1,700 New Members, Louisvillian’s 1861 Fort Sumter Flag, Prehistory of Big Bone Lick, and More
Here’s wishing you and your family a safe, loving, and super enjoyable Fourth of July celebration!
I’m as much of a Yankee Doodle Dandy as the next guy—and as hard as it sometimes can be, I still have great hope for our red, white, and blue.
Independence Day graphic.
The Frazier will be open as always 10 a.m.–5 p.m. during the week and 11 a.m.–4 p.m. on Sunday with daily free tours, daily Bourbon tastings, and five daily screenings of KentuckyShow! in our Brown-Forman Theatre. With our two rooftop chillers, it’s a great place to beat the heat while you’re experiencing all that’s cool about Kentucky.
Reviews visitors left on Post-It Notes in the Frazier’s Cool Kentucky exhibition, June 2024. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Folks seem to enjoy the exhibitions. Here are a couple reviews visitors left on our Cool Kentucky Post-It notes just last week.
“Beautiful, amazing, riveting, show-stopping, jaw dropping, toe curling, so emotional, absolutely nothing like it!! Will visit again soon!!!”
“Thank you—the passion and effort of your staff is Awesome!”
I want to welcome our over 1,700 new members who came to us through our 120: Cool KY Counties membership campaign. Several of you have already visited and we look forward to seeing all of you soon.
Finally, our Summer Beer Fest at Frazier wraps up this seventh month of the year and we currently have a $10-off discount on general admission tickets! Just use the promo code 10off.
In today’s Frazier Weekly, Rachel Platt reports the return of Abe Lincoln’s hat, Amanda Briede teases our next exhibition (which opens this month!), Simon Meiners explores the prehistory of Boone County’s Big Bone Lick, and Jason Berkowitz pays a visit to the Nicholas County Historical Society.
Let the sparks fly!
Andy Treinen
President & CEO
Frazier History Museum
This Week in the Museum
From the Collections: Rifleman Hunting Bag, c. 1800
Rifleman hunting bag, made c. 1800. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
This week many of us will gather to celebrate our nation’s independence, joining together to spend time with friends and family. We cook out, enjoy fireworks, and even possibly attend a local parade. We might spend a moment thinking about what it took to break away from England and form a new nation. So, when I was asked to present a piece from our collection that tells the story of independence, it got me thinking. Although we at the Frazier are lucky to have a few pieces in our collection that date to the Revolutionary War, I thought I might go in a slightly different direction.
This rifleman hunting bag dates to about 1800. It was a very common piece seen on the frontier. A frontiersman would have used it to carry a variety of items that might be needed for the use and maintenance of the rifle. Such items would be flints, percussion caps, a vent pick to clean out the touch hole, and tools used to remove gunpowder residue. It’s very typical of what any hunter arriving in Kentucky might have used.
Look for this hunting bag to be added to our Commonwealth: Divided we Fall exhibition later this summer.
Tish Boyer
Registrar & Manager of Collections Engagement
Louisvillian Maj. Robert Anderson’s Fort Sumter Flag, 1861
Fort Sumter storm flag from 1861. Credit: National Parks Service.
The Fourth of July brings fireworks, franks, and flags. So with hot dogs in hand, this Thursday, we’ll see American flags in every direction. And that always gets me thinking about stories.
One of my favorite flag stories involves Louisville-born Maj. Robert Anderson. Anderson was the commanding officer of Union-controlled Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor when Confederate troops opened fire on the island fortification. Those shots on April 12, 1861, were the first shots of the American Civil War. Anderson held the fort for as long as he could without resupply, but surrender was inevitable. Before evacuating, Anderson’s men fired a salute to the thirty-three-star flag and Maj. Anderson took the flag with him.
On April 20, he was part of a patriotic rally in New York City as the northern states galvanized themselves for war. It was reported that over 100,000 people were there—many of whom were there to see Anderson and his flag as they pledged support for the Union. From there, the flag toured city after city. At each stop, it was “auctioned off” as a fundraiser for the war, only to be immediately donated back so the same scenario could play out in the next town. Many historians have claimed that the flag didn’t hold quite the meaning for the general public until both Anderson’s celebrity and his flag’s lore grew.
Anderson, who plays a major role in Erik Larsen’s new book The Demon of Unrest, would return to Fort Sumter once again. Five days after Lee’s surrender, on April 14, 1865, Anderson hoisted the very same thirty-three-star flag over Fort Sumter. Just a few hours later, Pres. Abraham Lincoln would be assassinated.
Mick Sullivan
Curator of Guest Experience
Top Hat on Ed Hamilton’s Abe Lincoln Sculpture at Belvedere Replaced
Ed Hamilton’s Abraham Lincoln statue at the Belvedere in downtown Louisville, June 2024. Pictured is the replacement top hat Hamilton sculpted. Credit: WHAS11.
Sculptor Ed Hamilton says his Abe Lincoln statue at Waterfront Park is complete again. The top hat that was stolen in December has been replaced.
The statue has been there for years but had never been vandalized until recently. And not just vandalized: the bronze top hat, which was secured into rock, was pried off its foundation.
Hamilton says he had to start the new hat from scratch since there was no original mold.
Most of the replacement cost was covered by insurance with Waterfront Park picking up the deductible.
There are now security cameras focused on the statue.
It depicts a young Abe Lincoln who visited Louisville in 1841 and witnessed enslaved people boarding riverboats to be sold down south.
It had a profound impact on Lincoln, who would become president twenty years later.
The Frazier History Museum is fortunate enough to have some of Ed’s work here. We are so pleased his work on the Waterfront is intact once again.
Rachel Platt
VP of Mission
Curator’s Corner: Announcing Flashback: Louisville Media Through the Years
“Exhibit Install in Progress: Please Stand By” graphic. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Surprise! Our newest temporary exhibition, Flashback: Louisville Media Through the Years, opens next week!
The exhibition will take you through a timeline of the history of media in Louisville, focusing on major events that happened in our city and made national news. You will learn how local media covered events such as the 1937 flood, the Standard Gravure shooting, and the 2020 protests. You will hear original audio and see original video of the news reports. You’ll also see some familiar faces, the reporters and news anchors whom you trusted and let into your homes via newspapers, radio, and television. Expect to see some cool old cameras and other technology used in the production of local media, as well.
Check back next week for more information on this interesting exhibition!
Amanda Briede
Sr. Curator of Exhibitions
Toast the Season at 2024 Summer Beer Fest at Frazier!
During the dog days of summer, there’s nothing quite like the invigorating relief of a cold, hazy, juicy, New England IPA. As you take that first sip, the hoppy bitterness mingles with subtle hints of citrus and pine, instantly cutting through the heat. The effervescence dances on your tongue, while the aromatic bouquet of hops fills the air, conjuring memories of lazy, sun-drenched days and evenings spent with friends. In fact, every time I pop the tab on a cold IPA, I think of my partner, Zac, who introduced to me IPAs at our favorite local brewery, Mile Wide.
Join me (and Zac) at Summer Beer Fest at Frazier on July 27 and taste an array of craft IPAs, lagers, stouts, ales, hefeweizens, and more from breweries across the Commonwealth.
Use promo code 10off to get $10 off the cost of a General Admission ticket today.
Cheers, y’all!
Leslie Anderson
Membership & Partnership Manager
Highlights of 120: Boone County: Big Bone Lick
120: Cool KY Counties graphic. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Sign and Ice Age mammals diorama at Big Bone Lick State Park in Boone County, Kentucky. Diorama includes a mastodon and a giant ground sloth standing along the bush line and a mammoth stuck in the mud in the foreground. Credit: University of Kentucky Geological Survey.
Around 9500 BC human beings first set foot in what is now Kentucky. Using spears, the early generations of Kentuckians hunted megafauna such as mastodons, bison, giant beavers, and ground sloths. The most prized game, the woolly mammoth, was a walking Walmart: the source of a Kentuckian’s food, tools, and supplies.
Many megafauna came to Big Bone Lick in present-day Boone County to feast on salt. Consequently, in the decades after Europeans first spotted Big Bone Lick in 1739, the site became a paleontologist’s dream. In 1807, at the request of President Thomas Jefferson, William Clark supervised a three-week fossil dig there.
For the holiday week, consider taking a trip to Big Bone Lick State Park! On July 2, 1960, it was officially established as a Kentucky state park. Today, you can camp, hike the trails, greet the bison, smell the sulfur springs that attracted the animals, and tour a recreated Pleistocene marsh.
In each issue of Frazier Weekly, we bring you a text story or video featured in our 120: Cool KY Counties exhibit, which opened March 15. What follows is our entry for Boone County on Big Bone Lick.—Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist
Illustration of bones of a giant ground sloth (Paramylodon) collected from Big Bone Lick by Richard Harlan in 1831. Originally published in Medical and Physical Researches, or, Original Memoirs in Medicine, Surgery, Physiology, Geology, Zoology, and Comparative Anatomy by Richard Harlan, 1835. Credit: US National Library of Medicine.
Big Bone Lick State Historic Site is formally recognized as “the Birthplace of American Vertebrate Paleontology.” It encompasses layers of US and Kentucky history, including geology, Native American history, European colonization, westward exploration and expansion, scientific and environmental history, foodways history, women’s history, and more.
Iconic Americans such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Lewis and Clark all shared an interest in the large bones found scattered throughout the site. Fossil samples taken from the area were eventually shipped to the eastern US and across the Atlantic to England and France. This was the beginning of the scientific analysis of prehistoric animal life in America.
Big Bone Lick State Historic Site is a short drive off of I-75 for travelers passing through the Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati region. For day visitors, the park boasts a Visitor’s Center with an exhibition space that details the area’s rich history. Numerous artifacts found at the site by archaeologists, students, and locals are on display.
Nicholas County Historical Society Celebrates Fiftieth Anniversary
Nicholas County Historical Society’s fiftieth anniversary dinner in Carlisle, Nicholas County, June 7, 2024. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
On June 7, the Nicholas County Historical Society celebrated its fiftieth anniversary at the Neal Welcome Center and Museum located in downtown scenic Carlisle, Kentucky.
For half a century, the organization has played a vital role in the preservation of Nicholas County’s history, the safeguarding of its heritage, and the transmission of such to newer generations. It is an organization that believes the present can only be understood through the lens of what came before and that the future is always brightest when armed with this knowledge. In the spirit of this mission, the NCHS has held countless fundraisers and community-based events, published books on local history, and established sister organizations such as the Young Adult Historical Society and the Elementary Historical Society.
Carlisle High School apparel on display in the Nicholas County History Museum in Carlisle, June 7, 2024. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
First pair of briefs made at Blue Grass Knitting plant in Carlisle, June 7, 2024. Made in October 1966. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Several weeks ago, NCHS president and community leader Jerry Johnson invited me to speak at the event on behalf of the Frazier Museum’s 120: Cool KY Counties exhibit. I, of course, enthusiastically accepted his offer. Since the onset of the project, the story of Clay’s Seeds has captivated me. The Nicholas County tradition of this unique, locally invented variety of tobacco plant has played a significant role in shaping the history and heritage of the area. Indeed, at one point during the 1970s, approximately ten percent of local residents contributed in some way to the crop’s production—mostly alongside friends, family, and neighbors. Nicholas County was even recognized as an “All American Bicentennial Community” by President Gerald Ford!
The sense of community, fellowship, and civic pride, which undoubtedly helped on those blistering summer days, was on full display throughout the NCHS’ fiftieth anniversary celebration. The event was held in historic Mozart Hall, where traveling musicians and performers once entertained locals during the late 1800s. Students from the Young Historical Society presented on local history dressed as notable figures from Nicholas County, including: TW Hunter, Chief Blackfish, Dr. Charles Mathers, and Daniel Boone, whose final Kentucky home can be found just outside of Carlisle. Several more Nicholas County residents were recognized for their contributions to both the organization and the county at-large. Also in attendance was Stuart Sanders, representing the Kentucky Historical Society as keynote speaker for the event. An excellent (and quite scrumptious) meal was provided by Cowan Station Honey Farm, located in nearby Fleming County. And overseeing the night’s festivities was NCHS president Jerry Johnson—a passionate community leader and phenomenal partner to the 120 project whose love for Nicholas County and its residents cannot be overstated.
I drove back that night from Carlisle inspired and jubilant. Here is a small town to inspire all Kentuckians. A profound sense of connectivity and community abounds—held aloft by a unique history enthusiastically embraced by newer generations. As such, Carlisle’s town motto (“the Little Town with the Big Heart”) is well-stated and easily proven.
That said, PLEASE go find out for yourself . . . you will NOT be disappointed! I recommend this week’s Annual Blackberry Festival, which runs from Tuesday, July 2, to Saturday, July 6. Be sure to try a blackberry sundae while you’re there. Some say it’s one of the best desserts in the Commonwealth!
Jason Berkowitz
Stories in Mind Facilitator
20th Anniversary Photo: American Flag Folding, 2011
A volunteer from the Sons of the American Revolution teaches Frazier Museum campers how to properly fold an American flag, c. June 14, 2011. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
On July 4, 1794, thirteen years after Lord Cornwallis had surrendered at Yorktown, American veteran Col. William Price hosted the first Independence Day celebration in Kentucky on his plantation in present-day Jessamine County. For Flag Day in 2011, a volunteer from the Sons of the American Revolution came to the Frazier Museum dressed in Revolutionary War–era attire to speak to campers. He supervised campers in a demonstration of how to properly fold an American flag.
Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist
