Old Coca-Cola Building, Shelbyville

Oh, for the good old days when every town, great and small, had a local Coca-Cola bottling plant. Even my small hometown of Richmond had one on Big Hill Avenue (it's now the Richmond Register offices).

This fine intact specimen, built in 1930, can be found in Shelbyville, KY, on your right as you head East out of Shelbyville on US 60.


There was a "for lease" sign out front but some activity was visible inside, so I'm not sure if they meant the whole building or just individual spaces inside it. This realtor's page says it's now "off market".

The Armstrong Hotel

The Armstrong Hotel, which once stood at the corner of 6th and Main in Shelbyville, must have been an interesting place in the good old days. The historical marker notes that it was "known for its good food and lodgings" since 1859, but also for two newsworthy murders.


Henry Denhardt, former Lt. Governor of Kentucky from Bowling Green, was charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Verna Garr Taylor, and tried in LaGrange in November, 1936.

That trial ended in a hung jury, and while free on bail and awaiting his second trial, he was shot to death by Verna's brothers in front of the Armstrong Hotel on September 20, 1937. Denhardt, who had a reputation as a heavy drinker, had just come from a tavern down the street and was about to go back up to his room at the Armstrong.

Verna's brothers got off scot free, incidentally, and to this day no one can say for sure whether Denhardt was guilty or innocent of Verna's murder.

And back during the Civil War, Union guerilla leader Edwin Terrell stopped here on May 26, 1866 while on the run from the law. A posse caught up with him at the Armstrong, and though he tried to escape, he was shot to death nearby after fleeing the Hotel. Terrell sounds like an interesting rogue; according to an article by Stewart Cruickshank:

"Prior to the Civil War it is thought that Edwin Terrell performed in a circus. He reportedly killed a bartender in Baltimore but was acquitted of the charges. Oral tradition has it that Terrell served in the 1st Kentucky Infantry, C.S.A., in 1861. Terrell himself claimed that he'd served under General John Hunt Morgan and had escaped a court martial sentence of death for killing an officer. There is a record of an Edward Terrell enlisting in August 1862 in Morgan's 7th Kentucky Cavalry. This soldier deserted in September."

Hatchet Mailbox

One from our weird mailboxes department: this fun mailbox of someone named Hatchett, with their namesake represented atop it. Spotted on the way to Lake Shelby.

Atlantis Fountain

Across the street from the Shelby County Courthouse - not far from the Shelbyville Time Capsule - stands this highly peculiar figural fountain. It features a reclining woman lounging with a mythological beast: a bat-winged lion that is either missing its lower half or is seemingly emerging from an opening. To make matters even more puzzling, the bat wings seem applied upside-down to the lion's sides.


There's a plaque nearby that reads: "This fountain was purchased jointly in 1895 by city and county from J. L. Mott Iron Works, New York. It was erected at intersection of Fifth and Main Sts. upon the completion of Shelbyville's first public water works. Moved in 1914 to public square to clear the street after construction of new courthouse. Figure chosen for top of fountain is 'Atlantis' pattern."


But... but... what's so "Atlantis" about spitting goat heads? (Insert "Goat's Head Soup" reference right about here)

And what's so Atlantean about a bat-winged lion? According to Plato, the temple in the center of the lost continent of Atlantis was dominated by a statue of Poseidon driving six winged horses, but horses ain't lions and the wings of Pegasus were birdy, not batty.

Since a complicated occult mythology was built up around the idea of Atlantis by Kentuckians such as the psychic Edgar Cayce and the uber-huckster Editha Salomon (aka "Laura Horos", aka "Anna Sprengel", aka "Ann O'Delia Dis Debar"), I'm curious if they ever saw the statue, and what they thought of it. Did they find it inspiring, or were they as kerfuffled as I?

Shelbyville Bicentennial Time Capsule

There's a photo of Louisville's bicentennial time capsule here, and now here's one for Shelbyville - only it's not to commemorate the nation's bicentennial. It's for that of the U.S. Constitution's creation and adoption in 1787.

(Sorta boggles the mind to think that between 1776 and 1787, we had a free and independent nation yet had no constitution at all. No law. No governance. Wooden-toothed men in powdered wigs and Masonic aprons frolicking with wild turkeys in the woods. Total chaos.)

Blackwood Hall

Blackwood Hall, the former home of Colonel Sanders, is located near Claudia Sanders Dinner House in Shelbyville.


In 1959, at the age of 69, Colonel Harland Sanders and his wife Claudia, moved their base of operations from Corbin to Shelbyville. Prior to this, the Colonel had spent many years in Corbin, Kentucky, developing his now world-famous chicken recipe Sanders' move to Shelbyville was prompted by the opening of I-75 which bypassed Corbin and killed traffic to his restaurant.




Although there have been vague rumors of Blackwood Hall being haunted, I know of no reputable evidence for this. However, Nancy Drew might have different information:

Wickland and Wickland

There are at least two historic estates called Wickland in Kentucky - the first and most famous is the one in Nelson County, on the outskirts of Bardstown.

It was built in 1813 for Charles A. Wickliffe, a Whig member of the Kentucky House of Representatives who later became Governor of Kentucky. The house has also been lived in by Charles' son Robert C. Wickliffe,(who was governor of Louisiana from 1856 to 1860) and by Charles' grandson J. C. W. Beckham. Beckham, who was born at Wickland, also went on to become a Governor of Kentucky (from 1900 to 1907).


The Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels have a barbecue here every summer, and the Wickland Corn Maze Halloween event is held on the grounds every autumn. You never know what sort of horrific entities will jump out at you when you walk the corn maze, and the proceeds go to the local Future Farmers of America chapter.


Wickland is vaguely listed by some as a haunted house, but if anyone's given any specific data about this, I've missed it.

Kentucky's other Wickland is located in Shelby County, and was (rather unimaginatively) named after the first one. Charles Cotesworth Marshall, built it in 1901 and named it in honor of his wife, Elizabeth Wickliffe, who was the daughter of the aforementioned Louisiana Governor, Robert C. Wickliffe and was raised at the original Nelson County Wickland.


Wikipedia says it's in Shelbyville, but the closest major town to it is clearly Simpsonville, and if you want to be perfectly old-school accurate about it, it's in Veechdale. Remind me to drive back out there soon and take a photo.

Abandoned Caboose

On the outskirts of Shelbyville, this lovely old abandoned railroad caboose car can be found sitting next to the former Martin Jewelers building, which also seems semi-abandoned as well.



Martin Jewelers was owned and operated by Louie Paul Martin until his passing away in 2003.

Secret Society Superfecta

This grave in Shelby County's Calvary Cemetery boasts not one, not two, but four fraternal organizations - The Freemasons, the Knights of Pythias, the Oddfellows, and the United Brothers of Friendship. What, no Loyal Order of Moose?

The Simpsons Connection

The exact location of The Simpsons has always been a deliberate source of mixed signals by the show's producers. Various locations for their town of Springfield have been given across the show's run, but in at least one episode - "Behind the Laughter" - their home state is given as being Kentucky.

For years, Kentucky's Springfield was highly regarded among fans as being the most likely candidate, because the citizens of Springfield in The Simpsons have a rivalry with another city called... Shelbyville.


And for bonus irony, very close to the city of Shelbyville, we have Simpsonville!


So, one might have thought Kentucky would be a shoo-in when 20th Century Fox held a contest in 2007 to determine once and for all which of our nation's Springfields would become "in canon" with the show. Not so. Springfield, Vermont won the contest. Since Springfield, KY had the lowest population of any of the competing cities, it seemed a bit unfair just to leave such an important decision to the masses.

It doesn't really matter anyway, because now that the hoopla of the contest is over, the show doesn't really seem to be acknowledging Vermont as its setting. Even in The Simpsons Movie, which the contest was designed to promote, Flanders comments that the city of Springfield sits at the four-way border crux of Ohio, Nevada, Maine and Kentucky. Simpsonian topography, therefore, will clearly never be able to be matched with our world.

Scarecrow Swingset

I'm an aficionado of the old-timey metal playground items, the kind that are rapidly disappearing from our nation's landscape in favor of newfangled plastic monstrosities.

This is a great 1950s specimen from the old "Game Time" company from Ohio. It's clearly intended to be a Wizard Of Oz type of scarecrow, yet it's painted in such a way that it more closely resembles a skull or a clown - note that whoever repainted it last chose to ignore the eyebrows and the dots in the eyes. Its hollow-headed smile also gives it a jack-o-lantern quality.



This lovely artifact of mythic resonance can be found at Clear Creek Park in Shelbyville. There used to be one similar to this, but with an enormous triangular clown head, in Million Park in Richmond.

Purnell's Piggy Propane

On page 213 in your copy of Weird Kentucky, you'll find the grave of Fred Purnell, Kentucky's sausage king. His is the only gravestone I know of that depicts a package of sausage on it, and a smiling cartoon pig to boot. Purnell's sausage company is still thriving in Shelby County today, and in their front yard there's a huge propane tank mimetically painted to look like - yes - a package of Purnell's sausage!

Bagdad

Most Kentuckians know that we have a Paris, a London, a Lebanon, and a Manchester, but were you aware that we have our very own Bagdad?

Although not quite as opulent as the Baghdad in Iraq, ours has cooler old grocery stores (like B&N Food Market with an original early 1960s Sprite sign), and that's what really important.

Claudia Sanders

So what do you do when you're Colonel Sanders, you've just sold out your restaurant empire, your name and even your likeness to a corporation, and you don't want to just rest on your laurels?

You start a new restaurant under your wife's name, of course!


Most people - even Kentuckians don't realize that Claudia Sanders' Dinner House in Shelbyville, KY has been going strong since the 1960s, offering the one true real actual original Sanders Corbin-era secret formula for his chicken (apparently he had already drifted somewhat from his own original formula by the time he'd sold out, and his restaurant empire had expanded to over six hundred locations).

The gift shop/waiting lounge is a shrine to the goateed one, offering rare limited posters of a Colonel Sanders painting that new owners Tommy and Cherry Settle discovered in the basement when they took over the property. Other oddities such as the infamous "Colonel Sanders Mandolin Band" LP are matted and framed on the wall, although I didn't see his Tijuana Picnic album.

I'm no KFC-basher by any means - let it be said I love the KFC of today (sorry, PETA) and support Yum! Brands one hundred and ten percent in their efforts to keep their family of brands vital in an increasingly scattered global marketplace. But the food at Claudia's just can't be beat, and the atmosphere lends a true Southern grandeur and splendor to the meal.


If you never had a reason to drive to Shelbyville before (and there are plenty of other reasons), now you do. Get thee to Claudia's and taste some history. And check out page 136 in your copy of Weird Kentucky.

Remnants of Long Run Baptist Church

Long Run Cemetery, located off Old Stage Coach Road near the Jefferson-Shelby County border, contains what's left of the old Long Run Baptist Church. That's not much, unfortunately - just a stone foundation.

The church's remains can be seen clearly on Google Maps here.

This area was the site of the "Long Run Massacre", described by the historical marker sign as "undoubtedly the bloodiest in Kentucky". Huron and Miami indians killed 76 settlers and soldiers during a two-day period. Those killed on the first day were en route from Squire Boone's Painted Station to the Falls of the Ohio, and those killed on the second day were militiamen dispatched to bury the victims from the previous day.