Berea
Many towns call themselves capitals of arts and crafts. But few guarantee meaningful encounters with the artists who do the work. That’s where Berea stands apart from the crafty-town crowd. Some 75 percent of the galleries in Kentucky’s best-known arts-and-crafts destination are owned by working artists who welcome visitors.
“They encourage people to come and talk to them while they work,” said Connie Mondine, group tour coordinator for Berea Tourism. “They are really approachable and love to interact with all the visitors.”
Because much of the town’s personality is tied up in works made by hand, Berea makes it easy for group travelers to learn how to make something while they are in town from any of the several master artists who teach classes.
Groups might learn from glassblower Michele Weston, who Mondine describes as “one of the most patient, encouraging people; calm as she can be,” or Donna Lamb, a master luthier, whose hand-made instruments are in a current national traveling exhibit. Other artists might teach visitors how to make a basket, a birdhouse or a painted gourd.
“On a lot of tours, everyone creates the same piece. Because we have multiple classes, everyone doesn’t do that,” said Mondine.
“The artists who are a part of the series have the personalities for the group market,” said Mondine. “They are patient, entertaining and fun people to be around. They make it as much fun from a conversational standpoint as from learning to create these pieces.”
Most studios are within blocks of one another in Berea’s Old Town, and as people finish class, they can wander the shops and galleries that line the two-block-long street.
Maysville
Lose your way in Maysville, and chances are, you will soon be found.
Locals are quick to help a stranger, especially a lost one. “They will know you are not from here,” said Suzie Pratt, tourism director, Maysville-Mason County CVB. “There are great people in this town, and they are what sell it to an outsider.”
Such personal attention extends to tours of this small town, a slip of streets between river bluffs and the Ohio River. Pratt asks questions about a group’s demographics, interests, personalities and mobility. Then, she creates a tour “just for your group,” she said.
Early settlers crossed the river here, so there’s rich material for history tours. Pratt suggests historic tours start with Old Washington, a preserved village where costumed guides talk about Simon Kenton, Daniel Boone, the Underground Railroad and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Downtown, architecture can be studied two ways: life-size and miniaturized. The tiny version is the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center’s collection of miniatures owned by local resident Kathleen Savage Browning. “They are not like a doll’s house; these buildings are made by professional artisans. The handles on chests are the real McCoy. The drawers are dovetailed; a table lamp has a bulb and plugs into an outlet,” said Pratt.
Some of the miniatures are famous places, but a number are local, like the Russell Theater, currently being restored.
The theater also has a role in tours that focus on the Clooney family, famous former locals that include the late singer Rosemary and her nephew, George. In addition to seeing their hangouts, groups can taste transparent tarts, which George orders from Magee’s Bakery to have at home in Hollywood.
Maysville’s Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour stop, the Old Pogue Distillery on downtown’s edge, is a nice spot for a catered meal as well as a tour and tasting led by a member of the Pogue family.
www.cityofmaysville.com/visiting-maysville
Pikeville
Back in the 1880s, Pikeville was a battleground for two warring families, the Hatfields and the McCoys. When locals weren’t keeping up with who was killing whom, they were watching the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River, worrying about when it might next flood the town.
Today, Pikeville is a peaceful, pleasant and safe place. The city, about as far east as you can get in the Kentucky mountains, has twice made it into “The 100 Best Small Towns in America” book by Norm Crampton. In the summertime, its main street is punctuated by pretty baskets of bright pink petunias that hang from lampposts. A coffee shop, a farm-to-table restaurant and several boutiques bring diners and shoppers downtown. A couple of nights a month in good weather, bands set up at a community bandstand and locals dance in the streets.
Floods are no longer a concern, thanks to the $80 million Pikeville Cut-Through, a 14-year project that literally moved a mountain to make room to reroute a river and roads and, as a result, gave the city 400 acres of dry and flood-free land.
Although the Hatfield-McCoy feud has been laid to rest, sites tied to the families continue to draw tourists. Driving and guided tours take in Dils Cemetery, where a number of McCoy family members are buried, or sites of hangings and shootouts. At the city’s Bob Amos Park, visitors can opt for a tour package with a Hatfield-McCoy theme that includes horseback riding, a zip line and paddling on the river.
www.tourpikecounty.com
