Edmonson County Honors Its Heritage With a New Photo Display at Courthouse

District 19 State Representative Michael Meredith speaks at the first event to honor officials who have worked in Frankfort or Washington in the Edmonson County Community Center Saturday, March 15th in Brownsville.

​Story and photos by Joseph Barkoff:
Edmonson County is up there in years. Up to 200 in fact. Despite enjoying its bicentennial year, the county with a population of just over 12,000 folks shows it can learn some new tricks while preserving and promoting the past for a better future.
 
With the help of the Edmonson County Arts Guild a new project was unveiled and celebrated for the first time ever Saturday, March 15th at the Edmonson County Community Center in Brownsville.
 
Edmonson County Judge-Executive Scott Lindsey and Kentucky State Representative District 19 Michael Meredith were both on hand to speak and commemorate the day.
 
At first, there were just three.
 
Three photos in the hall along the annex in the Edmonson County Courthouse.
 
“We’ve always had a storied history in politics and government here in the county for a small place like we are,” Meredith said. “We always had Mills Logan’s picture. We always had Bev Vincent’s picture, we always had Richie Sander’s picture. Those three had always been there.”
 
Now there are around a couple dozen, with more to come.
 
“Today is a great day,” Lindsey said. “You know, to me, every day is a great day to be from Edmonson County, but sometimes we get special days, and this is one of those days.”
 
“I think it’s a big thing because we want our youth to see these pictures on the wall and think to themselves, ‘hey, I can,’” Lindsey said. “If that’s what you aspire to be, it can be done because people have already set that trail and paved that way. I just want them to see the success stories.”

Edmonson County Judge Executive Scott Lindsey speaks at the first event to honor officials who have worked in Frankfort or Washington in the hallway off the annex in the Edmonson County Community Center Saturday March 15 in Brownsville.

Edmonson County Arts  Guild president Phyllis Miller (right) and member Lydia Nugent introduce Scott Lindsey to speak at the first event to honor officials who have worked in Frankfort or Washington in the Edmonson County Community Center Saturday, March 15th in Brownsville.

​Why the Gulld?
 
“They’re go-getters,” Lindsey said. “And with it being kind of an art project, with the pictures and that nature, I spoke to ‘em and as soon as I opened my mouth their eyes got really big and they said that ‘we would love that, can we take it and run with it.’”
 
Lindsey told the group, “Absolutely, you do what you need too,” he said.
 
“The Art Guild are bringing so much to the community right now with community involvement in honoring our heritage and history, along with the Edmonson County Historical Society,” Lindsey said. “We are all working together to preserve that and make sure that it’s there for future generations.”
 
Lindsey said one of his main goals is to help illuminate a pathway for success for the next generations.
 
“Hey, there’s people from here that have done big things, and we can too,” Lindsey said he wants the Edmonson County youth to be able to say to themselves.
 
The photos in the hallway will help remind all who pass through the hallways.
 
Along with the inaugural event, celebrating the heritage of Edmonson County also included a display of locally made quilts both antique and new.
 
One person with two quilts on display was Elizabeth Bullock, age 7, from Edmonson County. 
 
The hardest thing for Bullock to do was the “sewing,” she said.
 
Of the two quilts turned in by Bullock for the event, her favorite one is the one with an animal theme. 
 
“’Cause we went to the zoo,” Bullock said.
 
Her favorite animal is the sloth, she said.
 
Her family made a trip to the zoo and after, Bullock asked each family member what their favorite animal was so she could add it and then asked for permission to make it.

District 19 State Representative Michael Meredith looks at the new display honoring officials who have worked in Frankfort or Washington in the hallway of the annex in the Edmonson County Community Center Saturday, March 15th in Brownsville.

Artist Elizabeth Bullock smiles in front of one of her quilt entries at the Edmonson County Celebration of Heritage event Saturday, March 15th in Brownsville.

How did it come together?
 
Arts Guild president Phyllis Miller and member Lydia Nugent approached Meredith to see if they could help expand upon those three, Meredith said.
 
It did take a lot of work to put it together and they still don’t have them all, Meredith said.
 
What inspired the creation of the Art Guild?
 
“Phyllis is an art teacher,” Nugent said. “And she’s always loved art, she’s always done art. She wanted to get the people here in the county together and so we put it out.”
 
While there are some who come and go from the guild, there are 13 folks who stick around regularly, she said. Meeting monthly, they come up with ideas to create art around Edmonson County.
 
The quilt show, the new photo display in the hallway and the mural outside are all things they have been involved with, she said.
 
The photos of former Kentucky elected civil service members was put up around a month ago, Nugent said.
 
Meredith, Lindsey and the Art Guild all hope as word spreads about the new photo display, families who might have a photo of their loved ones who served in Kentucky’s or the Nation’s capital might bring them in to help complete the project.
 
‘You’ve got a pretty good display up there right now of the folks who have been a part of the political process in both Washington and Frankfort,” Meredith said. “And It really is, it’s part of the history and something that hopefully will stay out there for a long, long time so that people will know that history because I think that a lot of that has been lost over the years.”
 
“So, hopefully this is just something that will continue,” Meredith said. “It’s a big milestone with the 200th year of the County, obviously, but hopefully it will be up there for another hundred years.”
 
“The true amount of influence that this little community has had on the process is extremely important and can’t be understated,” Meredith said. 
 
He thinks folks don’t realize how successful the community is and Edmonson Countians should celebrate their successes more and feels this project is another way to highlight those successes, Meredith said.
 
The quilts were picked up soon after the event, but the photos in the hallway, like the hallway honoring Edmonson County’s military service members, will be there until the end of time, honoring those who have achieved and served from Edmonson County.