Good Monday morning,

How about a little music to go with your selection of 200+ craft beers? Through early ticket sales, I can see many of you heard our announcement about the Summer Beer Fest at Frazier happening August 7. We’re excited to revel in Kentucky’s rich history in the brewing industry — and what good is merrymaking without music?

I believe it was author Sarah Dessen who said, “Music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and anything else can have in common.” So, let’s get together, raise a glass, and realize the incredible gift of each other.

With that, I’d like to announce the lineup for our inaugural beer festival. Northern Kentucky’s Brother Smith will get the music started with its unique blend of country, funk, and soul. Check out their “Happy Tune” here. The soulful sounds of Lexington singer-songwriter Eric Bolander will then bring that Kentucky vibe home with songs like “The Wind.” Check them out in advance; it makes live music that much more fun!

In today’s Virtual Frazier Magazine, my friend Sally Van Winkle Campbell offers a guest contribution on her experiences seeing our Van Winkle Family Collection exhibit. We’re honored to be the home of Pappy, and we’re grateful to the entire Van Winkle family! Our Stephen Yates shares some oft’ asked questions on our Kentucky Bourbon Trail® Welcome Center hotline and Simon Meiners honors actor Ned Beatty.

We’ll check in on the Hildegard House in Butchertown, the Highland Games in Glasgow, and the (Un)Known Project, which the New York Times covered last week. Finally, Mick Sullivan and Curator Amanda Briede are shouting from the rooftop in this week’s Megaphone Monday.

To my fellow fathers out there, I hope you had a most wonderful Sunday!

This Week in the Museum

Video: Heavy Metal at the Frazier

It’s been so great to meet so many people every day on our daily tours. To give you a taste of what they see, I’m continuing with our thematic series highlighting select objects around the museum. Today, the theme is heavy metal — or rather, objects made of heavy metals. We hope you’ll join us for a tour soon!

Curator’s Corner: Journalist Lige Clarke of Knott County

This month, our curatorial team installed a new section of the “Cool Kentucky” exhibition called “LGBTQ+ Kentucky.” The section will highlight four Kentuckians who’ve made an impact on LGBTQ+ rights, both nationally and in Kentucky. Each Monday in June, Curator Amanda Briede will share the story of one of these four figures. Be sure to stop by the Frazier to see the artifacts and wall panels of this section in person.

Clarke, right, with partner Jack Nichols in the offices of Gay, 1973. Image courtesy of the Rhein Family. Faulkner Morgan Archive. — Clarke, right, with partner Jack Nichols in the offices of *Gay*, 1973. Image courtesy of the Rhein Family. Faulkner Morgan Archive.

As I was reading the Kentucky LGBTQ Historic Context Narrative 2016, which was prepared by the University of Louisville Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, I came across the story of Lige Clarke. The more I read about Clarke, the more I was surprised I had never heard of him.

Clarke was born in Cave Branch, a holler in Eastern Kentucky, and attended Eastern Kentucky University. After college, he joined the Army, and eventually began working at the Pentagon in the Office for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, holding one of the highest security clearances in the country.

While living in Washington, D.C., Clarke joined a gay rights organization, the Mattachine Society, and participated in the first openly gay picket in front of the White House on April 17, 1965. Along with his partner Jack Nichols, Clarke became a pioneer of gay journalism, writing the first gay-authored column published in a non-gay magazine, “The Homosexual Citizen” in Screw, a sexually explicit magazine. It was in this column that Clarke and Nichols published the first gay-written account of the Stonewall riots. The following year, the couple started Gay, the first gay weekly publication.

Know in Cave Branch and nearby Hindman as a “free spirit,” Clarke was popular, loved, and accepted in the small Kentucky community. Although he was nationally renowned for his place in gay journalism, he never came out to most of his relatives and friends in his home town, only revealing his sexual orientation to his sister Shelbiana and her children. Her son, Eric Rhein, later came out as gay and became one of the first American visual artists to publicly announce that he was HIV-positive.

On February 11, 1975, just a few days before his 33rd birthday, Clarke was killed by gunfire while traveling outside of Vera Cruz, Mexico. There are several theories behind his mysterious murder: that he was killed by Mexican Federales because of the high security clearance he had while working for the Pentagon, that he has killed by Jack’s father who had previously threatened his life for being a gay rights activist, that the man with whom he was traveling, Charlie Black, was somehow involved, or that he was killed by Mexican authorities simply for being gay.

Lige Clarke is buried in the Hicks Family Cemetery overlooking Highway 550, just east of Hindman, Kentucky.

I Have More Fun With You Than Anybody and “Pampered Perverts” by Lige Clarke and Jack Nichols, now on display in Cool Kentucky — *I Have More Fun With You Than Anybody* and “Pampered Perverts” by Lige Clarke and Jack Nichols, now on display in *Cool Kentucky*

Now on display in Cool Kentucky is a first edition copy of the memoir Clarke wrote with Nichols, I Have More Fun With You Than Anybody, as well as an original copy of Clarke and Nichols’ article in Screw magazine that includes the first gay-written account of the Stonewall Riots.

Museum Store: Call Me Old Fashioned

A Pappy & Co. mixer and a “Call me Old Fashioned” Kentucky Bourbon Trail® t-shirt

The famous Old Fashioned cocktail originated in Louisville and is the official cocktail of our fair city. You can celebrate this cocktail with a premeasured mixer from Pappy and Co. (just add Bourbon for the perfect drink every time) or a good old fashioned t-shirt — both of which are available in the museum shop.

Notable Kentuckians: Ned Beatty

In each installment of “Notable Kentuckians,” we highlight a figure from Kentucky — a native of the state, a longtime resident, or someone otherwise representative of Kentucky.

Ned Beatty at the 42nd Primetime Emmy Awards at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California, September 16, 1990. Photo: Alan Light.

Ned Beatty with Simon Meiners (far right) and Simon’s father Terry at the Ned Beatty Classic golf tournament, c. 1999. Credit: Terry Meiners.

Born and raised in Louisville, actor Ned Beatty (July 6, 1937 – June 13, 2021) began singing in gospel and barbershop quartets at his local church and in the St. Matthews neighborhood. He attended Transylvania University in Lexington on a scholarship, singing in the university’s a cappella choir, but did not graduate.

In 1956, at age 19, he made his stage debut, appearing in Wilderness Road, an outdoor historical pageant staged in Berea, Kentucky. Beatty went on to perform in a theater in Virginia, but returned in the mid-1960s to Kentuckiana, where he worked at the Clarksville Little Theater in Clarksville, Indiana and Actors Theater of Louisville.

Over the course of a decades-long career in Hollywood, Beatty appeared in over 160 films, including All the President’s Men (1976), Network (1976), Superman (1978), Hear My Song (1991), and Rudy (1993), as well as dozens of television shows and miniseries. He his best known for his first movie role, playing Bobby Trippe in Deliverance (1972) alongside Jon Voigt, Burt Reynolds, and Ronny Cox. For his last major role, as the teddy bear Lotso in Toy Story 3 (2010), he was nominated for several awards.

Beatty passed away June 13.

Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist

Sally Van Winkle Campbell on the Frazier’s Pappy Exhibition

The exhibition Pappy Van Winkle: The Van Winkle Family Collection at the Frazier History Museum was installed and slated to have a big opening in May of 2020. But unfortunately, the pandemic hit Louisville in March and the museum closed its doors. After the museum reopened to the public in June, the exhibition officially opened July 9, to little fanfare.

Shortly after the exhibition’s opening, I went down to the museum to see it in person. But the visit was too brief, disconnected, and emotional.

And so it was with huge anticipation that recently — one year after onset of the pandemic, now unmasked — I got to really visit the exhibition, along with some dear friends who were spending the day in Louisville. They were touring some of the major sites of Louisville’s rich Bourbon tradition, past and present, including the distillery at Locust Grove, Stitzel Weller, and the Frazier.

Stitzel Weller was the distillery in Shively my grandfather Julian “Pappy” Van Winkle (1874 – 1965) co-founded in 1935. In 1972, my family sold the distillery, which was tremendously painful for us. It killed our father, and I think the rest of us tried not to think of it for many years. But as time went, on it seemed important — gravely important, rather — that the story not be lost. That’s why I wrote the story of Stitzel Weller, of the rise and fall and rise again (thanks to my brother, Julian) of our family Bourbon.

This exhibition tells that story.

We gave our family collection to the Frazier because we wanted it to be preserved. But we also chose the Frazier because they tell stories that make up the framework of Kentucky, and we wanted this story to be told. The Frazier’s team has done a magnificent job. Our family’s story is presented with creativity and warmth — which, as I’ve learned over the past few years, is typical of the Frazier. We are so grateful.

Pappy Van Winkle: The Van Winkle Family Collection is still up and likely will be for a while. Don’t miss it, along with all the many other treasures you’ll find at the Frazier Museum.

Speakin’ With Stephen: Kentucky Bourbon Trail® Hotline

The hard-working staff in the Guest Services Department of the Frazier History Museum have been manning the Bourbon hotline at the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® Welcome Center since September 2018. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit followed by the wave of restrictions, the calls became less frequent. Now, though, with distilleries reopening to the public for both tours and tastings, the hotline has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, becoming a vital resource for Bourbon enthusiasts.

Recently, I was asked to join my colleagues in Guest Services to assist in staffing the Bourbon hotline — a task that enables me to help Bourbon enthusiasts plan their trip on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®.

With the various distilleries having different reopening dates, hours of operation, admission prices, and protocols for visitors, manning this hotline has encouraged me to keep my finger on the pulse of all things going on in the Bourbon industry. It has also allowed me the chance to inform Bourbon enthusiasts about the Frazier History Museum being the official starting point of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® and a perfect place to start their Kentucky Bourbon adventure.

Some typical questions I get asked regularly on the hotline are:

Can you help me plan my trip on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®?

How much does the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® cost?

What hotel can you recommend for my stay?

Can you recommend transportation options?

The Bourbon hotline offers a resource for Guest Services staff to connect with enthusiasts, from Bourbon novices to Bourbon experts, to help them plan, navigate, and maximize their Kentucky Bourbon Trail® experience. This resource illuminates the ways in which the Frazier History Museum and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® Welcome Center have become invaluable assets to visitors returning to the Commonwealth for their Bourbon experience! I look forward to continuing to connect with Bourbon enthusiasts, a community whose numbers continue to grow as more and more people are traveling again.

So if you need help with anything Kentucky Bourbon Trail®-related, be sure to call (502) 753-1699. I just might have the privilege of helping you plan your Kentucky Bourbon Trail® adventure.

Summer Camps: ‘80s Aerobics and Mt. Everest Summits

Summer campers practicing 1980s-style aerobics

The first two weeks of summer camps have been a blast!

If you’ve been through the doors of the Frazier this month, you might have seen some of the good times we’re having. Highlights included our You Wouldn’t Want to Live In… camp, a favorite that explores decades throughout history. This year, we learned about the 1980s, and costumes were strongly encouraged. We started off the morning with aerobics, took a look at ridiculous movie posters from the ‘80s, had a bobsled race with paper shoes, and capped it all off with karaoke and a round of the classic obstacle course game show Double Dare.

We just wrapped up Chicks Rule, our week devoted to women in history. We learned all about people whose stories aren’t included in the history books, from the French botanist-turned-entrepreneur who was the first woman to circumnavigate the globe to the first woman to reach the peak of Mount Everest, Junko Tabei.

If you are curious to see what all the hype is about, or why there are kids looking for fossils in the Frazier galleries on a Wednesday afternoon, you can still sign up for our camps! With the loosening of restrictions, we’ve been able to add space in our currently available weeks (we are still masking up and taking all recommended precautions). Click here for more information or to register!

Megaphone Monday: Amanda Briede, Curator

Want to know more about the folks who make the Frazier tick? Tune in to Megaphone Monday! In each episode, Curator of Guest Experience Mick Sullivan interviews one of the Frazier’s staff members — across the room, through megaphones. It’s a fun and silly way to learn about the good folks who work here at the museum.

Today’s episode features Curator Amanda Briede.

Amanda is not the type of person you’d expect to yell, but she shouted some great things at me across a big room. From John Lennon’s “Revolution 9” to her favorite nickname for Frederick Law Olmsted and what she does for the Frazier, I’m sure you’ll get a sense of what a cool person she is.

Mick Sullivan
Curator of Guest Experience

History All Around Us

The Angel in the Garden of Butchertown’s Hildegard House

(L to R) The tree in the Courtyard Garden of Hildegard House in Louisville’s Butchertown neighborhood before and after the carving project. Credit: Hildegard House.

There is a new angel in Butchertown!

Located in the Courtyard Garden at Hildegard House, it was carved by chainsaw artist Joe Autry, a master at his craft. The 95-year-old tree originally brought shade to the children that attended St. Joseph’s Elementary School, for the Courtyard Garden was once their playground. The playground was transformed to a beautiful Courtyard Garden by the Jefferson County Master Gardeners, under the leadership of June Sandercock.

Several years ago, when the tree began to drop branches as it aged, Greenhaven and Robert Rollins began trimming it. As larger branches began dropping from the tree, posing a safety risk to visitors of the garden, it soon became apparent that a decision had to be made. Our hearts ached to think of the possibility of having our dear tree chopped down. How many years had it provided shade to children at play? And tranquility to adults that sat under it with a glass of iced tea?

At Hildegard House, we believe every person’s life is sacred to the last moment — and so is every living thing, including our tree. This beautiful tree, who gave so much through its life, has now been transformed into a 29-foot angel. Our patroness, Hildegard of Bingen, said “I am a feather on the breath of God.” Our Courtyard Garden angel holds a feather in her right hand and is surrounded by the breath of God.

Hildegard House (the former convent at St. Joseph) is a nonprofit that provides a home and compassionate care to individuals at the end of life — those who have no home or loved ones to care for them — so they may die with dignity.

Hildegard House is located at 114 Adams Street in Butchertown. We have been serving dying individuals since 2015. To learn more, visit hildegardhouse.org.

Glasgow Highland Games: Returning to Kentucky’s Scottish Roots

Pipe bands playing at the 2008 Glasgow Highland Games. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Every year, families in Kentucky and across the United States gather in Barren County for the annual Glasgow Highland Games. Yet, another post-pandemic June has arrived without a caber toss and bagpipers playing in the fields of Barren River Lake State Park.

I felt disappointed, to be sure, for I have desired to attend the games for a few years now partly because my grandfather was from Glasgow, but primarily because I’m now married to a native Scotsman who hails from the Glasgow of the motherland. As I connect more to Scottish heritage in learning about Clan Rankin, a sept of Clan Maclean, I realize I share a kindred spirit with those in Barren County who rediscovered, or perhaps discovered for the first time, their own Scottish roots when the Highland Games came to town.

In the early ‘80s, there seemed to be no shortage of Highland Games across the region as many Kentuckians traveled to the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee or Grandfather Mountain in Linville, North Carolina for a weekend of celebration. Local newspapers regularly reported Scottish Country Dance groups and Pipe Bands from Kentucky who traveled to regional games like the Stone Mountain Highland Games outside Atlanta. Glasgow seems to have drawn inspiration from the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in particular, being one of the largest festivals in the country that gathers in MacRae Meadows for games, food, and colorful fanfare every summer. People in Kentucky were clearly interested in the gathering of Scottish clans well before Glasgow stepped onto the stage, so it is fitting we can now claim one of our own.

The Barren County Chamber of Commerce officially unveiled the plan for an annual Highland Games on February 26, 1985, stating the festival’s intention to be a unique gathering with games, a ball, and bagpipes that would kick off with a Parade of Tartans, similar to the opening style of the Olympic Games. The efforts of then-Mayor Honeycutt, the Chamber, and community members like Bob Harrison (also known as Robert MacKenzie Harrison of Clan MacKenzie), the current President of the Games, together brought the Glasgow Highland Games to life. For many community residents, the festival sparked an interest to look further into their own Scottish heritage. If you visit Barren River Lake State Park, you can see the names of the Charter Clans that are carved into a monolith, which marks the site of the first games held from May 30 to June 1 in 1986.

Stone honoring the Charter Clans of the first Glasgow Highland Games & Gathering of the Scottish Clans in 1986

The Highland Games have contributed to Glasgow’s civic development and identity for over 30 years now, having grown into an extremely successful event with about 10,000 attending annually. In 2001, Glasgow hosted the World Scottish Games, an international gathering that brought present-day Chiefs from Clan Irvine, MacTavish, and Urquhart, to name a few, from Scotland to Barren County.

StrathBarren Pavilion at StrathBarren Field. The term ‘StrathBarren’ combines the county name “Barren” with “Strath,” a Scottish word that means broad or wide valley. There are several examples in Scotland such as Strathclyde, which indicates the valley of the River Clyde.

Though the festival has taken a two-year break, I am hopeful the tradition will return in 2022. On a recent trip to Barren County, my parents had the chance to speak with locals who relayed the primary reason for postponing again: if they couldn’t put on the Highland Games how it should be executed, they didn’t want to do it at all. Sounds like true Scottish pride and spirit to me! Remaining cautious about large gatherings following a pandemic is vital, but I especially admire the intentional choice to delay an event so the full measure of meaning and honor can be felt by those who gather. I look forward to my first Glasgow Highland Games in the future, perhaps wearing the Clan Rankin tartan pattern!

To read more about the 2001 World Scottish Games, visit Electric Scotland's web page.

Bourbon Bottle-burying Southern Wedding Tradition Update

Remember the story in the May 24 issue of Virtual Frazier about a couple who followed a Southern wedding tradition of a soon-to-be bride and groom burying a bottle of Bourbon (upside down) at the site of their upcoming ceremony in order to ward off rain on their wedding day? This picture may ring a bell!

Maddie and Grant Portune burying a bottle of Bourbon on the Frazier’s rooftop, May 5, 2021

We have an important update for you from the couple in question, Maddie and Grant Portune, as well as a photo from their rooftop wedding at the Frazier. So did burying the bottle work?

On May 5, we planted a Bourbon bottle underneath a tree to ward off rain on our wedding day. On June 5, we got married on a hot, sunshine-filled day! It was beautiful and our rooftop garden ceremony was absolutely perfect. Our little tree definitely worked overtime! Thank you to the Frazier for supporting this quirky tradition and for hosting the wedding of our dreams!

The Portunes’ wedding ceremony on the Frazier’s rooftop garden, June 5, 2021. Credit: Stinson Photography.

Best regards,

Grant and Maddie Portune
Guest Contributors

Brother Smith and Eric Bolander, Sally Van Winkle Campbell on Pappy, Glasgow Highland Games, and More

July 4th Computer Trap Shoot, Jazz Age Life of Henrietta Bingham, Notre Dame Press Book “Gay, Catholic, and American,” and More

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