Laurel's Legacies

This week is National Police Week, and yesterday, May 15, was Peace Officers Memorial Day, an observance in the United States that pays tribute to the local, state, and federal peace officers who have died, or who have been disabled, in the line of duty. As a tribute to National Police Week and Peace Officers Memorial Day, I thought I should honor the law enforcement officers in La

Since Mother’s Day is next Sunday, May 12, I thought I should do an episode in tribute to a couple of Laurel County mothers.The first mother, Mahala Faris Reams, wasn’t a mother in the conventional sense – that is, she never gave birth to any children of her own.She was known as “The Mother of the Motherless,” because she and her husband raised several children in the mid

Welcome to this episode of “Laurel’s Legacies,” a podcast about Laurel County, Kentucky’s history, highlighting its people, places and events, presented by the Laurel County History Museum and Genealogy Center in London, Kentucky.On Monday, May 11, 1896, a ceremony was held at the top of the hill on what is now West Fifth Street in London, a vantage point overlooking the to

The 1923-24 London High School boys' basketball team won the regional championship and went on to play at the state tournament in March 1924.The 1926-27 team went on to play in both the state and national tournaments.To learn the outcome of the local team's efforts in these prestigious contests, listen to this week's episode.Laurel's Legacies is presented by the Laurel County Histo

The Drake Defeat and the McFarland Defeat took place three weeks apart in March and April, 1793, in what would become Laurel County, Kentucky.Among the last major attacks by Native Americans on settlers along the Boone Trace in Kentucky, these events are related in several ways.Listen to this episode to find out about these deadly -- yet interesting -- events which helped shape Lau

Episode 15: The Defeat of Post Rider Thomas RossSince the beginning of the migration from Virginia and other areas east of the Appalachian Mountains into what we know today as the Bluegrass area of Central Kentucky in the late 1700s, the threat from Native American attacks had been all too real.Numerous travelers lost their money, household goods, cattle and horses, and even their

Episode 14: The Mysterious Disappearance of Fred NewlandDuring my research of Laurel County history, I came across a 118-year-old mystery that I want to share it with my listeners.It involves the Newland family, who moved from Crab Orchard in Lincoln County to East Bernstadt in Laurel County in the early 1900s.On March 19, 1906, 20-year-old Fred Newland of East Bernstadt, Laurel Co

Episode 13 - The Ballad Collector, Katherine Jackson FrenchMinerva Katherine Jackson French was a Laurel County native who was instrumental in collecting and preserving numerous old English and Scottish ballads carried from the Old World to the New, migrating from the early settlers of America to the Appalachian region of Kentucky, where they were hidden away from the rest of the w

Hello everyone. Welcome to this episode of “Laurel’s Legacies,” a podcast about Laurel County, Kentucky’s history, highlighting its people, places and events, presented by the Laurel County History Museum and Genealogy Center in London, Kentucky.I’m your host, Danna Estridge, a former journalist turned historian with a passion for local history.As you know, March is Women

Welcome to this episode of “Laurel’s Legacies,” a podcast about Laurel County, Kentucky’s history, highlighting its people, places and events, presented by the Laurel County History Museum and Genealogy Center in London, Kentucky.I’m your host, Danna Estridge, a former journalist turned historian with a passion for local history.In the late 1800s and early 1900s, women wi