41-North to Hanson

Driving a 1950s route

Factory Outlet Store at Hanson, KY

Dennis has been wanting some more work pants, so today I drove up to the VF factory outlet store at Hanson, KY. Since I had plenty of time, I took the two-lane Highway 41 instead of the four-lane Pennyrile Parkway.

Before the parkway went in, Highway 41 was a major north-south route, and you can still see some of the gas stations, cafes, and motels that served the travelers. Most of them closed years ago, of course.

Going north from Hopkinsville, Highway 41 passes through Kelly, Crofton, Earlington, Morton's Gap, Madisonville, and finally Hanson. In addition, there are probably names that I don't know for some of little crossroads communities along the way. The railroad runs alongside the highway, and it goes right through the middle of most of these towns, too.

From Hopkinsville to Kelly, there are far too many delapidated trailer houses, but beyond Kelly, there are interesting things to see: pine-topped hills, long stretches of woods, farmer's fields, and roads that cut off and disappear into the countryside. Hopkins County is coal country, and it feels to me like it's a little higher in elevation than most of Christian County. On the map of Hopkins County, there are several large areas with no roads. I don't know if those are coal mining areas, or if they are just rough terrain where very few people live. (Or maybe both?)

I've always been curious about Morton's Gap because it has an interesting name, so I drove down its main street. I was disappointed not to see anything strikingly picturesque. I saw a tiny vacant building built in the 1920's that was inscribed, "City Hall". A big Catholic church sits on the hillside and a nice old brick house beside it is probably part of the church property. Nearby, I saw the nicely painted house in the photo below.



From Morton's Gap on to Hanson, it could be called "Greater Madisonville" because Morton's Gap flows into Earlington, and Earlington melts into the south side of Madisonville, and Hanson is a suburb on the north side of Madisonville.

On the south side of Madisonville, I saw some of the damage from the bad tornado that hit last fall. Dozens of trees are snapped off and some buildings are still strewn across the ground.

Hanson has several attractive old buildings in the business district. (Part of the north side of the main street is shown in the photo.) The factory outlet store gets a lot of traffic, so they are trying to make the downtown area a secondary destination. There are three antique stores (the doorway of one is shown in in the photo at right) and a couple of restaurants in the one-block downtown area.

I arrived at the outlet store about 9:40 and it didn't open until 10:00, so I parked the car and waited. I had plenty of time to observe the building. It has no architectural pizzazz at all. It's a big, metal building, designed strictly for function.

As opening time approached, more customers began arriving. A van from the Elkton Baptist Church pulled up and half a dozen gray-haired ladies got out and waited by the door. They were ready to do some shopping. I had relished the journey; they were eager to arrive at the destination. (Or so it seemed to me, but maybe they thought they were just beginning their journey. Journey? Destination? Where does one stop and the other begin?)

The doors opened and we all went in. I bought Dennis three pairs of work pants and Isaac three pairs of jeans for school.

A Genuine Flea Market

Dirty, but interesting

I  snooped around in the J & J Produce and Flea Market this morning. It's located at 7th and Campbell in a big building that used to be a lumber yard. The showroom area is full of fruits, vegetables, and dozens of resin figurines. Most of the flea market merchandise is kept in the adjoining warehouse that used to be the lumber barn.

The proprietor (one of the J's?) is a thin, white-haired gentleman who appears to be about 70 years old. He stocks the flea market by going to garage sales at closing time and making a bid for everything that has not sold. When not hauling in new merchandise, he spends his days in the store. He has a TV and an easy chair, and he sits and smokes when he's not busy.


These photos give an idea of the state of the warehouse, but not the scope of it! It is a huge room, and it is packed with miscellaneous household items -- everything from sofas to silverware. Some stuff has been roughly sorted, and some of it is still sitting in the boxes in which it was packed out of someone's garage sale.

The place is dirty and dark and I always have a feeling that mice are lurking about, but I have found some useful things there. The price is always very cheap. Today, I bought a leather belt, a basket, and a piece of white satin fabric. These items cost $1.50.

After I had put my bags into the car, I used a wet wipe on my hands and removed a piece of gold pipecleaner that was stuck to one of my shoelaces.

A Good Sunday

A surprise visit by Keely

Dennis went to Chattanooga, or thereabouts, to do inventory at a small AAFES facility Saturday and spent the night, so Isaac and I went to Sunday School and church this morning by ourselves. I was really surprised when Keely slipped into the pew beside me a bit after church started. I hadn't realized she was coming home.

By the time we got home from church, Dennis was back. He was surprised to see Keely too! I had put a roast in the oven this morning before leaving, so it was ready, and we had a good and fairly quick and easy lunch of roast beef, baked potatoes, lettuce salad, and fruit salad.

After lunch, Keely and I looked at the garb I have been sewing and discussed it thoroughly. Then she showed me some of the moves and stretches she has been learning in her Tai Chi class. It reminded me a little of ballet because the movements are very graceful. She seems to like it.

I have been sewing this evening, and with a couple more hours, I should be finished with a wool tunic that I will either try to sell at Keely's SCA event this spring, or give to Isaac to wear to it. It looks pretty good, but now that I'm nearly done, I have some ideas about how I should have done it, of course.

Little River

The bane of Hopkinsville

Little River, near the Hopkinsville water treatment plant

The Little River meanders in, out, around and through Hopkinsville. I can't say that the city has a love/hate relationship with the river, because the city has little (if any) love for the river and wishes it would just go away. Little River is ignored during dry spells, but when there's a big rain, it comes out of its banks and then it gets some attention.

We had a bad flood earlier this winter. Now the city council is asking, "What can we DO about the river?!" They have formed a new commission that is supposed to supervise things within city limits to help prevent flooding, but in my opinion, the best thing to do is to clean the river out (note the fallen tree limb in above photo), move people off the flood plain, and let the river rip.

I often take my morning walk in one of the subdivisions that was badly flooded a few months ago. Some of the homes are still standing empty. I guess their owners are just not coming back. It is a beautiful area with mature trees. The homes look like they were probably built in the 60's or 70's. Most are nice ranch-style houses, and the river runs right through some of their backyards. Did no-one ever consider that the river might get wild someday? Of course hindsight is perfect, but those homes should have been built on 6 foot foundations instead of sitting right on the ground.

I wish Hopkinsville could make the river more of an asset for the community. If Little River were cleaned out, maybe it could be canoed or kayaked.

Signs of Days Goneby

Historic buildings in Hopkinsville, KY

I took these photos today in downtown Hopkinsville. The old advertising signs for the Forbes Mfg. Co., Mogul wagons, buggies, garden seeds, etc. are painted on the east side of one of the taller downtown buildings. I think the building was part of the Cayce Yost department store complex, and apparently it belonged to the Forbes Brothers before that.

Cayce Yost (where draymen should ring for service at the back loading dock) thrived on Main Street for decades. In the early 1990's when we moved to Christian County, the Cayce Yost store was in its death throes. I bought a stove-top coffee percolator at the going-out-of-business sale.