boone Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyc Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_Hilly Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyc Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_Hilly Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratcheer Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 #1 is the only cute one, to me. Maybe I'm having too much trouble with the old clothing style.Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boone Posted March 8, 2004 Author Share Posted March 8, 2004 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendaj Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_Hilly Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendaj Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 B'Hilly,Well, Welcome to our group! This is very cool! 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 would LOVE to see those photos. Are you open to the public?Bj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_Hilly Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 The Merton Center is at Bellarmine University Library in Louisville and is open to the public from 8-5, Mon-Fri, free of charge. Some of Merton's photos are now framed and hanging in the hallway outside the Center and can be seen nights and weekends during the regular library hours.We've got the aforementioned photos, drawings by Merton, paintings by his father, all of Merton's published works, manuscripts for his books, and correspondence with Dorothy Day, Thich Nhat Hanh, RFK, Aldous Huxley, etc. (~2,000 correspondents).I'd be happy to show you around, Bj. The invitation also extends to all SB.com readers.Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bourbonv Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 This photo is one of about 6 that are in the United Distillers Archive that came to the archive through Glenmore. It is the old Yellowstone distillery before it was moved to Louisville after prohibition. The other photos show distillery and warehouses. United Distillers archive also has photographs of the old Dant Distillery near this distillery. When Schenley bought that distillery in the 40's is was in very bad shape and they ended up scraping the old distillery and warehouses. They also have photographs of the old Stamping Grounds distillery in Scott County. Schenley ran that distillery until it closed in the 1960's. The Getz copy of this photo is part of an exhibit United Distillers did for the Festival in 1993. The exhibit included shots of every modern distillery and about a dozen shots of distilleries that no longer function.Mike Veach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratcheer Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 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. I have had the fruitcake. It is to die for. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyc Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 They feature them on the local news from time to time, They use.........drum roll please........ Jim Beam Bourbon on the fruitcakes. Yummy <font color="red"> Good God give us all Some! </font> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyc Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 Excellent Bill,I've read Seven Storey Mountian. Reading as much Thomas Merton as I can is on the list. I'm not getting far with it, but I have an interest and a desire too. Put me down for a visit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 United Distillers archive also has photographs of the old Dant Distillery near this distillery. I thought Yellowstone was the Dant distillery. Wasn't the nearby distillery M.C. Beam, which Dant subsequently bought? Or was there a third distillery, also owned by Dant? I know the Dants had quite a few of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bourbonv Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 Chuck,There was the Yellowstone Distillery and then there was the J W Dant Distillery. When Schenley bought this distillery, there had been a fire at the distillery and the photographs show them pulling the old column stills out of the ruins. They then rebuilt a JW Dant distillery nearby.For your information for future references, the U D Archive has photographs of the following distilleries:A. Ph. Stitzel - Louisville Story Ave.Stitzel-Weller - ShivelyFour Roses - ShivelyGlenmore - OwensboroYellowstone - ShivelyYellowstone - Dant, Ky. Medley - OwnesboroFleischmann - CincinattiGeorge T. Stagg - FrankfortJames E Pepper - LexingtonBernheim - Louisville (17th & Breckinridge)Bernheim - Berheim LanePark And Tilford (formerly Bonnie Bros.) Louisville PortlandLimestone - Chapeze, Ky.Pebbleford - Ekron, Ky.Fairfield Distillery - Bardstown, Ky.Buffalo Springs - Stamping GroundNew England Rum Distillery - Covington, Ky.George T. Stagg - Loretto, Ky.J W Dant - Gethsemane, Ky.George T. Stagg - Lebanon, Ky.George Dickel - Tennessee.Schenley - PennsylvaniaOld Quaker - Lawrenceburg, Ind.Lincoln Trail - Tell City, Ind.There may be a few more that are not coming to me right now. As you can tell, after Schenley changed the Stagg to the Ancient Age distillery, they would label a smaller distillery the George T. Stagg distillery and usually close it down within the next year or so. It was sort of the "kiss of death" for the distillery to be named Gerge t. Stagg by Schenley.Mike Veach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendaj Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 Why thank you kind sir! I will be there. Maybe if anyone else is interested (Bobby? Mike? Bettye Jo?) we can make a day of it, an have a Bourbon after our visit... I'm pm you for details. Thanks for the invite! Bj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_Hilly Posted March 10, 2004 Share Posted March 10, 2004 If you can arrange something, just come to the Merton Center late in the day, so I can join you guys afterward for drinks. (We can discuss through PM).Regarding Mike's post with the list of distilleries and regarding distilleries in the Gethsemane/Gethsemani (both town with an "e" and monastery with an "i") area in general, I found a reference to which distillery Merton was photographing:"...one of the best things we did was take pictures of the old ruined distillery at Dant Station. The long red warehouses, and the wonderful proportion of spaces in the wall, broken up with an interesting low line of narrow windows. Other side, down the road to the creek, windows and doors broken open and Dant labels lying all over the road in hundreds."-Turning Toward the World: The Pivotal Years (The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 4: 1960-1963) by Thomas Merton, p. 135. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boone Posted May 2, 2004 Author Share Posted May 2, 2004 Hi Chuck, I stopped and turned on this dirt road, just to get this picture for you Whiskey Run Road Bettye Jo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boone Posted May 2, 2004 Author Share Posted May 2, 2004 I drove by the Abbey to see how much progress has been done on the new visitor center. Quite abit. See that stone wall. That has always been a barrier. For as long as I can remember it was restricted. Now the visitor center faces the wall... on the other side...Is that stone wall going to come down after all these years? I don't know the answer but it looks silly facing that wall. I can remember my daddy taking us, there for confession, as a young girl. I remember him telling us (girls) to sit still and don't move because girls are not allowed, only in the chapel. I asked him why? He said that's just the way they are. We sat still until he came back. I felt a awful dislike when he told me that...Left a lasting impression. When I dropped in there today to take this picture, I "still" had that very un-welcome feeling. Here is the new visitor center. The sign on the left side---> Monastic area, Keep Out... The sign on the other side was to let you know there was a security system in place. This is the only entrance I could see. I assume that the signs will come down and the gates will be open for the entrance to the center. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boone Posted May 2, 2004 Author Share Posted May 2, 2004 Whenever you travel Kentucky look for "marker's". They state alot of historical facts along Kentucky's Highways....This one in particular, gave a little history about Basil Hayden. Pottingers Station (the actual landing) is nearly right smack in the middle of my little hometown. Bettye Jo BTW---All the roadside markers are not religious stuff...Just happened, that this one was real close to the church, so I ran over there to read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boone Posted May 2, 2004 Author Share Posted May 2, 2004 Here is a picture of that church built in 1823...You can tell by the pattern of the bricks the year it was built and by those stars...for structure support...We call it Holy Cross Church. It's still in use today. The unusual thing about this old church is the grave yard's location. The burial grounds are on each side of the sidewalk as you enter the church and around the back. I am told that this is the oldest church in the state of Kentucky. Bettye Jo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 Well, I got the Whiskey part right, anyway.Thanks for the pic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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