South Central Kentucky Cultural Center Tells the Barroens’ Tales
barren county, bluegrass, culture, history, kay harbison, museum, museum of the barrens, south central kentucky cultural center,
Culture takes a lot of hard work.
The South Central Kentucky Cultural Center has been open since September 2001 in the former Kentucky Pants Factory building. The three-story building has so many authentic exhibits that the museum always seems to be changing.
“It is very time consuming and requires lots of money and man hours to get an accurate exhibit together‚ so we just keep adding whenever we can as we continue along‚” says Kay Harbison‚ vice president of the Barren County Historical Foundation‚ which oversees the museum.
“About 95 percent of the first floor of the facility is complete‚ showcasing life in the Barrens up to 1860. In fact‚ the museum is still known as the Museum of the Barrens to a lot of people today‚” Harbison says.
The collection of artifacts has been housed at several different sites in recent years‚ including what is now city hall‚ a tobacco warehouse and the former JC Penney building. Current exhibits include a rock shelter depicting life in prehistoric Kentucky‚ a furnished cabin and smokehouse from the mid-1800s‚ a military exhibit from the Civil War through the Gulf War‚ a 1900s-era grocery store and a doctor’s office from the 1950s.
“We also have a one-room schoolhouse‚ a 1940s kitchen and a Victorian parlor and bedroom from the late 1800s‚” Harbison says. “The public has heeded our call by donating and loaning authentic items for several of our exhibits‚ and we invite everyone to stop in and experience a little bit of local history at the Cultural Center.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
