A few weeks back we took a little day trip to Berea, KY. It is the Folk Art and Craft capital of Kentucky. That wasn't the draw for us, but it sure was fun to look around.
We had a fun time walking around the shops and funny sculptures and Ruby napped when she could.
We also got the newest addition to the family, Louis (pronounced Louie - like Louisville, hence the name!), here. We sure do love our little steel doggy!
Th reason we went out to Berea is because my great-great-great grandfather, John G. Fee, a preacher, started Berea College here. In a time of slavery in this country, John fee believed in equality for all and education for all and took a stand. He created the first interracial and co-ed college in the South. It's a really neat and beautiful school. To this day, students can only attend if they have financial need (if the family makes more than $50k, then the student is automatically denied admission). Also, the students there do not pay tuition. The school has a very large endowment, and the students work to keep the school running (they don't get paid very much, it's mostly to "pay" towards their tuition). I am really proud of my amazing ancestors who stood up for what they believed in.
Here I am with my G3-grandfather.
We went on a walking tour of the campus.
From left to right: Union Church, started by John Fee (not the original building); a building on campus; the motto of Berea College
After the tour we enjoyed some ice cream. We could hardly lick it fast enough to keep it from running down our arms it was so hot out.
After hanging out in the College Square, we headed over to the cemetery to find our ancestors.
Here's a branch of our family tree told through gravestones:
John Gregg Fee and Matilda Hamilton (front and back of their stone)
Their daughter, Laura Ann Fee married William Norris Embree
(Apparently we didn't get a picture of William Norris' gravestone, Raymond Burrit Embree is their son buried next to his mother)
Their son, Royal Howard Embree married Mary Scott
(Their son, Raymond Scott Embree was buried next to them, so I'm including it here too, but not a direct line ancestor)
Their son, Ralph Arnold Embree married Eleanor Williams, my mom's parents and my grandparents. My grandfather is not actually buried here because his plane (he was a Navy flier) was shot down toward the end of WWII and he was lost. This is his memorial marker. My grandmother is buried in Camarillo, CA.
Ralph's stone is in the background with "Embree" on it and his parents and brother's stones are in the foreground.
We went on a walking tour of the campus.
From left to right: Union Church, started by John Fee (not the original building); a building on campus; the motto of Berea College
After the tour we enjoyed some ice cream. We could hardly lick it fast enough to keep it from running down our arms it was so hot out.
After hanging out in the College Square, we headed over to the cemetery to find our ancestors.
Here's a branch of our family tree told through gravestones:
John Gregg Fee and Matilda Hamilton (front and back of their stone)
Their daughter, Laura Ann Fee married William Norris Embree
(Apparently we didn't get a picture of William Norris' gravestone, Raymond Burrit Embree is their son buried next to his mother)
Their son, Royal Howard Embree married Mary Scott
(Their son, Raymond Scott Embree was buried next to them, so I'm including it here too, but not a direct line ancestor)
Their son, Ralph Arnold Embree married Eleanor Williams, my mom's parents and my grandparents. My grandfather is not actually buried here because his plane (he was a Navy flier) was shot down toward the end of WWII and he was lost. This is his memorial marker. My grandmother is buried in Camarillo, CA.
Ralph's stone is in the background with "Embree" on it and his parents and brother's stones are in the foreground.
After the cemetery adventure, we headed back toward Louisville, but not without eating first. Rob found that there was a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (you know, Food Network, Guy Fieri show...) on the way back, so we took a little detour and man was it worth it!
At first we were concerned we had a wrong address because the scenery looked like this:
Sorry for the in-the-moving-car-,between-the-trees- shots, it was so beautiful! Everything I hoped and dreamed Kentucky would be and Louisville isn't!
But, not to fear, we found it! A little old country store converted into a very tasty sandwich place called Wallace Station.
Rob had the Kentucky Hot Brown...oh.my.sandiwch.love. It was turkey, ham, bacon, tomato, cheese mornay sauce all squished between two thick slices of homemade bread. Yum!
Grace watched movies and hung out in style on the ride home.
1 comment:
Amanda, This looks like an interesting trip you had to Berea. Thanks for the info and pictures. I've added all of these people (and their pictures) to the "Bunker / Manning Tree" tree on Ancestry.
This tree is based on our father's tree but expanded to include members from my mom's family and the families of our sibling's spouses. I've pretty much finished the Gray and Koberling lines and am now working on the Sizemore line, with the rest to follow. It's a work in progress. I can provide you with login access to ancestry.com if you would like to check it out or contribute to it yourself.
Do you have another history adventures like this on your blog?
Your loving brother, John.
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