Lady Slipper Orchid

Yellow Lady Slipper Orchids

Cypripedium Parviflorum

2018

Scenic Overview Pine Mtn

Pine Mountain is a ridge in the Appalachian Mountains running through Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. It extends about 125 miles from near Jellico, Tennessee, to a location near Elkhorn City, Kentucky. Birch Knob, the highest point, is 3,273 feet above sea level and is located on the Kentucky-Virginia border. It has been a barrier to transportation as the Cumberland River at Pineville, Kentucky is one of only two streams passing through the entire ridge. The other is Hickory Creek near Jellico, TN.

Source Wiki

Photo Mary Christopher Smith

Blue Eyed Mary

Collinsia verna, blue-eyed Mary is a winter annual that is native to the eastern and central parts of North America but has become endangered in the states New York and Tennessee. The flowers are bicolored white and blue. It is a plant of valley bottoms and moist bottom slopes, in areas with moderate lighting and requires some shade.

Wikipedia
Photo by Mary Christopher Smith

Face to Face

One of the sweet horses at Black Acre Nature Preserve

Blackacre State Nature Preserve is a 271-acre nature preserve and historic homestead in Louisville, Kentucky. The preserve features rolling fields, streams, forests, and a homestead dating back to the 18th century. For visitors, the preserve features several farm animals including horses, goats, and cows, hiking trails, and a visitor's center in the 1844-built Presley Tyler home. Since 1981, it has been used by the Jefferson County Public Schools as the site of a continuing environmental education program. About 10,000 students visit the outdoor classroom each year 
Source: Wiki
Photo: ©Mary Christopher Smith

Total Solar Eclipse 2017-Western Kentucky

Red River Gorge

Abandoned Kentucky

Castle and Key Distillery

Old Taylor Bourbon was named in honor of Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr., who was born in Columbia, Kentucky, in 1832. Taylor was a grand nephew of U.S. President Zachary Taylor. Like various other figures in the Kentucky whiskey industry, Taylor is often referred to in public relations materials as a "Colonel", since he held the honorific title of Kentucky Colonel. The honorific title resembles that of the military rank but is not actually associated with military service and has primarily been used for public relations purposes (e.g., by "Colonel" Harland Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken). Taylor started and owned seven different distilleries throughout his career, the most successful being the O.F.C. and Carlisle distilleries, the forerunners of today's Buffalo Trace Distillery.

E. H. Taylor is said to have lobbied in favor of the Bottled-in-Bond Act, a law that gave participating whiskey producers a tax break and a government certification of product quality. He was a contemporary of and acquaintance with various other notable whiskey business figures as Dr. James C. Crow, Oscar Pepper, Judge William B. McBrayer, John H. McBrayer and W. F. Bond, and was an adept businessman and public relations professional when it came to packaging and promoting his bourbon. Some expressions of the current brand continue to be offered as bottled-in-bond versions.

Unlike most distilleries of the time that looked like little more than a sawmill sitting in a thicket, Taylor's distillery on Glenn's Creek, near Frankfort, was designed to resemble a medieval castle with the landscaped grounds of an estate. The distillery attracted tourists and picnickers who were given complimentary "tenth pint" bottles of Old Taylor.

In the late 1940s, Old Taylor bourbon was promoted with the slogan, "Sign of a good host".

By 1972, the historic "castle" distillery structure had been abandoned, and it remained abandoned but still standing in deteriorating condition for more than 40 years. Some of the material from the barrel houses was reclaimed for construction. The facility was refurbished starting in 2015, and began operating as a distillery again in 2016. The new distillery operation is not affiliated with the current owners of the Old Taylor brand.

On June 24, 2009, Buffalo Trace Distillery(part of the Sazerac Company) purchased the Old Taylor Bourbon label and barrel inventory from Beam Global Spirits & Wine (now Beam Suntory), the maker of Jim Beam Bourbon and subsidiary of the Fortune Brands holding company. The brand was purchased in an agreement where Beam bought the Effen Vodka brand from Sazerac.

Source: Wikipedia

Photo: Mary Christopher Smith