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Features

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    Watch for the footsteps

    The silence on Cry Baby Bridge was broken only by chirping of crickets, the forlorn call of a lone owl echoing in the darkness and the gurgle of water underneath.

    Oh, and yes, also, a faintly, ghostly whispering.

    Was it the wind in the trees, or the spirit of a young mother that reputedly drove herself and her infant to their deaths off the bridge many years ago?

    A paranormal investigation at the bridge Thursday, located on Bellview Road in Shelby County, left ghost hunters uncertain.

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    My Father: British Sergeant...

    On May 19, 1915, the 11th Suffolks, my father’s battalion left Cambridge, where most of its training had been conducted, and joined the 101st Infantry Brigade of the newly-formed 34th Division for training on the Yorkshire Moors in southern England.

    On June 24, 1915, his 21st Birthday, Sergeant Reginald George Bareham, on leave from his battalion, married Florence Rosetta Freestone, a beautiful, bright young lady whom he had met at a dancing class in Cambridge.

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    Budding builders

    "I'm going to be an architect," said D'mauri Crowder, as he studied a pile of LEGO blocks while working on a project at the Shelby County Public Library.

    "He's not kidding, either," said his mother, Katrina Blackburn, as she watched Crowder, 7, and his little brother, Darrion, 4, arrange their blocks at the library's LEGO Night, which falls on the last Thursday of each month.

    "He is always sitting around drawing, sketching things he's says he's going to build someday," she said.

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    My Father: British Sergeant...

    Reginald Bareham, now 18-years-old, continued correspondence with his mentor, Oscar Browning.  His letters, in the archives of King’s College, Cambridge, describe the encouragement being provided by Charles Waldstein, owner of beautiful Newton Hall Farm, operated by Reggie’s father, George Bareham.

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    Finchville festival welcomes in fall

    Finchville Days 2014

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    My Father: British Sergeant...

    After his family had moved from the Barton Farm to a comfortable cottage on Newton Hall Farm, Charles Waldstein’s beautiful estate, Reggie Bareham continued to write to his mentor Oscar Browning, who was a friend of Waldstein’s and a rival of his for influence in pre-World War I Britain. Newton is a small village with a population today of only 401 and a history of over 1,000 years.

    Waldstein had written to Browning:

     

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    Charm and grace

    Nestled like a sparkling jewel in a quiet neighborhood near Todds Point Road, the home of Bruce and Ruth Pearce exudes almost as much beauty and charm as its mistress, Ruth Pearce, who sits with her husband sipping ice-cold lemonade on the screened-in back porch of their Civil War-era Victorian style home. 

    "We love it here and I guess you could say this is our favorite place. We eat out here a lot and we just love the scenery," she said.

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    My Father: British Sergeant...

    George Bareham, Reginald’s father, a capable farmer, was having difficulties working a farm in Barton for an owner, Mr. Warwick, who treated him shabbily and gave him no freedom to perform his tasks efficiently.

    Now Reginald Bareham’s letters to his mentor, Oscar Browning, from the archives of Kings College, Cambridge University in England, reflect a dramatic change in the farming operations of the Bareham family.

     

    Bareham, 16-years-old, to Browning, February 7, 1911:

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    My Father: British Sgt. Reginald G...

    Reginald (Reggie) Bareham was born on June 24, 1894 in Steeple Bumpstead, Essex, England.

    An unusual word is very helpful in narrowing an Internet search, so I decided to enter the name of my father in association with the place of his birth. In doing so, I made a classic find. In the archives of Kings College, Cambridge University in England, I discovered this entry: “66 letters from members of the Bareham family to Oscar Browning... George and Winifred Bareham were the parents of Reginald, a schoolboy protégéof Oscar Browning.”

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    Sweet sundae treats

    Ice cream sundaes are as timeless and entrenched in Americana as apple pie. For decades, children have begged for the cherry-topped treat first at the drug store, then the ice cream parlor and now even at fast food restaurants. When one thinks of sundaes, the classic hot fudge variety is the first to spring to mind. With or without nuts, with sprinkles or with jimmies, it’s the one that everyone falls back on.

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    My Father: British Sgt. Reginald G...

    Prelude to War

    It seems timely to write about the Great War, now known as World War I.  Just over 100 years ago, on July 28, 1914, with the declaration of war on Serbia by Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, the war commenced. Its genesis had been the assassination a month earlier in Sarajevo of the Emperor’s son and heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. 

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    2014 Shelbyville Horse Show Jubilee

    Visitors to the 2014 Shelbyville Horse Show Jubilee had some hot fun Saturday downtown, and in some cases, some fun ran hot and cold, as with the ice cream eating contest.

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    Old locks give new twist to...

    Inside stuff:

    Address:139 Fox Run

    Owners:Neal and Barbara Hammon

    Statistics:3,500 square feet, 2 stories, 8 rooms, 6 working fireplaces

    Architecture:Colonial/federal

    Built: 1977;designed by Neal Hammon

    Accoutrements:All locks in the house made between 1820 and 1860

     

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    Early Kentucky History, Part 9:...

    1803

    October 26The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled against Nicholas Meriwether in a case involving his rights as assignee to two settlement tracts of 400 acres each and two associated preemption warrants of 1,000 acres each.  Two months after the court's ruling, his son, Richard, in Shelby County, wrote his Uncle William Meriwether a disquieting letter:

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    Early Kentucky History, Part 8:...

    1797

    September:  Joseph Hornsby brought his family to Kentucky, making his home on his 2,499-acre tract near Simpsonville, which he called “Grasslands.”  He kept a “Planter’s Diary,” which has been described by George I. Willis, Sr. in his History of Shelby County, Kentucky, published in 1929:

     

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    Haute hot dogs

    Hot dogs are simply the perfect summer food. You don’t even need a plate to enjoy a delectable dog right off the grill – just a bun and some mustard or ketchup and you’re back hitting Wiffle balls and chasing fireflies.

    But don’t be so quick to push the frankfurter off on the kids while the adults wait for more sophisticated fare from the coals.

    With a little better quality dog and some extra topping, adults and kids can share the culinary delight.

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    Early Kentucky History, Part 7:...

    Shelby County had been created out of Jefferson County, Kentucky in 1792, with Shelbyville established as its county seat.  Settlers, nevertheless, had to be wary of Native American attacks although they were diminished in strength and in frequency.

    Vince Akers, an authority on early Shelby County history, in a paper prepared in 1979, described what he believed to be the final attack in Shelby County

    Smock Family Tragedy

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    Early Kentucky History, Part 6: “A...

    1792

    December 1:  A letter to Editor John Bradford, signed by Nicholas Meriwether, occupied three of the four front-page columns of the Kentucky Gazette. Extracts from Meriwether’s letter: 

     

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    Meat your neighbor

    Meat is probably the least transparent business on earth. 

    Our desire for cheap meat has created an industrial system that sates the American appetite of an estimated 200 pounds of meat per person each year.  That’s about twice the global average.  Plus, we seem to know very little about something we eat an awful lot. 

    The industrial meat business is predominately a closed system that takes place behind gated complexes, far from the potential consumer. 

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    Graduation 2014

    Graduation Day 2014 was Saturday and Shelby's seniors celebrated with joys and tears.