Old Time Kentucky: Hickman Courier’s support of secession reflected South’s influence in the Purchase
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist One of Kentucky’s oldest newspapers has rebel roots. “The South,” the Hickman Courier editorialized in…
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Old Time Kentucky: For good fortune in the New Year, better eat your black-eyed peas
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist More than a few Kentuckians will ring in the New Year with a down-home feast…
Old Time Kentucky: Christmas report of soldier’s Pearl Harbor demise was greatly exaggerated
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist The Hamlin home in Harlan was joyless seventy-five Christmases ago. On Dec. 16, 1941, Green…
Old Time Kentucky: Was Christmas truce of 1914 a ‘rebellion against authority’ for soldiers?
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist It is hard to separate fact from folklore about the storied World War I Christmas…
Old Time Kentucky: Fayette native Jackson was only Congressman to fall in Civil War combat
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist Congressman James Streshly Jackson of Hopkinsville wanted to do more in the Civil War than…
Old Time Kentucky: Former Louisville Journal editor Prentice was all in on Lincoln’s Thanksgiving plan
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist George D. Prentice, sharp-penned Civil War editor of the Louisville Journal, was not an Abraham…
Old Time Kentucky: Despite his war fame, few in Elizabethtown remember ties to ‘the Bold Barney’
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist After reputedly beating the British in 25 sea battles in three wars, Commodore Joshua Barney…
Old Time Kentucky: Simpsonville Slaughter, not in most history books, should be remembered
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist The “Simpsonville slaughter” is not in most history books. But a state historical society marker…
Old Time Kentucky: Two-time Gov. McCreary loved his salty parrot so much it’s buried with him
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist James Bennett McCreary was a two-time Kentucky governor. He evidently wasn’t a two-timer, though he…
Old Time Kentucky: Jackson Purchase area had its own version of ‘Free State of Jones’ during Civil War
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist The Jackson Purchase, Kentucky’s only Rebel-majority region, had its own “Free State of Jones” during…
Old Time Kentucky: Morgan’s Christmas Raid of 1862 commemorated by cannonball in the wall
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist A souvenir of Confederate cavalry Gen. John Hunt Morgan’s famous “Christmas Raid” of 1862 is…
Old Time Kentucky: Remote Madrid Bend was scene of a less famous, but still deadly, family feud
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist Nobody seemed to know what brewed the bad blood between the Darnells and Watsons in…
Old Time Kentucky: At the beginning of the Space Age, Aurora’s honorary mayor was ‘out of this world’
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist Aurora had an honorary mayor who was out of this world. “Astronaut Malcolm Scott Carpenter…
Old Time Kentucky: When it comes to a plague, think bubonic, locust … or squirrel?
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist When I hear “plague,” I think “bubonic” or “locust.” But in 1827, my neck of…
Old Time Kentucky: Bluegrass State was once renowned for boozing, brawling and balloting
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist When the polls are open in Kentucky, the bars are closed. That’s because the Bluegrass…
Old Time Kentucky: Kidnapped Congressman would emerge in time to contribute vote to end slavery
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist Pro-Union congressman-elect Lucian Anderson of Mayfield evidently didn’t believe discretion was the better part of…
Old Time Kentucky: Despite heroic actions, history barely remembers the story of Nancy Ann Hunter
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist History barely records the story of Nancy Ann Hunter, the teenage heroine of old Fort…
Old Time Kentucky: Father of Bourbon Elijah Craig imagined he could serve God and mammon both
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist In early Kentucky, many a vote was swayed, outright bought or rewarded with whiskey. Campaign…
Old Time Kentucky: Laffoon’s plans for a state sales tax led mobs to descend on Frankfort in 1930s
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist Matt Bevin, the first Republican elected governor since Ernie Fletcher in 2003, doubtless hopes his…
Old Time Kentucky: ‘Little Toad’ Marshall may have been the biggest scoundrel in state political history
By Berry Craig NKyTribune columnist It’s been a while since a Frankfort mob threatened to heave a politician into the…