Sunday, May 02, 2010

 

Places the GPS can't find

There are places you can only find with a GPS if you are actually there. OK, not really, they exist on paper maps and you can find them by working out the latitude and longitude and then programming the GPS to go there. With a GPS, you can't "GO TO" a place name (if it's not in the database) or an intersection (if there are too many digits in the highway numbers or it's just a name--Happy Ridge Rd--near a place it can't find). And, that's kind of nice. First, it satisfies my academic requirement that if you have a GPS, don't venture forth without a map. Every GPS and map are compromises between what is known and what can be displayed conveniently, this is scale dependence. The more you zoom out, the GPS display shows fewer and fewer details until you are often located on a blank screen with an interstate somewhere off to the east and no visible means to route there.

Second, it is gratifying to know there are places you just have to go to find hidden scenic and historic gems. Oh, you can google them after the fact, but unless you already know it's there, you can't find it. Try googling "19th century inns of central Kentucky." You get a bunch of B&B stuff, but nothing about the Keene Springs Hotel. I'll give you that it doesn't look like the site is operated as an inn or B&B. The sign out front advertises "Home Cooking, Thursday-Saturday 6pm-9pm, Private Parties, Catering, 859-881-1234." Googling Keene Springs Inn hits paydirt. I like it that the menu posted for June 25-27 doesn't say what year. Beverly and I will have to try it on a Saturday. Apparently, there is a ghost legend, but beyond some woo-woo about "investigations" conducted by local ghost hunters, there is nothing available about the ghost whose story would certainly be more interesting than night vision goggles.

Last weekend, when I drove by the Keene Springs Inn, started with the intent to drive from Cove Springs Park in Frankfort to Natural Bridge State Resort Park. I never made it. Having been to Natural Bridge, I got side tracked to the Pilot Knob nature preserve (Google map). I wasn't prepared to hike to the top of the Knob and so took a short walk in the woods to the millstone quarry. From there I started back along Hwy 15 and drove past Eskippakithiki, the Indian Old Fields. (Go to the Kentucky Historical Society and search for marker 1274). In addition to history, the physiography of Kentucky is very apparent here. In this view, the contrast between the flatter, rolling terrain of the Bluegrass regions and the hilly Knobs and escarpment is evident.

Anyway, I took 15 to Winchester, then 627 to Boonesborough and over to 421/25 at White Hall. To get around Lexington, I took Jacks Creek Rd and stopped by Raven Run Nature Preserve. I worked my way over to 169 and took that through Nicholasville to 33 and on into Versailles. From there, I took McCracken Pike past Woodford Reserve and back to Frankfort.

This weekend, I started from the Kentucky River Wildlife Management Area in Henry County. I headed west on the Gest-Fallis Road to Lockport then took 398 north to Drennon Springs. Drennon Springs is the site of one of the earliest stations in Kentucky and it appears on Filson's 1784 map, "This map of Kentucke". None of the historic markers that mention Drennon Springs seem to be anywhere near the community itself. At Drennon Springs, I headed south on 1360 through Franklinton to 22. At Bethlehem, I took 573 to 561 and then to 421 and home.

Folks, there's plenty to explore. And now, like the Keene Springs Inn, I'm finding places that need revisiting.

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