Good morning!

130,000 new members?!

We’re branching out, y’all, with free membership for all residents in five Kentucky counties!

By the way, if you haven’t yet seen our 120: Cool KY Counties exhibit and explored the remarkable stories and songs from each of Kentucky’s counties, now is a good time.

Today, we’re announcing that 130,000 Kentuckians in five different counties are now eligible for free membership at the Frazier!

At the March 15 exhibit opening, which folks from all around the Commonwealth attended, we announced a contest for county representatives to sign up new Frazier Weekly subscribers. These five counties secured the most subscribers per capita and earned free membership for all their residents. Congratulations to Spencer County, Cumberland County, Monroe County, Carroll County, and Bullitt County. If you’re a resident of one of these counties and you’d like to activate your free membership, click here.

We’re excited for all of Kentucky to find out why the Frazier is where the world meets Kentucky! We’re equally excited to inspire folks to travel throughout the Commonwealth.

In today’s issue of Frazier Weekly, Amanda Briede writes about her experience presenting with Frazier colleagues at the recent Kentucky Museum and Heritage Alliance Conference in Maysville. Woodford County is our 120 story of the week, a Hall of Fame teacher from Ballard High School joins the Frazier’s tour schedule, the Bat Cats are in the College World Series, and our friends at the (Un)Known Project unveil a new art installation.

Plus, pop star Tinashe fact-checks one of our Instagram posts!

I hope you enjoy.

Andy Treinen
President & CEO
Frazier History Museum

This Week in the Museum

Curator’s Corner: Frazier Presents at KMHA Conference in Mason County

On June 3, several colleagues and I attended and presented at the Kentucky Museum and Heritage Alliance’s annual conference, held in Maysville, Mason County. Casey, Mick, Jason, Rachel, and I had the opportunity to share information about the Frazier’s 120: Cool KY Counties exhibit with museum folk from all over the state. It was a great way for us to share our project with a wider museum audience and to meet people who have more county stories to share. I also hope we built a little excitement for when 120 goes on the road sometime in the not-so-distant future!

I also stayed overnight and presented the next day about the Frazier’s Commonwealth: Divided we Fall exhibition on a panel called “Exhibits Reimagined.” I was honored to be asked to join the panel with folks like Chris Mozier from Solid Light and Dr. Amanda Higgins from the Lexington History Museum. We discussed the sometimes-challenging process of completely redesigning an exhibition space in accessible and inclusive ways.

Of course, I did more than just presenting at the conference. Other highlights included a documentary screening of This is the Ohio: Life, Death, Rebirth of the Beautiful River and a dinner of historic recipes inside the Phillips’ Folly historic home (the subject of our 120 exhibit’s Mason County story!). Museum folks know how to party, and another highlight was going to the pub after dinner and joining the locals from the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center in a “little beer” shot, something I had never even heard of before!

The KMHA conference was another great experience connecting with like-minded Kentuckians. It is always so inspiring to see the passion for history that exists in every part of our Commonwealth. I really look forward to becoming more involved with KMHA in the future!

Amanda Briede
Sr. Curator of Exhibitions

Highlights of 120: Woodford County: Huntertown’s Freedom Story

This Wednesday is Juneteenth, a federal holiday. It commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. Each week, we bring you stories as part of our 120: Cool KY Counties exhibit, and this one centers on “freetown” in Woodford County. Guest contributor Sioux Finney shares the story of Huntertown and its remarkable ties to freedom.—Rachel Platt, VP of Mission

Woodford Countians consider ourselves blessed to celebrate the Juneteenth holiday at Huntertown Community Interpretive Park, a thirty-eight-acre public park on the site of a former African American hamlet or “freetown” known as Huntertown.

In August 1871, six years after the Civil War, formerly enslaved Woodford County men and women began purchasing land in one- to five-acre tracts “on the Crawfish Road” outside Versailles. Early Huntertown landowners included Jerry Gatewood and Richard Coleman, both veterans of the US Colored Troops who gained their freedom upon enlisting in the Union Army at nearby Camp Nelson.

For over 130 years, Huntertown was a tight-knit community. Families shopped at small grocery stores, attended weekly prayer and church basket meetings, cheered on the Huntertown Sluggers baseball team, played horseshoes, and swapped stories. Children attended the Huntertown School from 1895 to 1940. The “Riney-B” Railroad ran straight through the community, with a whistle stop daily until 1932.

Teachers, preachers, veterans, and community leaders called Huntertown home. Rev. Jesse Voyd Bottoms Sr., pastor of historic Green Street Baptist Church in Louisville for thirty-six years, was born and raised in Huntertown and married “the girl next door,” Florence Carter Bottoms, also a Huntertown native.

Although no buildings remain, a one-mile trail at the park features nineteen historical interpretive signs that tell Huntertown’s story. Park visitors can utilize the ECHOES app to hear oral histories on site. The park master plan includes a community pavilion, accessible trails, outdoor classrooms, and historic spaces to bring history alive.

Woodford Countians will gather at the park for our Juneteenth Freedom Celebration with food, music, vendors, and fun for all ages. But we also gather to honor the long road to freedom carved by the footsteps of ancestors who once lived, worked, prayed, and played here.

“The roots at Huntertown are deep,” one former Huntertown resident says. “We can’t just pluck them up and throw them away.” History is OUR story; and Huntertown’s story is one we must tell.

For more about Huntertown and the park, please visit huntertownkypark.org.

Sioux Finney
Board Member, Friends of Huntertown Community Interpretive Park
Guest Contributor

Union Officer who Issued Juneteenth Order Buried in Fayette County

On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and officially issued General Order No. 3. This proclamation, backed by the presence of Union soldiers in Texas, brought an official end to slavery in the Southern state. The date has been recognized as Juneteenth, the holiday marking the end of legal slavery in America. Juneteenth became an official federal holiday in 2021.

Granger, the man who made the momentous declaration official, was Union Commander of the Department of Texas, a New York Democrat, and a career soldier. He also happens to be buried in Lexington Cemetery in Fayette County, Kentucky. After the war, he married a Lexington woman named Maria Letcher. When Commander Granger was not serving elsewhere on military matters, the couple spent a significant amount of time in the Commonwealth. Eventually, it was decided they’d spend eternity here as well.

Here’s how the June 19 General Order No. 3 reads:

The people are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property, between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them, become that between employer and hired labor. The freed are advised to remain at their present homes, and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts; and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.

It was clear that no real assistance could be offered until the establishment of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Nevertheless, celebrations began that day.

Mick Sullivan
Curator of Guest Experience

Tinashe Fact-Checks Frazier’s “Match my Freak” Post

In recent weeks, if you’re a TikTok, Instagram, or X user, you’ve probably encountered the audio clip “I’ve been a nasty girl, nasty / I’ve been a nasty girl, nasty.” You may have also encountered the phrase “match my freak”—a phrase so ubiquitous that USA Today published an explainer.

On Friday morning, I posted a reel to the Frazier’s Instagram noting the Kentucky origin of these memes:

“Match my freak.” Have you heard this phrase? It’s all over the internet. It comes from “Nasty,” the April 12, 2024, hit by singer-songwriter Tinashe, born in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky. Know your Kentucky history, freaks.”

Tinashe commented: “True.”

It’s not every day we get fact-checked by a world-famous pop star!

Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist

Hall of Fame Teacher Patty Morris to Lead Weekly Walking Tours

Lucky us! I’m talking about the Frazier History Museum and our luck in getting Patty Morris to lead weekly walking tours this summer for us. I got a phone call from a colleague who knows Patty and connected me with her to talk about offering the tours at the Frazier. She mentioned she was a former history teacher at JCPS. My jaw dropped when I started connecting the dots about who it was, “the” Mrs. Morris from Ballard High School who retired just before my boys attended. I have been sorry they didn’t have her for a teacher ever since. But now we get to share her passion, her knowledge, and her love of history with you each Monday for “Step into History” Walking Tours that begin at 10:30 a.m. at the Frazier. Click here to reserve your spot and learn more, and keep on reading as you get to know “the” Mrs. Patty Morris.—Rachel Platt, VP of Mission

For twenty-two years, as an American History/World Civilizations, Geography, and Art teacher at Ballard High School, I led my students on an urban field walk of downtown Louisville. Trained by the National Geographic in Washington, DC, as a teacher consultant, I learned how to develop a template of questions and activities for engaging students in “exploring” their hometowns. Most of my students had seldom or ever been to downtown Louisville. For many, it would be a first-time “hands-on” experience.

Retiring in 2010, I quickly realized that my passion for teaching needed outlets. I became a docent for Farmington Historic Home and the Speed Art Museum. Both combined my love for history and art. Still, I felt compelled to do more. Miracles do happen! I read Louisville Tourism needed downtown walking tour guides and immediately volunteered.

This year, Louisville Tourism stopped offering the walking tours so I offered my services to the Frazier. It seemed like a natural fit: a Kentucky history museum and a walking tour of Louisville’s history, which I love to do.

So here’s my challenge: PUT ON YOUR WALKING SHOES AN COME WITH ME FOR AND “UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL” TOUR OF MY CITY!

Patty Morris
Guide, Step into History Walking Tours
Guest Contributor

20th Anniversary Photo: Time-Traveling Campers, 2009

Since our summer camps are chugging along as usual—and we still have a few open spots available!—this week I thought I’d comb through the “Education/Photos” folder in our server to find some images of camps past. Pictured here are three campers—Taylor, Jeremy, and Carl—enrolled in the Frazier’s 2009 “Time Travel” summer camp. They’ve now time-traveled fifteen years into the future to bring us Frazier Weekly readers some summer cheer!

Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist

LEE Initiative Wins James Beard Foundation Humanitarian of the Year Award

A well-deserved congratulations to Chef Edward Lee’s LEE Initiative on their recent James Beard Foundation Humanitarian of the Year Award! The James Beard Foundation is a nonprofit organization that celebrates, supports, and elevates the people behind America’s food culture and champions talent, equity, and sustainability. Edward Lee has been nominated in the category of Best Chef seven times, three of which saw him in the semifinals, and his 2019 book Buttermilk Graffiti earned him the award for writing.

James Beard’s Humanitarian of the Year award is given to a selfless individual or organization working in the food industry to better the lives of others and society at large. I can think of no more deserving nonprofit than Ed’s LEE Initiative. We were honored to host Chef Lee at the Frazier in May to celebrate the release of his latest book, Bourbon Land, and many of our guests were able to support the LEE Initiative at our event and take home exclusive LEE Initiative swag.

We applaud Chef Lee for everything he has done to give back to the community and for earning this prestigious humanitarian award. Find out more about all the ways LEE Initiative serves the community here.

Leslie Anderson
Membership & Partnership Manager

History All Around Us

University of Kentucky “Bat Cats” Punch Ticket to First World Series

It’s not a typical destination for Wildcat fans, but who knew Omaha, Nebraska, would be “the” place to be this summer. Forget the beach, many Kentucky fans are now heading to the Midwest to watch their baseball team make history. It is a field of dreams for baseball fans who perhaps thought this day would never come. I asked my hubby, Gary Fogle, a former sports reporter/anchor, to write about. PS: He’s also a UK grad.—Rachel Platt, VP of Mission

Going into this college baseball season, the University of Kentucky was the only team in the Southeastern Conference that had never played in college baseball’s World Series. But that is no longer the case as the Wildcats punched their ticket to this year’s event with a win over Oregon State.

By the way, that win was the Cats’ 45th victory of the year and a new school record for wins. They had won 44 games back in 2008. And they’ve come a long way since going 1-2 in 1896 (their first season) and winless in three games the next year.

Also, their 45-14 record this season is the best winning percentage in school history.

There was a time when baseball at UK was played on a field no better than a high school field and very few people attended. Even students rarely bothered to show up. And games were free of charge.

These days, the Cats play in a state-of-the-art stadium that would rival some of the nicer Minor League baseball stadiums in the country and they draw several thousand. It has become “hip” to go to a UK baseball game.

And the 2024 version of UK “Bat Cats” has rewarded those fans as they become one of eight teams still standing in college baseball while embarking on their first ever appearance in college baseball’s World Series.

“I’m just so thankful for this group of men and what they’ve been able to do and what they’ll continue to do,” Nick Mingione said. Mingione is in his eighth season as UK’s head baseball coach. “They gave us all an experience we’ll never forget.”

Now, for clarification, 64 teams make it to the NCAA baseball tournament every year. But only eight of those advance to the World Series (played every year in mid-June in Omaha, Nebraska).

It is a double elimination format, meaning you have to lose twice before you’re out of the tournament. The final two teams will then play a best-of-three series to determine the overall champion.

UK opened play this past Saturday in the CWS against North Carolina State. The tournament is being televised on ESPN. Go Cats!

Gary Fogle
Instructor, Department of Communication, Bellarmine University
Guest Contributor

Oxmoor Bourbon Company Offers Tours of Bullitt Family History in Bourbon

The Frazier History Museum shares stories of the people, places, and producers of the Kentucky Bourbon industry. To learn more, visit our Spirit of Kentucky® exhibition. This week, Oxmoor Bourbon Company general manager J Rosser Lomax tells our readers about the Bullitt family history tours they now offer.—Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist

Greetings from Oxmoor!

Seems these days like everyone is starting a Bourbon brand, and everyone has some kind of story. Tall tales and stiff drinks go together like ham and biscuits, after all, and there’s no harm in any of it (in moderation). However, here at Oxmoor, we are delighted to share that our team has spent months uncovering the buried history of Bourbon through the lives of the family who helped define and defend the industry from the early days of the Commonwealth through the twentieth century—a history we cannot wait to share with you.

It’s our privilege to offer a tour of Oxmoor that tells the story of both the Bullitt family and Kentucky straight Bourbon whiskey itself, navigating three centuries from the colonial bedrooms to the grand additions of the Gilded Age. Over the course of an hour, we will share a tale that explains how frameworks concocted by the family’s five generations of legal minds led to the codification and fortification of everything we hold dear about Kentucky’s most famous export. Once you and your group finish drinking it all in, we invite you to sit with a dram in the library and relax or stroll the gardens with a cocktail to reflect.

As a friend and supporter of the Frazier, your perspective matters to us, and we want you to be some of the first to experience our offerings. Navigate your way to oxmoorbourbon.com and book your tour today!

J Rosser Lomax
General Manager, Oxmoor Bourbon Company
Guest Contributor

Bridging the Divide

(Un)Known Project Unveils In our Elders’ Footprints Public Art Installation

It was history in the making as iconic names gathered for a new art installation along the banks of the Ohio River. Their footprints are actually part of the installation. It was the unveiling of In our Elders’ Footprints, courtesy of the (Un)Known Project, and the public was invited to come and thank them for all they’ve done to make us better. The Frazier History Museum has been fortunate enough to collaborate with the (Un)Known Project. We’ve asked Hannah Drake and Josh Miller, the founders of IDEAS xLab and creators of the installation, to share more.—Rachel Platt, VP of Mission

“We’re still standing, we’re still fighting, we’re still here,” Cheri Bryant Hamilton said during the unveiling and dedication of In our Elders’ Footprints on June 8, 2024, along the Ohio River, adjacent to On the Banks of Freedom, (Un)Known Project’s first art installation created by artists William Duffy and Dave Caudill. Hamilton and twenty-three other Black elders from the Louisville community are featured in the new public art installation by (Un)Known Project.

Their footprints walking along the path, embodying Maya Angelou’s words, “I come as one, but I stand as ten thousand”—symbolically represent the footprints of the enslaved that sought freedom by crossing the Ohio River. From civil rights activists to educators and artists, the art installation represents the interconnection between our past, present, and future. These Black leaders have helped shaped the community, and this space honors their contributions while referencing the generations who have come before, including enslaved and free Black people. We invite people to come and to walk in their footprints, honor their legacy, and consider how it shapes our shared future.

Over 200 people gathered for the unveiling, which featured performances, remarks, and words from elders, including Sen. Gerald Neal, Mattie Jones, Ed Hamilton, and Rhonda Mathies. “Look how far we have traveled,” Jones said. “And then I look back over my shoulder to say ‘Hey, we’ve got to keep on comin’.” The day culminated with the elders standing in their footprints on the platform alongside the next generation of changemakers looking out over the river. It was a reminder that this site is a sacred space, and we each play a role as stewards of the spaces and communities we move through and are a part of.

“These installations honor our heritage, foster a deeper understanding of current social issues, and inspire action toward a more inclusive and equitable community,” Jessica Kincaid, director of the Office of Arts and Creative Industries with Louisville Metro Government, said.

In our Elders’ Footprints serves as a symbol of our past, a representation of our present, and a promise to our future understanding our ancestors and elders walked so that one day we could run.

(Un)Known Project is grateful to its collaborators, including Frazier History Museum, Roots 101 African American Museum, and Louisville Metro for their ongoing work to unearth and honor the names and stories of enslaved Black people. Funders who made the site possible include the National Endowment for the Arts, Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Foundation for a Just Society, Fund for the Arts, and Louisville Metro Arts and Creative Industries. The event was supported by the Juneteenth Jubilee Committee.

Learn more about the installation here.

Hannah Drake and Josh Miller
Founders, IDEAS xLab
Guest Contributors