Gethsemane, Ky.-Circa 1905

[boone]

Buffalo Springs-- I will make a repy to BSS here, about the Buffalo Springs, Stamping Grounds ...

There is a picture, of Buffalo Springs "employee's" in the Getz Museum. My Uncle Otis, was Distiller there. This group picture, is located in the "Office". There is a showcase, on the right, as you enter the door. The picture was sitting on top of that case, the last time I was there. I hope it is still there. Uncle Otis, is in this picture. He's wearing a "white" hat, last row, on the far right

One of my favorite pictures (attached) is this one, with some of the area ladies, who worked at the "Yellowstone" distillery, in the early days. The ladies, don't look too happy but the guys (especially the two right behind them) have something up their sleeve No names are written on the back of this picture. I can almost bet that some of em are kin to me. This distillery, was located just a skip down the road from my home...

I know that this picture will be there for everyone to see. It was enlarged to nearly life size and it too...is located in the Getz Museum (in the office)...

I could only imagine why they stopped them that day to take this picture. Makes me wonder what was going on? Were they just arriving for work or getting ready to eat lunch?...(several of em are carring their lunch baskets)...

Bettye Jo

[bobbyc]

The ladies, don't look too happy

Cosmetics and designer dresses appear not quite yet to have caught on with the female distillery workforce in 1905, Still there were some pretty faces in that group.
I remember your Aunt Jo pointing this very picture out to me and commented how happy those men most have been to work in the company of those pretty girls. Some of them clearly look to be in the prime of their youth.

[Bill_Hilly]

GEOGRAPHIC WOES:
As a newcomer to the area, I have some geographic confusion. The Blue Grass Trust site says that the Buffalo Springs Distillery was in Stamping Ground, KY, (NE of Frankfort?) but the photo references Gethsemane, KY (SW of Bardstown? - not to be confused with Gethsemani Abbey in Trappist, KY, and SE of Bardstown).

What's the deal? Is it the same distillery in multiple locations, a place name change, or have I missed the boat completely?

[bobbyc]

The above picture is of Yellowstone employees at Gethsemane, in 1905. It had nothing to do with Buffalo Stamping ground except that there is a picture of it along with this at the Getz museum, in the same room.

Am I the only one who thinks so but from left to right wasn't 1,2,4,5,6 and 8 cute? They are a bit somber and lack the embellishments that our ladies 99 years hence have. Hell 3 and 7 only look to be older.

[Bill_Hilly]

Thanks Bobby, my brain no longer hurts in trying to figure out some kind of connection between the two...

I distinctly remember this photo, as its lovely ladies, from my last visit to the Getz Museum.

[ratcheer]

#1 is the only cute one, to me. Maybe I'm having too much trouble with the old clothing style.

Tim

[boone]

but the photo references Gethsemane, KY (SW of Bardstown? - not to be confused with Gethsemani Abbey in Trappist, KY, and SE of Bardstown).

Some more geographical confusion for you...

The Abbey of Gethsemane (Trappist) and the distillery (photo attached to my post) were within walking distance...How's that for geograhical confusion?

Bettye Jo

[cowdery]

To add a little more to it, there were two distilleries at Gethsemane, right next to each other. One was Yellowstone, which was owned by one of the Dants, and the other was F.G. Head, which later became M.C. Beam, and which employed Joe Beam (Bettye Jo's great grandfather) as its master distiller. Dant eventually bought the Beam distillery and made Yellowstone at both.

Also by the way, the country around Gethsemane is quite rugged compared to the area around Bardstown, mountainous almost. I don't know if it had anything to do with the distilleries or not, but right across from the monestary is a road called Whiskey Mountain or Whiskey Hill, something like that. When I was running around down there I was glad to have 4-wheel drive.

Gethsemane, for those who don't know, is famous as the redoubt of Thomas Merton, the writer and philosopher. A friend of mine in Louisville used to tell me stories that when Merton was a young monk he would sneak out of the monestary and hop a freight train up to Louisville, where he and my friend would go out to hear jazz.

[brendaj]

Great stuff Chuck! I didn't know that, and I live here.
I'm going to have to check out Whiskey Hill!
Gethsemane is beautiful. They own several thousand acres, and it is all-looked after very well. We used to trailride on their property.
The Abbey of Gethsemane
Here's a useless but interesting tidbit...The Monks were among the first in the county to have internet access and a website...
Here's a cool shot I took last spring. This is in the back of the wall that surrounds the place.
Bj

[Bill_Hilly]

I happen to be an archivist at the Thomas Merton Center. I know more about Merton than I know about the distilleries Chuck mentioned. Besides Merton's work as a writer, he was a good photographer (we've got ~1,350 photos of his at the Center). He photographed some old distillery warehouses in the 60's, but I'm not sure exactly which ones they were.

I know some folks who accompanied Merton to the Jazz clubs. It certainly happened, but less often than he's gained a reputation for. He had medical problems that provided a few easy excuses to make it to Louisville or Lexington. However, for the most part, he didn't wander much in his 27 years of monastic life. The one big trip to New Mexico, California, Alaska, and finally to Asia, was quite the exception. Unfortunately for us, he also encountered the accident in Bangkok in '68 that cost him his life quite prematurely.

Merton was known to have had bourbon at times, but I've read more references to a fondness for beer and brandy when he could get it.

Nice pic, Brenda.

I like Gethsemani's bourbon fudge, bourbon fruitcake, and cheese, but it's too bad they didn't take up making bourbon long ago like the Belgian Trappists and their beer brewing. You can buy all their bourbon-soaked goodies on the website Brenda mentioned.