about 60 minutes north.
Lexington's about 60 minutesnortheast.
So we're nestled in a good spot.
Bourbon, a lot of people reallyknow Kentucky for a few things,
racing, horse racing, andbourbon.
And, uh, So we're right in themiddle of, within an hour, you
(08:28):
could go visit some of theworld's most recognizable brands
of bourbon and the tourismaround it, but specific to
Hodgenville, I think Jim B and Iare here to just promote, like,
we're a small farming communitywith a rich history.
It goes back to Lincoln, that'sour anchor, and then Jim B has
led, he's too modest about this,Howard, but he's led just a real
(08:49):
revitalization effort in termsof making this more of an
outdoor location, more of anoutdoor, what your podcast is
about.
It's a destination now in termsof, we've got hiking, we've got
fishing, you can kayak, we'vegot a trail system that's pretty
awesome that we've self built.
Hey, while you're here, you cangrab a cheeseburger at Leigh
Hayes, you can go visit theLincoln Museum, you can ride
(09:11):
around a small town in America,and then you can go see where
Lincoln was born and where hemoved
Howard (09:16):
it.
Jimmy Shaw (09:17):
That's a, that's a high level overview of some of
the attractions.
Yeah,
Howard (09:21):
No, that's that's actually perfect.
Jim.
Jim B.
If you want to add another layerto that, I'm curious if you know
this answer if and if you don't,I'm sure it's going to be
significant.
The number of visitors or theeconomic impact that you all
have with folks coming in,whether it's a day trip.
(09:44):
I mean, like,
Jimmy Shaw (09:44):
I know it.
It's about 400, 000 people iswhat, what some, some stats that
we've had, and that number mayfluctuate up and down, but
there's probably about 400, 000people that come in and visit,
visit the National Park and justspill over through the tourism,
through Lincoln Museum andthrough Mammoth Caves.
So I've heard that number, maybewrong.
I think
Jim B (10:02):
that's in the Lincoln Museum, uh, Iris LaRue and Rob
Thurman.
Iris is the director and she'sbeen a big part of, of kind of.
know, helping to makeHodgenville a destination.
And so is Rob Thurman.
they tracked, they have visitorsyearly from, uh, or annually
from all 50 states, but I think,uh, in 2024, they counted 35,
(10:25):
uh, visitors from 35 foreigncountries
Howard (10:28):
Oh, wow.
Jim B (10:28):
the Lincoln Museum.
So
Howard (10:31):
very cool.
That's
Jim B (10:33):
And then right downtown, Jimmy mentioned Leigh Hayes.
the Lincoln Museum is rightdowntown.
It used to be a square, and itwas a pretty typical, uh, square
of Kentucky, the small towns inKentucky that were the, the
courthouse was the center of thetown.
It was on the square.
Our courthouse actually burneddown, if I'm not mistaken,
twice.
But, so we, when we were kids,uh, the courthouse was not
(10:57):
there.
It was already gone, but rightdown in the center of town was
the Abraham Lincoln statue.
that's similar to the statue atthe Lincoln Memorial in D.
C.
And, uh, they have now turnedthat into a circle.
Squircle.
Call it a squircle now.
A squircle.
Yeah.
So the Lincoln Museum's rightdowntown and you've got the
Sweet Shop, which is kind of anationally famous, uh, fudge and
(11:19):
ice cream place.
Uh, and then of course, LeighHayes.
We're going to keep talkingabout Leigh Hayes.
It's been around forever andit's the world's greatest
cheeseburger.
Howard (11:26):
come for a visit, I want to go, I'm definitely going to
go to Leje.
I'm a cheeseburger guy.
I love my cheeseburger.
Jim B (11:32):
a good one.
So right downtown, if a visitor,they're.
Two and a half, three miles awayfrom the birthplace.
They usually come into town and,uh, hit the sweet shop, hit lay
Hayes and hit the Lincolnmuseum.
Jimmy Shaw (11:43):
Vibe coffee.
Vibe coffee.
It's there now.
And we got a couple of littleboutique places that you can do
some shopping and just, there'sbeen a.
There's been an effort to, todraw people into downtown.
Um, we've had a couple, we'vegot a, we've got a restaurant
called the 16th.
that, that is not, it, it's,it's downtown as well.
(12:03):
And we've really tried to mixthe, the group of, you've got
people coming in Howard, andthey want something to do.
And people want to eat, theywant to shop, and they want to,
they want a destination to cometo.
And so we, we've got a littlebit of all of that.
Jim B (12:15):
And so, kind of a quick history note too.
You know, right downtown, thiswas before Jimmy and I.
It had a bowling alley.
It had two car dealerships.
we had a motel where the, uh,heard lots of stories about, I
think my great grandfather wasinvolved to playing cards a
little too late at the motel onthe square.
(12:37):
But, uh, We lost a lot of thatin the sixties after the, uh,
development of the interstatesystems, interstate 65.
So as Jimmy said, Hodgenvillecentrally located and you can
get about anywhere.
So it's kind of a hub.
Uh, 31 was the main road thatcame through before the
interstate system, so it waskind of a boom town.
(12:59):
And of course then the, theinterstate system was built and
we lost a lot of that.
Uh, we lost a lot of thosestores traffic.
A lot of the, a lot of thetraffic coming through, so.
Since probably the nineties,late nineties, maybe early
nineties, they've, people evenbefore us have really worked
hard to revitalize.
(13:19):
The downtown feel and I thinkwe're headed in the right
direction.
Absolutely.
Howard (13:23):
it.
It sounds fantastic.
And, in a lot of the interviewsthat I've had, whether it's off
route 66, some of thedestinations, like 29 palms, uh,
Which is the Joshua TreeNational Park here in Las Vegas
where I live Boulder City and wedo a pod we help them produce
(13:45):
their podcast the best damnpodcast but when that interstate
went up Boulder City was justlike cut off and they recognized
like you guys have beenrecognizing the the importance
of history and tourism and Andfinding reasons to come into
this destination and I love whatyou have done and and I'm going
(14:06):
back to that map I saw on theVisit Hodgenville site, within
three hours, two and a halfhours, you can come in, have a
great day, or even stay over insome of the boutique bed and
breakfast or the Airbnbs andthen.
Go back home.
So you got a great weekend, longweekend destination.
I love that.
(14:27):
When did the, the idea of thisconservancy around this land
that the city had and MacDougallLake, because that, that takes a
lot of foresight there.
Is this because.
People want to get outside.
They want to be in nature.
And, I'm very interested in theidea of mental health in nature.
(14:48):
And so the idea that I can goout of my downtown area and go
walk in a park on a trail,that's exciting.
And how did, uh, how did the,the conservancy begin to come
about?
Which one do you want to teethat one up?
Jimmy Shaw (15:04):
this is all Jim B.
So, yeah,
Jim B (15:06):
let me get long winded here.
But, uh, so, like I said, my, mydad became mayor in, uh, 2019, I
think was his first year and,uh, he was just digging through
some files and saw McDougalLake.
So McDougal Lake was popular.
It was a popular fishingdestination here in, uh,
Hodgkinville.
But I don't know that peoplerealize how much land Surrounded
(15:28):
Lake is about 400 acres,including the 100 acre lake.
So you had about 300 acres ofland.
A little bit of that's kind offloodplain unusable.
So, long story short, we, uh, mydad sent me a screenshot of the
map and I was like, man, wecould do something with this
because, Jimmy's hiking trailrunning.
(15:49):
I like to trail run, hike,mountain bike.
Other members of our board.
the same that you're outdoorenthusiast, even some of them
are, nature lovers observingwildlife and plants trees.
So, I reached out to 2 fellowHajim billions, uh, Damon Barnes
and Ben Brian, who both had, uh,some significant experience with
(16:12):
green space, which is a, uh,Conservation organization in
Hardin County, Kentucky, about2020 minutes north of us.
So I reached out to them andsaid, Hey, guys, we got an
opportunity here.
What do you think?
And so those two guys, Damon andBen and myself met with my dad
on, uh, we were January of 2020and we kind of started the ball
(16:40):
like, Hey, can we develop this?
And so, uh, actually, I thinkthat was January of 2019.
Cause we, we broke ground on thetrail in January of 2020.
So I just got that wrong.
We met my dad in January of 19and a year later, we started
breaking ground on building thetrail, uh, at McDougal and in
(17:02):
the meantime.
Howard (17:03):
new.
Jim B (17:04):
Oh yeah.
Brand new.
Howard (17:05):
brand new.
Wow.
Jim B (17:06):
And, uh, we had no money, uh, just some shovels, sweat,
sweat, equity, just a couple ofshovels.
And some, we bought a couple of,what do they call that?
One of the rogue hoes, the roguehoes.
And we, uh, and we, uh, just.
had all the support from thecity and just tore into it.
Uh, and in the meantime, uh, weformed the board, Damon, myself
(17:33):
and Ben, and then, uh, MattFortier, Gary Kanner, DJ Kanner,
Jessica Kassanier, uh, CalebKanner, Gabe Fortier, Tom
Claycomb, Eric Hughes, EricAllen, uh, probably missing
somebody.
There's 12 12 of us, and webanded together and created a
501c3 nonprofit organization.
(17:55):
we kind of rely on, we do allthe, the trail maintenance, uh,
we funded all the signage, uh,we have a membership drive every
spring where people become amember of the Knob Creek
Conservancy and it's fairly lowcost and that's kind of the
money that the supporters andmembers are how we fund
(18:17):
maintaining the trails, uh,updating the trails, building
new trails.
And so we, uh, we worked at theMcDougal Lake, got it.
Got the first side done and inlate spring of 2020.
And then in, uh, 21, we startedon the.
Another section and wound upwith about 10 miles of trail.
Howard (18:40):
Wow.
Jim B (18:41):
uh, we even, uh, we went out to the Hodgman elementary
school to a small woodedlocation beside 1 of our
elementary schools and workedwith the school system and built
a little 0.
3 mile nature trail there.
And, uh, we, we've always had a,a, uh, environmental.
Uh, education research center,uh, that fiscal court owned
(19:01):
called, we all call it pyramidforest, but it's the LaRue
County environmental, uh, uh,education and research center.
It's kind of a mouthful to say,but.
It's one of the true highlymature old growth forest.
It's about 200 acres.
I think the forest is about 80acres that sits on the preserve
and they developed that in 2000and when we formed the
(19:25):
Conservancy, we formed apartnership to go out there and
revise or revitalize some of theprimitive trails that had kind
of been lost.
We put up some new signage, sometrail maps.
So we're just trying to, youknow, keep these areas.
Green, if you will just advocatefor green spaces.
(19:45):
And like you said, uh, peopledon't have to travel out of town
now to get outdoor air.
they can get it here.
Howard (19:53):
That is really fascinating and it's again it's
not lost on this happenedliterally in the last five years
and so Jimmy when you wake up inthe morning, are you going out
for a trail run?
Jimmy Shaw (20:09):
we, we, Jim B and Tom probably use the trail more
than I use it, but yeah, we, we,you all could look us up on
Strava.
We've run it way too many times.
We're actually planning.
I'm the crazy idea guy.
Jim B's a worker.
I'm the crazy idea guy and someother, he's got crazy ideas too,
but we're talking about a groupof us right now doing, you've
(20:31):
heard of David Goggins, I'msure.
Have you heard of Goggins?
Yeah, so there's a 4x4x48challenge and I just casually
asked a group of, of us, there'sabout 10 or 12 of us on like,
hey, who's, who's dumb enough towant to try to do the 4x4x48
challenge?
And, We got about 50 percentresponse back.
A couple of them are like, well,if he does, I will.
(20:52):
And, but we, we use it quitefrequently and, uh, it's, it's
so nice to have it.
I, I was more hiking until acouple of years ago.
And then Jim B's one of theseguys that just, he'll suck you
in if he wants you to do trailrunning with him.
And he's, he's been a trailrunner for 20 plus years.
Well, probably I shouldn't sayyou've run for 20 plus years,
did cross country.
(21:13):
I never ran competitively.
I was a wrestler and did otherathletics and baseball and Jim B
did too, but he, he also ran andyou, you could ask anybody in
Hodgeville.
He's, they, if they see somebodyrunning, Jim B has been that guy
running on the streets ofHodgeville for 20 plus years.
And my journey is about yearthree Howard, but we use it
frequently.
I was more of a hiker, but I'vecome to love running and using
(21:36):
the trail and becoming a trailrunner.
I guess I can classify myself asthat.
My, my little friend group makesfun of me as trail running
Jimmy.
Cause I've ran a trail once andtold somebody in a plane, I was
a trail runner.
And so I got the nickname.
I'm like, well, technically I'vedone it once.
So therefore I am, but now, nowI definitely am.
I've done it a bunch and, uh,it's mountain bike.
(21:56):
I hadn't gotten into mountainbiking as much, but.
You could hike it, you can campon it, you can trail run it, you
can hybrid trials run and walk,which I got a friend that likes
to do that, or you can mountainbike it.
So it's pretty phenomenal.
Jim B's too modest, Howard, butself taught.
Gary Cantor's another.
He's an interesting, Gary was ateacher at the school, longtime
(22:16):
wrestling coach.
Gary lived in Alaska for a yearand he's, he's always been kind
of an outdoorsman, and just lovethe outdoors.
And I think that's what you geton the board.
It's just people that love ourcommunity and love the outdoors,
but.
Between Gary and Eric Hugh, I'mgoing to miss somebody, but
there's a select group of the,the group of four or five, Matt
Fortier, Damon, Jim B's been thehead of it.
(22:39):
They self taught how to buildtrails and they've done a
phenomenal job with it.
And there's work that people paythousands of dollars to get this
done.
And we've, we've just, we'verolled our sleeves up and sweat
equity.
Again, I can't claim any of thework on it.
I bought the air blower thatblows the leaves off and I
donate to the signs.
That's my contribution with allthe things I got going on in my
(23:01):
life.
But
Howard (23:02):
you did your part.
Jimmy Shaw (23:03):
effort of the group.
Yeah.
And all of them do it.
Howard, it's pretty cool becausewe all have the same passage and
everybody
Jim B (23:07):
in the group kind of has their own little niche.
Niche.
Like Jerry's the, the bi, theplant biologist Damon is the,
uh, he, he's the nature, theamphibians.
Yeah.
Uh, I'm more of the recreationand education, but everybody has
their own little piece that theyadd to the
Jimmy Shaw (23:23):
group.
Good group of people.
Just a good group of humanbeings.
Yeah.
Howard (23:25):
That's very cool.
Now I've got two quick questionsand I would love, I'm going to
share the website, the KnobCreek Conservancy website.
Just take us for a quick tour ofit.
But two quick questions.
Dark skies.
When it, when the sun goes down,middle of the night, clear
skies, it's always clear skiesin Kentucky, I'd imagine that.
(23:46):
How are the stars out in that,in the Conservancy area?
Jim B (23:50):
It's dark out there.
So it's a good place to view thestars.
It really is.
We, uh, we got a good group thatdoes night mountain biking when
the weather is good everyThursday.
And, we've seen the, I can'tthink of the name of the comet,
you know, back in October, itwas hanging around this part of
the world.
You could see the comet and thetrails.
You could see, uh, Starlink.
(24:12):
Starlink has been seen outthere.
Howard (24:13):
Oh, yeah.
Jim B (24:14):
you get out there at night, you really get to see
some, some neat stuff.
Howard (24:18):
That's very cool.
The,
Jimmy Shaw (24:20):
It's not Zion Howard or Joshua Tree, darn, but it's,
it's pretty darn, it's pretty,pretty impressive,
Howard (24:26):
pretty, it, it, that's close.
If you can see, the, uh, some ofthe stars, the, the, the, the
comet, that's pretty good.
I'm a star, star guy.
I'm not a, Hey.
an astronomer.
I love my dark sky photography,so I'll go sit and I'll let the
camera click away for a couplehours while I just sit and just
zen out, because that's what Ilike to do.
(24:46):
I, I do need some more trailrunning or biking in me.
I sit too much.
So maybe I can solve thatproblem and come out for a
visit.
What has been the reaction fromthe locals?
and perhaps the, some of thevisitors of coming in, what's
been their aha moment?
What have you, what are youhearing from them, the locals
(25:07):
and maybe some of the visitorsyou may have crossed paths with?
Jimmy Shaw (25:12):
You can take the first portion.
Jim B (25:15):
I think, uh, I think we get lots of compliments and we
get lots of support from thepeople that use it in the
community.
I think when we first, organizedthe conservancy, it was kind of,
uh, you know, seen as maybe justlike a little nature club or
something.
Howard (25:32):
What are you guys up to?
Jim B (25:34):
when we got, our nonprofit status and, and, uh,
then we just started, you know,producing quality trails or
quality experiences, I guess,maybe not quality trails, but
just quality experiences forfolks.
And, I've, I was fortunate.
My dad, took me hiking all thetime.
So I was outdoors early and, uh,we can go to, we're, we're.
(25:57):
An hour's drive from EasternKentucky from the foothills of
the Appalachians, and we get tosee the rock outcroppings and
overlooks.
You can travel an hour West andyou're on kind of a flatter
terrain, uh, and we're kind ofunique because we're set within
the, uh, the rolling hills.
And, the rolling hills,deciduous forest, you've got the
seasonal changes of the trees.
(26:19):
You know, we probably don'tappreciate it as much here
because we can go to thefoothills of the Appalachians
and see the rock formations orwe can go out west and see the,
the Rockies and see the, thetreeless landscape with the,
the, the mountains, but you talkto people.
We've had a couple of peoplethat have come move through into
this area.
They're from, uh, for militarypurposes.
(26:40):
That have kind of come andstarted using the trails and
they might have been, uh, out inCalifornia and I assume they
probably take their outcroppingsin the rocks of California.
Like, we kind of take thedeciduous forest and rolling
hills, but they get here and seethe seasonal changes and can't
believe it.
Um, and I think in all of this,that's probably 1 of my
(27:01):
takeaways is that it's forced meto slow down and kind of look at
nature and respect what we have.
And I think, you know, somepeople have talked about how
pretty or how appreciative theyare of us doing this because
they get to experience thosethings.
And so it's kind of, we alwayswant something we don't have.
(27:22):
And sometimes we don't thinkabout what we do have and and we
take that for granted.
So I think people now it givesthem a chance to get out in the
woods and just see the thechanges of the season that, you
know, all through the year,
Howard (27:36):
I hear that.
And we do take it for grantedwhere we live and we really
don't realize a mile away, anhour away, there's, there's
splendor to be enjoyed andexperienced.
I'm gonna go ahead and justshare my screen, the miracle of
technology here, and I'm gonnabring up the website.
(27:57):
And just give a good shout outfor you guys.
Let me center it up here.
So this is the Knob CreekConservancy website.
which one of you wants to takeus on a little tour?
Jimmy Shaw (28:09):
we just kind of tag team at Howard.
So just go through it.
What you're looking at here isyou're you're looking at an
overhead view of that isMacDougall Lake.
So it's a man made lake.
It was made for, uh, For forwater, right?
It's a watershed that was made.
When was it made?
Jim B (28:25):
was it in the
Jimmy Shaw (28:27):
80s?
Yeah, I think in 86.
Jim B (28:29):
It started in 86.
Jimmy Shaw (28:31):
I told Howard earlier that it's, I look back
at my lineage and my lineagegoes back to MacDougall as well.
So there's MacDougall Creek.
That flows into this, but it wasa, it was a watershed that was
built in the 80s.
However, but it's that's part ofthe trail.
They're the 2nd phase of it.
You see the little outcroppingof the trees right there.
That's the lakeside portion ofthe trail that we talk about.
(28:54):
And if you.
If you look really close underthe promote right there, you can
even see the trail.
How close it you see, like, alittle smiley face between
promote and education.
Move your mouse up
Howard (29:04):
okay,
Jimmy Shaw (29:05):
right?
There is the trail.
You can see that little lineright there.
That's how close it gets to thewater side.
So
Howard (29:11):
Oh, very good.
Jimmy Shaw (29:12):
there's a damn you go across and then you got up in
the big, we call it the bigwoods.
is that right?
Big Woods.
And then there's the lakesidetrail and we've got it, we've
got it broken up to where youcan get some extra mileage in
and take some shortcuts, whetheryou're running, whether you're
biking, if you want to get morein or more or less.
But that's a, that's the 400acres that Jim B talked about.
(29:33):
And then you go down, as you godown, it just goes into our
story of how we got
Jim B (29:37):
started.
That's kind of tells the storyof the, the how it all came to
fruition.
Jimmy Shaw (29:42):
Yep.
Howard (29:43):
very good.
You got the Pyramid Forest.
You got the elementary schoolthat little the little
Experiential trail that I loveit.
There's your there's all theguys who give a shout out to the
current board members.
I love it And so if we go backup here We can
Jimmy Shaw (30:03):
You can become a member.
So we've got it.
If anybody sees this, I mean,our memberships very, uh, we,
we, we are, we're probably ahidden a little hidden treasure.
Really?
We don't push the membershipdrive really hard.
We've got some local businessesthat the community supported.
We've always had what we need.
The leaders of the community.
there's too many to call out.
I've always been very helpfulwith it.
(30:24):
And, uh, we, if you want to bepart of it, like have you, one
of these things is like, how canyou support us?
Well, one, just come visit us.
We love visitors or want tobecome a member.
It's, it's cheap.
We'd love it, and I'd go totrails next if you want.
and just trails, we've got alist of the trail system that if
you go, if you, you look throughhere, you can see how, what we
(30:45):
call the Valley Trail, theLakeside Loop, Slab Ford.
the big woods.
That's just a description
Jim B (30:51):
of all the
Jimmy Shaw (30:51):
trails of them, right?
And
Jim B (30:52):
there's a, on all the trails page, there's going to be
all the trails that we kind ofhave.
If you go
Jimmy Shaw (30:57):
down, keep going down real quick, Howard.
I think we've got kind of a map.
Howard (31:00):
Yeah, Oh, there you go.
Jimmy Shaw (31:01):
there you go.
There's a map of it.
And, and then we've got, do wegot one too?
Do we got the, the, the PDF onhere of the trails within the
area of all of it?
It's on the homepage.
It's on the homepage.
Howard (31:12):
So that photo we were looking at the photo We were
looking at with the picture thatwas like right here.
Jimmy Shaw (31:18):
Yeah, right there.
Right there.
Yes, sir.
Howard (31:20):
so Jim B.
Where did you want to take us?
Jim B (31:24):
No, I was just saying on all the trails page.
There's just a kind of adescription of the trails and
then a, uh, a, uh, a map.
Howard (31:33):
is that this link right here?
Jimmy Shaw (31:35):
Howard, if you go back to the home page, there's
one that shows all if you godown, that's the community,
right?
So if you click on that link,you can, you can see, I don't
know if this is gonna work.
We'll see.
It's gonna pull up Pull it up inAdobe, but this is an overview
of La Ru County, so thesilhouette of the county, and
(31:55):
then we've got a a star systemwith links and directions to
where all the different trails.
It's probably too big.
You, yeah, you might have tozoom it out.
We can't, we can't see it as,there you go.
Whoop.
There we
Howard (32:08):
on.
Hang on.
I got it.
There we
Jim B (32:11):
click on the green things, it'll, it just takes you
to a Google map.
Click on the one, it'll,
Jimmy Shaw (32:14):
it'll take you straight to a, a, the drop of
the link, and it'll give you
Jim B (32:18):
directions.
It'll
Jimmy Shaw (32:19):
give you directions, GPS coordinates to get you
there.
Howard (32:22):
Oh
Jimmy Shaw (32:22):
And, uh, so we created that, but if you go
back, there's five or six thatJim B.
Go back to the Adobe file,please.
Howard (32:29):
All right.
You're asking a lot here, Jim.
Jimmy Shaw (32:32):
Yeah, I know.
I'm checking your navigationskills.
It's right to the left of thattab.
There it is.
So you can see like we gotMcDougall Lake.
We've got the the HodgevilleElementary Educational if the
Howard (32:45):
Oh, yeah, I can see it.
Jimmy Shaw (32:46):
educational trails.
Number two, Abraham Lincoln'sbirthplace has a trail system.
Pyramid Forest has a trailsystem.
And then Knob Creek even has atrail system.
So we're right there where thebig star is, Howard.
That's where we're sitting.
And you see the proximity of howclose everything is.
Howard (33:02):
I love it.
This is, this is like It's funnyhere in Vegas I'm right near
Lake Mead, Red RockConservation, Uh, a couple
desert wildlife refuge, and Idon't get out enough.
I mean, I love on the weekendI'll get out, but you literally
can walk out your door, walk,bike, drive for less than a
(33:25):
mile, and you're right on atrail system.
I love that.
Jimmy Shaw and Jim B (33:28):
that's right.
Yep.
Howard (33:29):
love that.
Alright, let's try to head back.
There we go.
Jimmy Shaw and Jim B (33:34):
I think that's it.
If you go
Jim B (33:35):
back one more time.
Jimmy Shaw and Jim B (33:36):
Yeah.
Jim B (33:39):
And then, uh, the, uh, the other thing up there, the
education, uh, if you click onthe education and you don't have
to click on these necessarily,but, uh, so we partnered with
the school system.
And so two of our, two of ourbiology classes, did research
and created, uh, Yeah.
So the one there on the right isthe nature trail and they create
(34:00):
a website and we have signsbuilt on the trail for the kids
on amphibians, vernal pond,ecosystem, wetland, ecosystem,
native and versus non nativespecies.
And then a pyramid forest.
We highlighted 25 specific treespecies that each kid did
research on.
They designed the sign placard.
(34:21):
I know that's not a greatpicture.
But, uh, but if you, the blueboxes down at the bottom both
take you to the website that wascreated by our high school
students.
Howard (34:31):
Oh,
Jim B (34:32):
so they correspond to signs that we put out on the
nature trail and at pyramidforest.
Howard (34:37):
Oh, wow.
Jim B (34:38):
So we try to, we try to really do things too, to involve
the school system and, just away for us to kind of help the
show the kids, uh, how to giveback to the community.
yeah, each kid got their picturetaken.
We took the old sign off and,and my nephew did one of these,
put the new sign on,
Howard (34:59):
I love it.
Well,
Jim B (35:00):
we just try to, To really bring the community involved.
And I think that's one of thebig, our, our overall goal of
the Knob Creek Conservancy dealswith conservation, education and
recreation.
And those 3 things we just tryto promote as, as much as
possible.
Howard (35:19):
Very nice.
Very nice.
Well, I'm gonna stop sharing.
Thank You for taking on, takingus on this tour.
And I
Jimmy Shaw (35:28):
had to visit Hodgenville page too, Howard,
that you, we won't have timeprobably to go through it, but.
I'd like to hit a few morethings that I left out in the
front whenever you get to thatbefore we wrap up, there's a
couple more places of interestthat
Howard (35:41):
so where,
Jimmy Shaw (35:42):
and around we'll go, we'll, I'll knock them off.
Howard (35:45):
Where would You like me to go then?
Okay.
Jimmy Shaw (35:47):
You don't have to, you can just maybe just show the
Visit Hodgenville webpage and wedon't have to go into it, but
there's, there's a webpagethat's been developed.
If you're wanting to research alittle bit more what you do
here, but we talked about the, alot of the big stuff.
Yeah, there's, there's a page onhere.
If you just things to do atHodgenville and just, you can
just probably stay kind of on,on that.
(36:09):
But a few places I didn'tmention is we got to Lincoln
Jamboree, which is, think of anold, I shouldn't say old.
It's like a, it's a, it's a, Idon't want to call it a
homestead, but it's an opera
Jim B (36:19):
land.
Jimmy Shaw (36:21):
It's like the grand old Opry version and it's been
like 60 plus years and it's,it's pretty, pretty amazing.
We've got, uh, we've got somemade in Kentucky shops.
We've got a bunch of littlesmall gas station and
memorabilia type places.
We've obviously got Abe Lincoln.
The birthplace, we've got theKnob Creek, or that part of the
National Park System, thedowntown, we, we, I feel like we
(36:44):
hit on a lot of that stuff, and
Jim B (36:46):
we've got Crawford Farms, Hinton's Orchard, kind of fall
Howard (36:51):
Oh, there's the hamburger.
Jimmy Shaw (36:53):
Yeah, there's a hamburger.
We've got a creep front.
It's right next.
It's just a one of those thingsyou take for granted where we
have first Fridays we celebrateas a community.
We have one of the months it'sit's they do a car show.
And so there's just 4th of Julycelebration.
You think about things that youtake for granted.
It's like small town communitylife.
(37:15):
And it's just it's a there'ssomething for a little bit of
everybody.
If you if you like Bardstown'sright next door.
Bardstown's got a a great placeto be.
It was voted Reader's Digestbest small town city and in
America at some point in thelast 10 to 15 years, Fort Knox
and General Patton's Museum andthe Fort Knox, the gold vaults,
(37:35):
15 20 miles up the road.
There's just a wealth of Jim Bsaid it best of centrally
located of what we have aroundtown.
There's Kayla's Kayla's is anewer restaurant, but she's,
she's one best burger in thecommunity.
And we, uh, we're just kind of athrowback in time.
And, uh, if, if people route 66is a good, good.
(37:58):
is is a good comparison to some.
I've been all up and down Route66, taking my kids all up and
down.
And like, it's just it's it's aplace from the past.
It's what small America townAmerica used to be pre walmart
pre interstate systems.
And we still got a lot of thathere in that field in Hodgkin
Bill.
If people are looking for that.
So
Jim B (38:18):
we also
Howard (38:18):
I love
Jim B (38:19):
largest Festivals in Kentucky, Lincoln Days in
October to honor a two dayfestival to honor, uh, Lincoln,
it's a, so it's,
Jimmy Shaw (38:32):
we'll keep talking, Howard, you're going to have to
shut us off.
Howard (38:34):
Yeah, well, I tell you what this there's just a lot
here and I'm loving it I'm gonnastop sharing just in the
interest
Jimmy Shaw (38:41):
big, another big thing we probably ought is we've
got a bike route.
more about this, but likethere's a national bike.
What, what is it?
Yeah.
Jim B (38:48):
So real quick, the, uh, the transcontinental bike route
that goes from, uh, East coastto West coast.
So in May, um, In May, we havethe folks coming in from, uh,
let me get this right.
Those would be the, the folkscome and stay.
our local parks and recreationallows them to come in and
shower.
(39:09):
It's probably one of the bestplaces, uh, according to the
people that travel on it, thatwhen they come through, it's one
of the most hospitable placesbecause we give them a place to
sleep with a roof over theirhead, air conditioned, and they
have showers.
So the people start stopping in,in, uh, May.
Those are the folks coming fromthe East coast heading West.
And then, uh, May, June, July,all the way up into September,
(39:33):
you'll have people stopping inthose are the people coming from
the West coast.
The West coast folks, I think,have to start a little later to
let the mountains clear of thesnow.
And then we got us bike route23, which comes from Tennessee
and actually ends at AbrahamLincoln birthplace.
So we get a lot of visitors onthe bicycles too.
Howard (39:51):
Excellent.
No, I I like I need to get on aplane Or drive, whatever's best,
and stay and just enjoyeverything you guys have to
offer.
It's exciting.
and I,
Jimmy Shaw (40:05):
Howard.
We'll put you up.
We'll feed you a cheeseburger.
You can come visit the office isright downtown's literally 100
ft.
Walk right over here.
Howard (40:16):
I love, see, I like the fact that you can probably walk
out the door and go get a goodcup of coffee and a
cheeseburger, and it's like,this is excellent.
Hey guys, I really appreciateyou taking the time to, uh, Join
us and share your story and thisbeautiful destination with our
listeners and really taking partof this outdoor adventure series
(40:37):
adventure and you guys have awonderful destination and I
again Jimmy, Jim B I appreciateyou both taking the time to, to
join us.
Jimmy, if, now we've got thebacklinks to the, the websites,
the NobCreeConservancy.
org, that link.
We've got, and we'll also havethe backlinks to your Facebook
and Instagram pages on our shownotes.
(41:00):
We'll have the backlink to theVisit Hodgenville website as
well.
Any other places you'd like us,and we'll, we'll do some shout
outs and back links to some ofthe businesses that you shared
as well.
Any, anything else that you'dlike to share with us before we
sign off today?
Jimmy Shaw (41:18):
I think we've done a we've we've probably scatter
shot as much as we couldeverything that we can think of.
So, if we missed anybody ormissed anything, it wasn't
intentional.
And I would just say.
One of the things we're knownfor is just hospitality.
So, you can put our, I can'tspeak for Jim B, but I think
you'd be okay with this.
It's like, I'll put my emailout, he can put his out.
(41:40):
Like if somebody's coming intotown, we, we, we, we're glad to
host.
We're glad to help.
We're glad to answer questions.
You'll find we're still smalltown friendly.
And, So the communities, wehaven't said this hour, but
there's about probably 4, 000people in downtown and
Hodgenville, and there'sprobably 12 to 14, 000 in the
whole community in terms of thesize of our, our, our county.
(42:01):
And, um, my kids are here for areason.
I like the people I live next toand my neighbors and I want them
raised in this with thisheritage.
And so
Howard (42:10):
You, you literally have, you literally have thousands of
what I call brand ambassadors.
Because this is your brand andyou've got the whole community.
It's as you are describing verywelcoming And you guys have done
a phenomenal job.
I just can't believe this is youknow The the Conservancy's only
been around for five years or soand just was an idea of your dad
(42:33):
Jim B, but I think it'sphenomenal and I will take you
up at some point because I wantto come visit because I'm always
looking for my next place tolive, by the way, I didn't, I
usually share that on myepisodes, uh, before we head
out, Jim B, how does this feelto be on your first podcast?
This was easy, wasn't it.
Jim B (42:51):
he did.
Yeah, I guess I got a longwinded, but yeah, just, we
appreciate you.
Reaching out to us.
I'm glad it all worked out.
Jimmy Shaw (43:00):
Howard.
You've had a bunch of people.
How's he done on his firstpodcast?
Howard (43:03):
I think you did
Jimmy Shaw (43:04):
A, B, or C.
Howard (43:06):
I I, I'd, I'd give you a five stars.
I give you.
five
Jimmy Shaw (43:09):
you go.
Howard (43:10):
So,
Jimmy Shaw (43:10):
had to warm him up a little bit.
We had to ramp him up, but he'ssmiling.
He's loose.
Now he's ready to talk.
He's ready for part two.
Howard (43:17):
yeah, and, and Jimmy, if you need somebody to back you up
on one of your episodes, I can'tdo it, well, Jim Beal, take,
take over the, uh, the mic.
Jimmy Shaw (43:25):
he's, he's got the check Mark now.
So he's, I told him it would beeasy.
I said, it's just talking.
That's all it is.
And.
Howard (43:31):
It's a piece of cake.
Hey guys, I really appreciateit.
Again, we're gonna hopefully getsome photos for the website on
our show notes.
We'll have all those backlinksand really, I'm excited for my
listeners to hear about thislittle area of heaven in
Kentucky and It's been great.
(43:52):
Great to get to know you guys.
So thank you for taking timetoday.
Jimmy Shaw and Jim B (43:55):
Yeah.
Thank you.
Really appreciate it.
Howard (43:57):
All right, listen, stay in the line.
We're going to do a real quickclose and Three of us can have a
final chat.
Jimmy Shaw and Jim B (44:03):
Sounds
Howard (44:03):
All right, folks.
You've just been listening toanother episode of the Outdoor
Adventure Series podcast.
We had the pleasure of meetingJim B.
Phelps, Jim B., and Jimmy Shaw,who Our literally have history
back to the 1800s with the, withthe county and with the, the,
(44:26):
the, really this community andthe wonderful work and passion
that they have, uh, introducedwith their.
Friends and colleagues andreally in making this a stellar
destination, uh, for youroutdoor adventure.
So, you know, you can visit, uh,Hodgenville, it's right in this,
(44:47):
cup, two, three hours from someBig cities, Louisville,
Cincinnati, Indianapolis, uh,it's, it's right there for you
for a nice, uh, day trip or evena long weekend just to enjoy a
little history, a little nature,some good food and
entertainment.
Now do make sure you go out, uh,to the websites.
Now we're going to provide theback links to, uh, the Nava
(45:09):
Creek Conservancy and we'llhave, uh, also their Facebook
and Instagram, uh, sites aswell.
And we're going to have abacklink to visit Hodgenville,
uh, so that you can learn allabout the events that are taking
place in this community.
As for us, our episode isavailable on our website,
OutdoorAdventureSeries.
com.
We're also on LinkedIn andFacebook on our Outdoor
(45:30):
Adventure Series pages.
The video of this episode wherewe took a tour.
of the Conservancy, as well asvisit Hodgenville, will be up on
our YouTube channel.
And of course you can listen tothis podcast wherever you get
your podcast from.
I can't think of a better way tolisten to podcasts than go for a
hike, a bike, a trail run.
(45:51):
Just have it on your smartphone,download it, and you can listen
to this wonderful episode.
And if you are in the communityof Hodgenville, Do let, uh, Jim
B.
and Jimmy know what you thoughtof their performance today.
By the way, five starperformance, remember.
Okay, folks, wherever you are,
Jimmy Shaw (46:08):
Oh, only if you liked it, let
Howard (46:10):
only if you liked it.
Jimmy Shaw (46:11):
keep it to yourself.
Howard (46:12):
Keep it to yourself.
I love that.
All right, folks, wherever youare, whatever you're doing, go
out there, have a phenomenalday.
And we look forward to havingyou join us on a future episode
of the Outdoor Adventure Seriespodcast.
Take care now.
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