The Cavehouse

A few years ago, I wrote a "journal" (before blogging came about) to leave a record of some of my life. I would then e-mail these out to my friends telling them about my "travels along the Kentucky Backroads" Here is a sample of one from 2002.

1/12/02 Backroads of Kentucky

Greetings from the "mostely thawed state of Kentucky",

Yep, we've had some pretty chilly weather these past couple of weeks, even got some of that white stuff on the ground! However, it got up over 40 degrees F today so it was looking like too nice of a day to stay burrowed up like an old groundhog.

Kim and Marisa pulled out at 6:30 a.m. this ( Saturday) morning to go to Lexington so Marisa could participate in a " Dance Team Exhibition" at school. Then Sat night she planned on going out to dinner then to a " Sadie Hawkins Dance " with her boyfriend. Of course Mom volunteered to do all of the driving today.... provided that I pick her up Sunday after she spends the night at her friend's house. Kim likes to try to stay in her nice warm bed on Sundays for as long as she can.

So, when I finally aroused from blissful peaceful slumber around 9:00 a.m., I had to do some serious thinking as to how to best schedule my day, so to be most productive. The # 1 chore that had to be done today was a good cleaning and staightening up of the basement. So, after finally shaking the cobwebs out of my foggy brain with the assistance of 2 cups of coffee, and a nice hot shower, I was ready to tackle the chores at hand. I said " to hell with the basement", grabbed my new digital camera, and hit the road towards the the hills of Eastern Kentucky.

Ah, what a delight it was to get out " on the road again" on a beautiful sunny day with a balmy 40 degree temperature! I cruised down I-64 grooving to the music of CD's by Waylon Jennings and the Beach Boys, and in just a little over an hour, I was pulling into the Minit Mart in the quaint little village of Pine Ridge in Wolfe County. There, I was able to partake in a royal feast mostly only enjoyed by bachelors. That exquisit meal consisted of " pizza and a pepsi"!

Then so not to waste any of the wonderful day, I hastened on to the "quaint little metropolis" of High Falls ( also in Wolfe County) There, I stopped in to meet with one of the " pillars of the community", who serves as the Mayor, Ombudsman, and dog warden. That stirling individual being none other than Glenn Duff.

Mr Duff's wonderful wife ( Marie) shooed us out of the house so she could get back to her chores at hand. ( She was down scrubbing stains out of the carpet) and we were very happy to "get out of her way"!

We first headed up to two waterfalls near the intersection of Hwy 15 and Quillens Chapel Road. These are known as " High Falls ", hence the name of the community... though they really are located more out in the suburbs than actually in town! I was able to only get good photos of only one ( see attachment) of the falls. The second one was pretty much blocked by trees and it would have been very difficult to get a good angle for a shot at it.

Next, we traveled up the road only about 1/2 mile before turning off to go down to Mayor Duff's cousins house, where we parked the car. We then headed on foot down an old road approx 1/4 mile the nthrough the woods until we came to Gold Mine Falls.

This waterfall was actually two waterfalls which spilled over the same cliff only approx 10 feet apart. Each waterfall is supplied with water from two seperate creeks which almost come together just above the falls. The waterfalls drop approx 80 feet into a beautiful nearly unaccessable valley. Directly below the waterfall under the large ledge can still be seen the remains of an old Gold Mine Shaft which was worked back in the 1920's. In the attached picture, look below the big icicle and you can see part of the shaft.

Then after our little hike in the woods, we returned to the Dog Warden's house, where Marie fed us some great potato soup and homemade skillet cornbread. She ate her soup in a way that I had never seen before. She crumblrd her cornbread into the soup. I tried it too, and , I'll be damned if it wasn't pretty good that way. Of course, Glenn , being a sissy, had to eat his the " Yankee Way" of crumbling crackers into his soup!

After retiring to the living room for a short spell to let our meal settle, we hit the backroads once more to head down to the Southeastern part of Wolfe County to an area called Bethany. It was here that Glenn took me to a house that was constructed back into a cave. The owner had actually sealed off the entrance to a " cave" or " rock shelter " and built rooms under ground. We were unable to catch the owner at home today, but hope to return in a few weeks to try again. From what Glenn told me about the fellow, he is a very resourceful and mechanically inclined iindividual, who comes up with some " different ideas", and works with them!

See the picture of the Cave House Attached. The picture is not a good one, because it was getting dark, and I was shooting through the windshield because I didn't relish the idea of getting my ass chewed off by the " cute little puppies" in the picture.

As dark finally caught up with us, it was time for me to return the " Mayor to his home " and bid a fond farewell and many thanks to my most gracious hosts.

Then, it was just a matter of " cranking of the stereo " and " grooved" my way home to the tunes of the Beach Boys.

I later returned to the "Cave House and became friends with the owners...and even got to spend a night there!

I'll attach the Cave House Pics which will show the outside, the back wall of the living room, and one of the bedrooms.