Spirit of 76 Celebration Committee holds its final meeting; next, we will look for you at events starting at noon Friday!

At least 27 people attended the Spirit of 76 Celebration volunteers' meeting Monday night at Junction Station.

Volunteers planning the Spirit of 76 Celebration held their final meeting Monday night at Junction Station, reviewing the schedule and ironing out final details.

UPDATE: The 8 a.m. Saturday breakfast, limited to veterans, active military, reservists and their spouses, has been moved from the VFW Post to the Albany First Baptist Church, because the VFW will be storing washers and dryers being provided to local flood victims.

Air-conditioned churches: With hot weather in store, some of the most welcome informtion at the meeting was that the two churches holding events, Seventy Six Baptist and Mount Union Christian, are air-conditioned and will provide a respite from the heat Friday and Saturday. Seventy Six Baptist has several speakers scheduled to discuss the families and history of the community, but all are welcome to come share what they know.

At Mount Union, Rodney Piercey Jr., better known as "Buz," will be dressed up as Benjamin Franklin to discuss the founding father and his role in our nation's independence. "He's researched Ben Franklin from day one," said his sister, Faye Piercey Dalton. She and her sister, Phyllis Amonett, are the Mount Union organizers; their sister Vickie Piercey May will spin wool on their grandmother's spinning wheel, restored by their brother Terry, who will display and discuss his Native American artifacts, which he has collected since he was a small boy. "Indian-artifact people I've talked to say he knows more about them than anyone around here," David Cross said. He said there were no natives on Indian Creek when settlers arrived, but there was so much evidence of them that the stream was named for them.

Take a walk: The activities will begin at noon Friday, when Rudy Thomas will lead a walking tour from the 76 Falls parking lot to Mount Union, discussing "The Importance of Place." The afternoon will end with showing of the documentary about Medal of Honor winner Murl Conner and a panel discussion led by Luther C. Conner Jr., better known as "Hoppy," with a panel including state Treasurer Mark Metcalf, retired Col. Brack Flanagan of Creelsboro and Al Cross, executive producer of the documentary. All activities at Mount Union on Friday will be repeated on Saturday.

Athletics: Dee Soma reported that 28 runners have signed up for Saturday's 7.6-mile race from 76 Falls to Albany, and he expects more. The race will begin at 8 a.m. and end at the square, where the Clinton County High School Alumni Band and some current student musicians will play from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Thatg will be the only public event in Albany for the Celebration, which focuses on Seventy Six.

Matt Brewington of the 76 Falls Country Club reported that 56 golfers have signed up for The Spirit of '76 at 76 tournament, which will be held Saturday and limited to 76 golfers. (Friday afternoon, the club will host a "shootout" tournament.) Matt showed the committee how the golf course and the rest of the county-club campus will be used for the Friday night and Saturday night concerts. Parking will be directed by attendants, he said: "You won't park unless somebody tells you where to park," and parking will not be allowed until late afternoon, to avoid overlapping with the golf tournaments.Also, no tents will be allowed.

The country club will be collecting donations for flood victims and running its own application process for people who want help, Matt said.

Concerts: Colton Bowlin of Albany, a rising star in country music, is expected to draw a large crowd Friday night. David Cross said Chris Knight will probably play for 90 minutes Saturday night and the county's biggest-ever fireworks show will follow immediately.

Now on sale: T-shirts, caps and commemorative program!

The T-shirt front has the Spirit of 76 Celebration logo; the back illustration was used to produce a limited-edition poster that will sell for $25 each. 76 of the 200 posters will be numbered and framed, and sell for $76 each, starting Friday. Caps and T-shirts are $30 each. Programs are $20. The T-shirts also come in sand and white as well as gray and black.

The Spirit of 76 Celebration promises to be a memorable series of events, and to help defray the costs, members of the committee are selling several memento items: Posters, T-shirts, caps, and a 118-page commemorative program full of historical articles and information about the Celebration.

The posters will be ready Friday. Other items will be available at the law office of David M. Cross on the square in Albany and at Spirit of 76 Celebration events. Other members of the committee will also be selling items before the events. Watch this website and our social media for updates!

Warinners were leading family of Seventy Six for decades; their store was believed to be Clinton County's largest

Young Ed P. Warinner with the wrecker advertising his Log Palace Inn in Albany. (Warinner family photo)

Iverson L. Warinner and his brother Joseph Warinner moved to the Seventy Six community from Rockhouse Bottom in Russell County just before the beginning of the Civil War. 

Iverson Warinner established a mercantile business at Seventy Six which for many years went under the name of I.L. Warinner and Son (J.A. Warinner). Iverson served in the Union Army and after the war was elected justice of the peace, or magistrate. He obtained the Seventy Six post office in 1890, during the administration of President Benjamin Harrison. The Warinners were strong Republicans, and so was Harrison. The office was moved from a location near 76 Falls. 

The store became the largest between Albany and the Cumberland River port of Creelsboro in Russell County. It is said that it was bigger than any store in Albany.

I. L. Warinner invested in the wholesale grocer Cumberland Grocery Co. and Cumberland Transportation Co., which owned steamboats that plied the Cumberland River unti11933. I.L. Warinner was also a director of Farmers National Bank of Somerset, which years later consolidated to become First and Fanners Bank and later purchased Citizens Bank of Albany. He also had a controlling interest in the Seven Gables Hotel, a landmark in Burnside before the town was flooded by Lake Cumberland. 

According to the New Era newspaper of May 31, 1907, two groups were attempting to start a second bank in Albany to compete with the Bank of Albany. One was headed by E.M. Cox, the Clinton County clerk, and the other was headed by Henry Wallace of Paint Lick and J.A. Warinner of Seventy Six. After a time, "the two movements became one," the Albany paper reported.

In the initial shareholder list of Citizens Bank, the following had 10 shares each: Wallace, I.L Warinner, J.A. Warinner, George Guinn of Albany, J.W. Long of Cartwright and the Russell brothers of Chanute, Tenn., just across the state line. Lesser stockholders included many other notables, including K.E. Huddleston, P.H. Smith, E.M. Cox, S.V. Brents, Charles Huff and W.M. Johnson of Forbus, Tenn., who was president. For a full list, see the Spirit of 76 Celebration Commemorative Program.

This bank was located in the building where Dyer Drug is now located, and the bank vault is still located therein. Iverson Warinner thereafter became president and served until his death. J.A. Warinner then served as president at different times and remained on the board of directors for many years until his death in 1943. The two banks consolidated in 1918 and became known as Citizens Bank of Albany and was located in the Bank of Albany building, now known by many as the Eddie Lovelace office. 

Ed Warinner also served as bank president, as did Leo Sewell, who was the son-in-law of Jim Warinner. His wife had died of tuberculosis in 1932. Jim Warinner had backed Sewell and others in the ill-­fated Dicken-Sewell & Co. store in Albany, and he suffered losses in that investment, as well as being affected by the end of Cumberland River transportation in 1933 and the overall poor economic conditions after 1929. 

After the death of Iverson Warinner in 1919, the business was known as J.A. Warinner and Son. The store remained open until after Jim Warinner's death in 1943. Edgar Dicken operated the store for five years until it burned February 26, 1950. Dicken then rebuilt a smaller store in front of the old store site, and he operated it there until 1960. 

The home of Jim Warinner, now known as the Dickerson house, still stands on KY 734 across from the old Warinner store site. 

The late Warinner Anderson of Watauga was descended from lverson's brother, Jasper Warinner. The Fount Warinner family, including long-time Clinton County High School Principal David Warinner, also descends from Jasper Warinner. Other descendants include long-time local educator Jerry Warinner Branham, State Police Detective Jason Warinner, and the lady who served more restaurant coffee than any other person in the history of Clinton County, Zora Warinner. Other descendants are far too numerous to name. 

The Warinner Family Cemetery on KY 734 in Seventy Six has recently been restored. Joseph Warinner, father of Iverson, is buried there.

Ed P. Warinner was born at Seventy Six, Ky., in 1909. The large log house near the family's store, which unfortunately was torn down in recent years, was the home of Ed's grandfather, Iverson L. Warinner. The large white house across the road known as the Dickerson house was the home of J.A. (Jim) Warinner, father of Ed.

Ed Warinner was the owner of a shoe store, the Log Palace Inn and the Albany Locker Plant, the latter two located across the street from the other at the intersection of Cross Street and Burkesville Road in Albany. 

Warinner was best known, however, for being a man of progress, and was a regular at any meeting regarding the growth and development of the area. He was a leading proponent of changing the Corps of Engineers' original name of "Wolf Creek Reservoir" to "Lake Cumberland," and was instrumental in KY 35 becoming US 127, and in establishing a roadside park at Seventy Six Falls where a historical marker honors him. He also served as president of the Citizens Bank of Albany. 

Warinner and Gov. Lawrence Wetherby held the ribbon as Vice President Alben Barkley cut it at the dedication of Wolf Creek Dam in 1951. Upon the election of state Sen. Terill Wilson as circuit judge for Clinton, Russell, and Wayne counties in 1951, Ed Warinner obtained the Republican nomination for Wilson's unexpired term and was unopposed for the position until his death in 1959. 

While in the state Senate, Warinner, as a member of the minority party, forged a strong relationship with the majority, including Gov. A.B. (Happy) Chandler. The efforts of Warinner and the late N.L. Morgan are credited with the late1950s street and sidewalk project that motorists and pedestrians in Albany still benefit from today. 

Warinner was also an early supporter of veterans' benefits and was a sponsor of the constitutional amendment which in 1955 made Kentucky only the second state in the Union to give 18-year-olds the right to vote. 

Warinner was chair of the Clinton County Republican Party for 12 years and a delegate to the party's national convention in 1952. He made an unsuccessful race for an open seat in Congress in 1954 and announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor in 1955 and 1959 but withdrew from both races, health issues having a bearing on his 1959 withdrawal. After it, party officials supported his wife Jo as the GOP nominee for state auditor. She was defeated in the November election, in which all statewide Democrats were elected.

Ed Warinner died suddenly at age 49 on June 20, 1959, at his home in Albany, which is known to most as the home of the late Judge Eddie Lovelace. Chandler came to Albany and spoke at his funeral. 

The family left Albany in the early 1960s and moved to Louisville, where Jo was employed in the administration of Jefferson County Judge Marlow Cook. Three of the Warinner children have passed: Paul, who attended Kentucky Military Institute and served in the military, played football at Morehead State, and coached football for many years; Joanne, who married Dave Sawyer of Albany and was director of admissions at Transylvania University; and Iverson, who was a longtime professor of theatre at Spalding University in Louisville. 

Ed Warinner has one surviving child, Harriet Hile, a retired teacher in the Spencer County school system who lives in Louisville. His descendants include Ed Warinner III, who served as offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator for the 2014 NCAA champion Ohio State Buckeyes and is now head coach at Avila University in Kansas City; and Stephen Sawyer, a renowned artist who lives in Versailles.

The story of Grider Hill Dock is the story of the Sloans, their families, their friends and the Seventy Six community

Tony Sloan, dock operator extraordiaire

By David M. Cross

When Bruce Sloan established Grider Hill Dock on the Indian Creek embayment of Lake Cumberland in 1951, no one dreamed that tourism on the lake would grow to today's level. The reservoir had been created for flood control and hydroelectric power, and tourism was an ancillary consideration.

In the newly impounded waters, fishing was great, houseboats basically didn't exist, and a 10-horsepower motor was the biggest. Grider Hill rented more rowboats than anything. The busiest times of year were spring and fall, fishing seasons. Bruce maintained a good relationship with outdoor writers of newspapers in Louisville. Cincinnati and Nashville, and the dock quickly became a popular fishing spot. 

Bruce Sloan was a man of great vision, but some folks thought he was was crazy to build the beautiful Indian Creek Lodge (inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright) on land he didn't own. Bruce had been in numerous businesses including coal, timber and automobiles, and was such a great marksman that he did shooting exhibitions for Remington Arms. He was elected sheriff of Clinton County in 1941 and prior to that had been Albany mayor and served three terms in the Kentucky legislature. He was a man who saw so far ahead of his time that at times he saw too far and the world took too long to catch up with him. 

After Bruce's untimely death in 1963, the Sloan family dedicated itself to managing and growing the dock. Boats and motors were getting bigger, and houseboats were becoming popular. Ski boats became all the rage. The growing dock took a lot of attention, so Tony Sloan quit teaching school to manage it. A few years later his wife Bettye did the same to help manage the lodge and restaurant. Ned Sloan Sr. and his wife Jimmie also dedicated themselves to the dock, as did the entire Sloan family. Tony and Bettye worked first shift, Ned and Jimmie the second . 

The restaurant at the lodge became legendary for its country cooking with its country ham and fried chicken. Most of the cooks were from Seventy Six: ladies such as Ella Ryan, Carmi Simpson, Marie Daniels, and sisters Ruby Davis and Reba Brown. Jimmie's sister Laura Ann Tallent, experienced in the restaurant business, became a key figure in the kitchen. Laura Ann, a tireless worker, came up with the peanut butter pie recipe for which the restaurant became famous. The quality of the dining experience was always high as long as the Sloans owned the dock. 

If you lived in Seventy Six, it is very likely that some of of your family members worked at the Grider Hill. Long-term employees included Glenn Brown. Karen Groce, Jim and Joyce Conner and Gran and Polly Hopkins and their daughter Bertha. Tony Sloan said Gran Hopkins had the best hand-eye coordination of any man he ever saw. The "Round Man" excelled at anything he tried and was as dependable as the sun rising in the morning.

Grider Hill Dock remained a family operation for over 50 years, but as years passed the family realized that it was time to sell, and they did so in 2007. It is now operated by Safe Harbor, a company that owns several docks on Lake Cumberland and Dale Hollow. However, Tony Sloan did not leave the dock business. 

ln 1970 Tony put together a group to obtain the lease for Conley Bottom Dock on Lake Cumberland in Wayne County. That dock was greatly expanded and thrived as Conley Bottom Resort. Tony maintained controlling interest until he sold out to his partner in 2019.

Tony and his investors purchased a small dock on Dale Hollow Lake in 1993 and under the leadership of Tom and Angela Allen transformed it into Sunset Resort, now the leading dock on Dale HoJlow. It was recently expanded.

Finally, Tony started working on what could be called his greatest legacy, one that has had tremendous positive impact on the local economy: Marina at Rowena.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had originally proposed a dock at the Rowena location in their Lake Cumberland Master Plan of 1949 but nothing had ever been done there. Tony, with the help of his able partner Tom Allen, persistently battled the bureaucracy for years and finally in 2017 Marina at Rowena, on the south side of the main lake, opened to the public.

A full-service marina, it has thrived since its opening and continues to grow, with a 2026 expansion that will more than double its number of private slips. To reach the new part of the resort, you turn on an access road that is fittingly named Tony Sloan Way, for the visionary who proved to be the best dock man in the Southeast. He died on April 1, 2025, but his legacy lives on.

No one loved Seventy Six more than Holland Wells; he was executive VP of America's largest department-store chain

Holland Wells on Indian Creek above the falls

Holland K. Wells, raised within sight of Seventy Six Falls, loved the community of Seventy Six more than any man. He was the son of James Thomas (Jim) Wells Sr., and Effie Lowhorn Wells. As a boy Holland played in the waters of Indian Creek and around the falls. He thought there was no greater place in the world than the hills and waters of Seventy Six.

Before he finished high school Holland moved to Louisville and his first job at age 16 was as a window dresser in the F.W. Woolworth store there. Woolworth's had been the pioneer of "five and dime" retailing in America, and was a huge company.

Holland's work ethic was so strong that he didn't dress windows for long. He started to rise up the ladder of the company, becoming an assistant store manager and then a store manager, moving to various places including Detroit, Toledo and Athens, Ohio. The company transferred Holland to various spots around the country that needed attention. Ultimately, he was transferred to the corporate headquarters in New York where he became executive vice president of the company. By 1979 Woolworth's had became the largest department store chain in the world.

As Holland became successful, he acquired most of the land above the falls, which his family still owns. Sadly, his mother was killed in the April 3, 1974 tornado that devastated the falls area.

Holland retired to Kentucky, finally settling in Versailles, where he died in 2022. Of course he was brought back to his beloved Clinton County as his final resting place.

The basis of our government is the Constitution; the moral basis of our country is the Declaration of Independence

1823 engraving of the Declaration of Independence
(National Archives image; for a larger version, click on it.)

In The Moral Foundation of America, Elaine Pagels, a professor of early Christian history at Princeton University, wrote:

“In the ancient empires of Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, only those whom rulers regarded as their peers had value, or what the Romans called dignitas. Hindu societies enshrined the ruler as one who embodies the divine order of the gods, and established a hierarchical rank for everyone else. The caste system even defined some people as outcaste, with no right to move freely and little recourse from lifelong servitude.

“The Declaration of Independence, by contrast, speaks of the rights to life and liberty as sacred gifts that ‘Nature’ and ‘Nature’s God’ have given freely to all humanity. These principles were inspired partly by the Enlightenment, the philosophical movement that emerged in Europe after hundreds of years of horrifying religious war. But they originated in the Book of Genesis, which declares that every human being has value.

“The Founders knew that monarchy had been the norm for most of human history, and they saw how difficult that would be to change. The cruel and dangerous reversion to rule through fear and violence that we are seeing now was among their greatest concerns. But I have faith in their 1776 vision. I believe that the rights to life and liberty are the sacred inheritance of every human being, grounded in a transcendent reality. Now is the time for those of us who love what the Founders entrusted to us to pledge anew—to one another, to our children, and to all who come after us—that we stand for their Declaration.” (Read more: https://lnkd.in/eGMXskFP)

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States;
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world;
For imposing taxes on us without our consent;
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury;
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences;
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighbouring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies;
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our Governments;
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy [of] the head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind: enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Larry Cordle, one of the July 4 entertainers, may be one of the most accomplished Ky. musicians you never heard of

Sign at one entrance to Lawrence County, Kentucky

When the Kentucky legislature created the Country Music Highway in Eastern Kentucky in 1994, and folks in Lawrence County erected their signs for it, the first entry wasn't Ricky Skaggs or the late Keith Whitley. It was Larry Cordle, who will perform before headliner Chris Knight at the free concert at the 76 Falls Country Club on Saturday, July 4.

Skaggs, Cordle's neighbor and childhood friend, played a key role in boosting Cordle's career as a songwriter. When he heard Cordle’s “Highway 40 Blues,” he promised to record it, and in 1983 it was the nation's No. 1 country song. \“A lot of people who hear it think it's about Interstate 40, which runs through Nashville, but I actually wrote it about that little state highway in Kentucky,” which runs from Salyersville through Paintsville and Inez to the West Virginia border, almost touching Lawrence County.

Cordle's best known song is “Murder On Music Row,” co-written with Larry Shell in 1999 as a complaint against the rise of “country pop” music. It was first recorded by his bluegrass group, Lonesome Standard Time, as the title track of an album, and gained its greatest fame when it was recorded as a duet by George Strait and Alan Jackson, reaching No. 38 on the country singles chart even though it was never officially released as a single.

Larry Cordle

The July 4 concert will be a reunion for Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time, which he founded with his friend Glen Duncan in 1990. The band's self-titled debut album was nominated for a Grammy award in 1992.

Cordle may have a low profile in then musin business these days, but he has a group of loyal fans, according to the reaction to the first post about him on the Spirit of 76 Facebook page. It has received almost 1,500 likes, and there have been many favorable comments, such as, "One of our very best favorite artists!!! Been listening to him for years. I'm disappointed that it'll be in Kentucky and not Albany, Oregon. Sigh." (Ironically, Albany, Oregon, is the center of bluegrass-seed production in the United States.)

Cordle is set to perform at 7 p.m. CT Saturday, July 4, after EmiSunshne and before Chris Knight.

Kenneth Conner, who wrestled as 'Chuck,' was one of many outstanding athletes to come out of Seventy Six

Kenneth Conner

Kenneth Conner, known to many as "Chuck," the name he used for years as a wrestling star, was one of many outstanding athletes to come out of Seventy Six. Wayne Ryan and Sherman York are others who quickly come to mind. The Seventy Six/Fairland community, for some reason, placed more emphasis on sports -- all sports -- and produced more athletes than any other community in Clinton County. Kenneth may have been the best athlete ever to walk the halls of Clinton County High School. He was a legend.

Ken Conner was the son of Ewell and Rosa Conner. Rosa operated stores for many years in Fairland and later at Aaron. She lived to within five months of her 100th birthday. Through her stores, she fed her large family and many others in the community, and she apparently fed them well, particularly her sons: Keith, Kenneth, A.V., and Junior, still known to many as "Bear."

Kenneth was the most athletic of the bunch and certainly the most incorrigible. It is said that when he left Fairland and came to high school to begin his freshman year, he stayed one day and then went home and cut wood all year. When he returned the following year, he had developed the strong, athletic physique seen in old high school annuals.

As a sophomore, Kenneth was a key member of the only Clinton County High School basketball team to reach the State Tournament in 1960. Teammates included Bill Perdue, Jack Latham, Wilkie Skipworth, and other notable players, nearly all of whom are now gone.

The 1961 team missed the presence of Skipworth, Latham, and Perdue, but younger players such as Jack Sewell and Sherman York were emerging, and Coach Lindle Castle fielded his finest team in 1962. The Bulldogs spent much of that season ranked among the top 10 teams in Kentucky. That remarkable season ended in disappointment when Clinton County fell to Coach Jimmy Bazzell's Allen County Patriots after squandering a late lead. The turning point came when Kenneth fouled out on a controversial call late in the game. As the Park City Daily News reported the following day, people in Clinton County were still wondering what happened. Those few still living who witnessed the game more than six decades ago are still wondering as well.

Kenneth was named All-State that year and turned down a scholarship offer from legendary Western Kentucky coach Ed Diddle to accept an offer from Middle Tennessee, another member of the Ohio Valley Conference. As a freshman, he averaged more than 14 points per game. He later joked that his average would have been much higher except for games in which the coach only played him a few minutes.

Kenneth left school after his freshman season. According to local legend, it reportedly had something to do with class attendance. He later attended Lindsey Wilson College and Campbellsville College, staying long enough to make many friends at both institutions.

One of the students he met at Lindsey Wilson was a young man from Liberty whose parents operated a store there. His name was Wallace Wilkinson. Wilkinson later became a successful businessman and, in 1986, announced his candidacy for Governor of Kentucky, Many doubted his chances, but having Chuck Conner campaigning on your behalf was a powerful asset. After Wilkinson's election in 1987, Kenneth worked on the state payroll for a short time before returning home. Again, according to the stories, it apparently had something to do with attendance.

Kenneth learned the oil business from his father, J.B. Burchett, and Junior Brown while working on cable-tool drill rigs. He later used that experience to become involved in oil drilling and promotion during the local boom of the early 1980s.

Chuck Connors

Kenneth began wrestling in the 1960s under the name "Ken O'Connor." The persona eventually evolved into "Chuck," inspired by actor Chuck Connors of The Rifleman, who bore a resemblance to Kenneth. His longtime tag-team partner was Dale Mann, who grew up near Kenneth and returned to Seventy Six from Indiana in the early 1970s. Together, the pair traveled throughout Kentucky and Tennessee as wrestling partners. Chuck continued wrestling for years and remained active even after being declared disabled. For a time, he was still appearing on Sunday nights in Georgetown, Ky. He needed the crowd.

Kenneth Conner was an imperfect man, as all of us are. Yet he may have been one of the most generous men ever to call Clinton County home. He was never likely to keep much for himself because he was always willing to give it away. The number of times he provided money, food, assistance, or even a place to stay may never be known. He lived that way because he believed helping others was the right thing to do -- and because he genuinely enjoyed seeing people get the help.

Kenneth "Chuck" Conner was larger than life. He was a gifted athlete, a wrestling star, a promoter, an entertainer, a friend to many, and a hero to some. Above all else, he loved to play to the crowd. Whether it was on a basketball court, a ball diamond, a wrestling ring, or perhaps in some non-sporting venue such as a church or court room, he always did better if he had an audience.

A few slots remain for the golf tournaments to be held Friday and Saturday, July 3 and 4, at 76 Falls Country Club

The 76 Falls County Club, a major sponsor of the Spirit of 76 Celebration, still has a few slots left for the golf tournaments on Friday, July 3, and Saturday, July 4.

Friday Night Shootout: "The Battle at 76"
• 40 players maximum
• ABCD Flights
• Knockout format — one player eliminated each hole
• $30 per player
• 100% payback in each flight
First District U.S. Rep. James Comer is scheduled to play in this tournament.

Saturday Tournament (based on a full field of 76 players)
• $100 per player
• 100% payout

Projected payouts:
1st Place – $4,560
2nd Place – $1,900
3rd Place – $1,140

Call or text the 76 Falls Country Club at 606-688-2803 or stop by the Pro Shop to reserve your spot.

Here's a special thanks to all the people with roots in Seventy Six who've supported the Spirit of 76 Celebration

Please join us in expressing appreciation to these individuals with roots in Seventy Six who have helped support the Spirit of 76 Celebration. They include: Phyllis Amonett, Freddie Burchett, Steve and Storm Burchett, David Choate, Michial and Jessica Conner, Neli and Jessica Conner, Toby Conner, Mark Coop, Vickie Crosbie, Faye Dalton, Mike and Ginger Davis, Boo Dicken, Harvey Dicken, Donovan Edwards, James Michael Guffey, Frank Hicks, Tim Hurst, Frankie and Doug Lowhorn, Dale Mason, Frank Phillips, Terry Piercey, Laura Roberts, Keith Sawyers Jr., Bettye Sloan, Ned Sloan Jr., Jake Staton, Vivian Talbott, Andrew Tallent, Jamie Tallent, Jesse and Ricky Tallent, Miller Tallent, Rodney Tallent, Roy Lee Tallent, Dr. Steven Tallent, Rudy Thomas, and Deb Yee.

Spirit of 76 Celebration honors Clinton County's veterans; they include two who earned the Medal of Honor

Clinton County has a strong militray history. Many early pioneers in the area were Revolutionary War soldiers who received land grants in recognition for their service. They are too many to mention.

Several Cumberland countians (there was no Clinton at the time) served in McNair's Regiment in the War of 1812. Captain William Cross of Stockton Valley commanded a company of local men.

Sam Bell Maxey and many others served in the Mexican War. Maxey graduated from the United States Military Academy, one of only two Clinton Countians to do so, the other being Michael DeForest, whose roots through the Staton family go back to Seventy Six. Maxey later moved to Texas where he was a Brigadier General (C.S.A.) and later served two terms in the U.S. Senate.

Thomas E. Bramlette

Most of Clinton County was of Union sentiment during the Civil War, with the most prominent Union men being Clinton native Colonel (and later Governor) Thomas E. Bramlette, who had moved from Albany to Columbia in the early 1850s but was sitting as circuit judge for the area when the war began. On July 29, 1861, Bramlette gave a stirring speech in Albany on behalf of the Union, and many men enlisted as a result.

John Allen Brents was an officer in the First Kentucky Cavalry and would write a book, Patriots and Guerrillas, which was very pro-Union in sentiment and made him a marked man by the Confederate guerrilla Champ Ferguson, who would periodically wreak havoc in the county. Col. William A. Hoskins was living in Clinton at the beginning of the war, and he commanded the 12th Kentucky Infantry. George W, Burchett was a member of the honor guard for the funeral of Abraham Lincoln in 1865.

 
Captain E.M. Shelley of Clinton County commanded a troop which included many Clinton Countians in the Spanish-American War.

The most famous hero of World War I, Sgt. Alvin C. York, was born just a few miles south of Clinton County. York did his banking business at Citizens Bank of Albany. 

Corporal James Herbert Cannon was killed in France on October 1918, and on July 12, 1920, the Cannon Post #135 of the American Legion was formed in Albany. Its 16 charter members were Oscar Dyer, William H. Nunn, Oscar B. Conner, Porter H. Dyer, Herbert Hopkins, Newman L. Morgan, Herbert Pittman, Reed Cox, Belden Carr, Ottie Cummings, John B. Grider, Alva Tompkins, Beldon Pierce, M.A. (Crow) Brummett, James W, Parrigin, and Walter F. Perdue.

Lt. Garlin Murl Conner

Garlin Murl Conner, raised on Indian Creek a few miles below Seventy Six Falls, may now be the most decorated American soldier of World War II, after being awarded the Medal of Honor over 70 years after the end of the war and 20 years after his death. Hundreds of local men and women served in that war. Clay Rector, whose father was an Albany barber, was on the U.S.S. Arizona when it was attacked at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and he remains entombed there.

 
Hundreds of other young men and women have served in the wars and conflicts which have occurred since the end of World War II, and many are in the service today, protecting our freedom. Let us always remember that the Spirit of Seventy Six Celebration owes its existence to those men and women who have served and are serving. We appreciate the local VFW chapter who have worked with us regarding this event. Hats off this day and every day to all of our servicemen and women, past and present.

Clinton County was home to another Medal of Honor winner.

Oliver Hughes was born in Fentress County, Tennessee, on January 21, 1844. At that time, Fentress abutted southeastern Clinton County. In 1860, Hughes was living in Clinton County. He enlisted in the Union Army at Albany in 1861. He was a Corporal in Company C, 12th Kentucky Infantry.

The 12th Kentucky was commanded by Colonel William A. Hoskins, a native of Garrard County who was living in Clinton County at the start of the war. Hoskins was a principal in the Nashville and Rowena Coal Co., which was mining coal on Short Mountain in Clinton County and sending it down the Cumberland River to Nashville. That enterprise failed, but after the war Hoskins, with new investors, formed the Poplar Mountain Coal Company, and they built a railroad from the top of Short Mountain down to the mouth of Indian Creek, where they shipped the coal down the river. Hoskins established the mining town of Cumberland City, five miles northeast of Seventy Six.

Many of the soldiers in the 12th Kentucky were from Clinton County. They included Capt. Martin Van Buren Duvall, who would die at the hand of Confederate terrorist Champ Ferguson after major hostilities had ceased, and his brother Lewis "Bug" Duvall, who survived the encounter with Ferguson. The 12th was involved in the first Civil War battle in Tennessee, the incident at Travisville in Fentress County on September 29, 1861.

Hughes was awarded the medal for capturing the colors of the 11th South Carolina (CSA) at Town Creek, N.C., on Feb. 20, 1865. The medal was awarded to him on Aug, 1, 1865.

Hughes owned a 200-acre farm at Seventy Six downstream from 76 Falls on Browns Creek. He sold it on Oct. 26, 1867, to C.V. Wright and moved to Callao, Missouri, where he operated a saloon for many years. In 1903, he was charged with selling alcohol to minors but was tried and acquitted because, to quote one juror, the jury was afraid if they convicted him they "would have no place to drink." He made a race for town marshal but was defeated. He died Jan. 5, 1911, and is buried in the Old Callao Cemetery in Macon County. He was survived by his wife and four children. The farm that he owned was later owned by Marcus McFall, and most of it is believed to have been taken for the Lake Cumberland project.

Benjamin Franklin, in the person of Buz Piercey, will speak about the Declaration of Independence July 3 and 4

"Dr. Benjamin Franklin" will give a short presentation on the Declaration of Independence at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, July 3, and 1:30 p.m. Saturday, July 4, at Mount Union Christian Church near 76 Falls.

Franklin's physical body has suffered from age and decay a lot over the last 250 years, but his mind is still as sharp as ever. We expect the talk to be electrifying! (Electrifying, get it?)

As a convenience for the audience, Dr. Franklin has made special arrangements to occupy Buz Piercey’s body while presenting the talk. No special bifocal glasses will be required. (Get it?) Come learn how Franklin helped found our great nation.

Buz Piercey is Rodney Piercey Jr., a native of Seventy Six who had a long career in higher education, concluding it as provost (chief academic officer) of Eastern Kentucky University in 2007-09.

After graduation from Clinton County High School and Centre College, Piercey earned his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Vanderbilt University. He worked at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a German research institute, then was an assistant professor at Centre. In 1982-89 he led a program at the University of Florida to study gamma-ray astronomy and the effects of space radiation. At Mississippi State University he rose to become the head of the Physics and Astronomy Department, then moved to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida as a department chair in 2001 and was founding dean of its College of Arts and Sciences in 2002.

Piercey has conducted a very wide range of research, from software reliability to the nature of free will in a quantum reality, and has received numerous awards including one for the design of Kmax, a multi-parameter data acquisition system. He formerly served on the board of directors of Sparrow Corp. and Tribo Flow Separations LLC, and has served on several other government-appointed boards and panels. He and his wife, Katarzyna, a native of Poland, have three children.

The longest of the April 1974 tornadoes in Kentucky devastated Seventy Six, especially the Falls park

The park and church were destroyed.

The tornado of April 3, 1974, was so devastating in Clinton County that when people refer to it, only "April 3rd" needs to be said.

Tornadoes ravaged areas from Tennessee to Ohio on that fateful evening. It was the greatest outbreak of F5 tornadoes in America's recorded history. A total of 148 twisters were confirmed on that single day.

The tornado that hit Seventy Six was the longest of the 18 twisters that hit Kentucky that day, churning the landscape for 38 miles from Kettle in Cumberland County to Mill Sprimgs in Wayne County.  

Twin funnels entered the county at Green Grove, then crossed through Ida into the Seventy Six Falls area and continued on through Piney Woods, crossing KY 558. Eight people were killed in Clinton County, including Effie Wells, 64, who lived in a brick house within sight of Seventy Six Falls. She was the mother of Holland Wells.

Homes destroyed in the community included those of J.S. Andrew, Rudy Thomas, and Frank Summers. The Ida community was devastated. The home of Jimmy Hicks was destroyed, as was the nearby home of Cletis Boils, where three people died.

Had the area been more heavily populated, the loss of life would almost certainly have been much greater. As it was, Clinton County lost 0.1% of its population, a greater rate than any April 1974 community in Kentucky except Meade County, where 31 died.

The 76 Falls park (Clinton County News photo by Phillip Allen)

The Mount Union Christian Church building was leveled. The Andrew home above the falls was lifted from its foundation and turned sideways, yet its occupants escaped unharmed. Rudy Thomas, who lived on the hill east of the falls, suffered a broken back but miraculously survived.

Debris from the Frank Summers home at Seventy Six was found more than 50 miles away.

The roadside park at the falls, then operated by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, was completely destroyed. It took several years for the park to be rebuilt, and it is now maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Mount Union Church rebuilt much more quickly, and its new building was rededicated in 1975.

This day will never be forgotten by those who lived through it.

How and why did Albany and Clinton County get their names? We may never know for sure, but it's interesting

Clinton County was created by the 1836 Kentucky Legislature from portions of Cumberland, Russell, and Wayne counties. The original proposal in 1835 was to create a county named Crittenden with similar boundaries as Clinton, but that measure was, for unknown reasons, defeated. The name was designed to honor John J. Crittenden, then the Kentucky secretary of state and later governor and U.S. senator. The legislature created Crittenden County, in Western Kentucky, in 1842.

The bill later resurfaced with the name "Clinton" affixed to the new county, and that measure passed. The county was officially named for DeWitt Clinton, former governor of New York and the driving force behind the Erie Canal. However, the Erie Canal had been completed over 10 years earlier, and Clinton had died in 1828.

The gravestone of Israel Clinton
Winfrey in the Columbia Cemetery

The unpublicized truth was that Francis Winfrey, who represented Cumberland County in the lower house of the General Assembly, had an eight-year-old son named Israel Clinton Winfrey, and the county was quietly named in his honor. The first mention of this was in a March 25, 1951, New Era newspaper column by S.V. Brents, a highly respected local author and historian.

After the establishment of the county, a mass meeting was held to determine where the county seat should be located. There were three proposed locations: Paoli, a village a mile south of Albany that already had a post office, named for a Corsican patriot; an area in the middle of the county in what is now the Wago community; and a place where Robert Cross had offered to donate a portion of his land for public use and where Benjamin McDowell had a tavern.

Benny McDowell was a strong proponent of establishing the town at his tavern's location and supposedly supplied strong drink to several in the crowd, who started chanting, "We're ALL for BENNY," which evolved into "ALL-BENNY." Benny McDowell and Robert Cross carried the day, and their location prevailed, and that further explains the locally preferred pronunciation of "All-Benny."

The official version is that "Albany" is named after Albany, the capital of New York. They both make good stories. You decide for yourself which one to believe.

Schedule is final for the Spirit of 76 Celebration July 3 & 4

Here's the schedule for the Spirit of 76 Celebration on Friday, July 3. Saturday's schedule follows. 

Here's the Saturday schedule. Note that Mt. Union Christian Church events are the same both days.

Official flyer for 7.6 Miler race on July 4 is released

Here is the official flyer for the 7.6 Miler race from 76 Falls to Albany on July 4. Please share!

John Woodrum of Seventy Six lived the American Dream

John G. Woodrum in front of his casino in Las Vegas

By David M. Cross

In 2013 Clinton County lost one of its most successful native sons, John Woodrum. However, if you were from Clinton County, you called John by a different name; here he was "J.G." And if you called, he would always answer.

J.G. Woodrum was a Fairlander, through and through. He was raised down at the end of what is now called Woodrum Road. His parents, Loren and Golsie Woodrum, were not people of great means but were certainly respected folks of good character. After quitting school and enlisting in the National Guard, J .G. made his way back to high school where he was one of Coach Lindle Castle's first Bulldogs. After the 1958 season, J.G. was too old to play, but he hung around as an unofficial motivator/confidante/ traveling companion of the only Bulldog team to ever reach the Sweet Sixteen. Along the way he did a little bit of everything for Coach Castle and the team, including driving the team bus on occasion.

That's the first amazing thing about J .G. Woodrum. While still attending high school, he drove a school bus. They say it's an arrangement that his mother Golsie made with the superintendent, after the regular driver suffered a heart attack, to help him to complete high school. It was a way for him to afford to go to school, as well as his mode of travel. He parked the bus at the Woodrum house each night and picked up the children of Seventy Six and Fairland along the route, taking them to school. And ever since those high school days, he was picking folks up all along his route in life, helping them out in some manner to try and help them on their journey. 

J.G. was a member of that storied CCHS Class of 1960 (and prided himself on personally sponsoring three of their class reunions), a class which arguably was closer than any other class in school history. J.G. and a high-school classmate headed out to California in 1963, got as far as Las Vegas, and ran out of money. Or maybe they ran out of money on the way back. Anyway, they did run out of money, and Vegas was as far as they got. It is said they sold the tires off the car, then sold the car.\

The classmate moved on after a few months, but J.G. stayed, becoming known as John Woodrum. He was a master storyteller. He would tell people in Vegas that he left Kentucky with the carnival at age 14 and ended up in Vegas. John would tell a lot of things out there; after all, Vegas is a town based on entertainment. His large frame, great personality and warm smile and handshake won him both friends and respect from those he met in Vegas, including Sam Boyd, who John worked for from 1963 until Boyd, one of Vegas's heaviest hitters, helped the Kentuckian go into business for himself.

John Woodrum was recognized throughout Las Vegas, not just as the owner of the former Klondike Casino, which he bought in 1976 for $1 million and sold in 2006 for many times that figure; not just, as one columnist wrote, as the man who knew more stories of old Las Vegas than anyone; but also as the entrepreneur who had sense enough to run power to re-light the now famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign in front of the Klondike at the end of the Strip. It was to become the most recognized landmark in Vegas. If not for him, it quite likely would have just faded away.

When Jerry Tarkanian coached basketball at UNLV, John Woodrum was one of his biggest supporters, so close that when the NCAA exiled "Tark the Shark" from the program, they did the same to John. Apparently, his old practice of picking people up was viewed as being in violation of NCAA rules.

J.G. loved to see the home folk come to Vegas. If you were from Clinton County, he certainly treated you special out there. But he had a way to make everyone feel special. J.G. used his rural raising in Kentucky as an advantage, not as an excuse. He learned how to deal with people, and to appreciate people, big and small, but with love for the little people. He learned to follow through and do what you said, a trait not always found in Vegas. He always kept his heart in Clinton County, even though his feet were elsewhere.

He was one of Seventy Six's finest expatriates, and there are several who could share that title. Others yet to be raised here will continue to rise and achieve success, in some place far larger than the many professionals, entrepreneurs, and business executives are now scattered around America but still call Clinton County their home.

Google Map

It is so unfortunate that so many rural children educate themselves "right out of Clinton County," for that is where the greater opportunities lie. That's just the way it is. However, the J. G. Woodrum success story, as well as the stories of those who have chosen to return home and succeed, should help motivate our young people to see what they too can achieve when they put their mind to it.

J.G. Woodrum came from a large, poor family that lived at the end of their road in rural Clinton County, which now bears the name Woodrum Road. But that road was not a dead end for him. It was the beginning of his long, colorful, interesting and successful journey down the road of life. He traveled a long, hard road, but in his journey, he learned something every step of the way and used it to help him achieve success, and to help others along the way. This is the story of The American Dream, fulfilled and achieved, by a country boy from Seventy Six who never forgot where he came from.

7.6-mile July 4 race from 76 Falls to Albany is attracting dozens of runners; CCHS Alumni Band will play at finish

The route will follow KY 3062, KY 734, US 127, Business US 127, a KY 1590 loop and Business 127 to the Albany square.

The big link between Seventy Six and its county seat of Albany, Kentucky, during the Spirit of 76 Celebration will be the unique 7.6-mile race from the 76 Falls Recreation Area on Lake Cumberland to the courthouse square in Albany on the morning of Saturday, July 4.

Dozens of runners are signing up for the race and are expected begin arriving at the finish line around 8:45 a.m. The Clinton County High School Alumni Band, with some help from current band members, will begin playing at Albany Place, 203 South Cross Street, at 9 a.m. and continue until 10:30 a.m. to provide entertainment for spectators, runners and their companions.

Billed as one of Kentucky's most patriotic road races, the 7.6 Miler will take runners on a memorable journey through the Appalachian foothills of Clinton County before finishing in the heart of downtown Albany. The 7.6 Miler will be a celebration of community pride, American spirit, the natiomn's 250th birthday and the traditions that make Independence Day special.

The route will follow KY 3062 to US 127 to Buisiness 127 (North Cross Street), take a loop on KY 1590 (Burkesville Road) and take North Cross to the finish line at the square. The race will be professionally timed and entrants will get a commemorative shirt.

The race is open to runners age 15 and up. Prizes in the male and female divisions will be $300 for first place, $200 for second, and $100 for third. Age-groups awards will be made in male and female divisions to the top three in these groups: 15-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, and 60+. To sign up, go here.

Where better to celebrate the nation's 250th birthday and the spirit of 1776 than the only place in America named 76?

SEVENTY SIX, Ky. – The 250-year history of the United States of America has been written not only in places like Philadelphia, New York and Washington, but in every community in the country – including the historic community of Seventy Six in Southern Kentucky.

So, where better to celebrate the spirit of 1776 than the only place in America named Seventy Six?

That’s the question being asked – and the invitation being issued – by folks in Clinton County, who are staging what looks to be the area’s biggest celebration ever and one of the more interesting celebrations of America’s semi-quincentennial on the weekend of July 3 and 4.

The schedule includes free concerts by country, bluegrass and Americana music stars; a huge fireworks show; golf tournaments, a 7.6-mile race, and historical and patriotic presentations that will highlight the contributions of Seventy Six and the county to the history of Kentucky and the nation.

Seventy Six is best known today for 76 Falls on Lake Cumberland, and the 76 Falls Country Club on KY 3062 (off KY 90) will be the site of free concerts by rising and established music stars.

Colton Bowlin (Photo by Sommer Daniel)

On Friday, July 3, the 8 p.m. headliner will be Colton Bowlin of Albany, whose album “Grandpa’s Mill” has been called one of the best country albums of the year. The opening acts, starting at 6 p.m., will be locals Kristen Hunter and Thomas Oesterreicher, who is part of the Thomas extended family who made music for decades at Renfro Valley and much of Kentucky.

The free concert Saturday, July 4, will begin with EmiSunshine at 6 p.m., followed by award-winning singer-songwriter Larry Cordle and his reunited Lonesome Standard Time band at 7. The headliner at 8 will be Chris Knight of Slaughters, Ky., long a big and popular voice of rural America.

The 76 Falls Country Club will start its weekend schedule with the “Battle of 76” golf tournament at 1 p.m. CT Friday. On Saturday at 8:30 a.m., it will host “The Spirit of 76 at 76,” limited to 76 players.

At 8:30 a.m. Saturday, scores of runners are expected for a 7.6-mile race from the 76 Falls Recreation Area on Lake Cumberland to the public square in Albany, where the Clinton County High School Alumni Band will perform. From 8 to 10 a.m., VFW Post #1096 on Hopkins Street in Albany will host a free breakfast, limited to veterans, active military and reserve and their spouses.

Seventy Six no longer has a post office, but for more than a century it was one of the leading communities in the region, and it produced many political and business leaders, including the Semple family, whose members were early leaders of the republic and state of California, and Sen. Ed P. Warinner, who was a leader in the Kentucky legislature and state Republican politics in the 1950s.

Seventy Six Baptist Church

The history of the community and its families will be highlighted at the historic Seventy Six Baptist Church, founded in 1822, and at the Mount Union Christian Church near 76 Falls. At these and other locations, there will be portrayals of historical figures in period costumes, and Uncle Sam on stilts.

At noon on Friday and Saturday, poet, author and former Clinton County school superintendent Rudy Thomas will give a walking lecture on “The Importance of Place,” about the development of Seventy Six, starting at the 76 Falls Recreation Area and going less than half a mile down KY 3062 to the Mount Union Christian Church, which will be the alternate site of the weather is inclement.

At 1:30 each day at Mount Union, former Eastern Kentucky University provost Rodney Piercey Jr. will lecture on Benjamin Franklin’s role in the American Revolution. His brother Terry will display and discuss part of his extensive collection of Native American artifacts (this is on Indian Creek!) and their sister Vickie Piercey May will demonstrate how to spin wool on their grandmother’s spinning wheel.

Lt. Garlin Murl Conner

At 3 p.m. each day, Mount Union will host a screening of the KET-aired documentary, From Honor to Medal: The Story of Garlin M. Conner, an hour-long film about local resident Murl Conner’s heroism in World War II and the unusual but successful effort to get him the Medal of Honor 20 years after his death, followed by a panel discussion including State Treasurer Mark Metcalf, a veterans’ advocate.

The Seventy Six Baptist Church, at the junction of KY 734 and KY 639, will have different programs each day, and a quilt display both days. On Friday from 1 to 3 p.m., speakers will discuss local history and families. Gospel singing will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, with the Tim Riddle Singers, the Cross Brothers from Byrdstown, Tenn., Ryan Thomas, and the Albany Community Chorus. At 3 p.m. Carl Sasser will serve his homemade ice cream until it's all gone, and there will be more discussions of family history.

Rain or wind will prevent rides.

From 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday at the 76 Falls Country Club, there will be children’s activities, including patriotic temporary face tattoos, cornhole and a vintage bag toss. From 5:30 to 8 p.m., weather permitting, the ReMax hot-air balloon will offer tethered rides at a lot near the country club.

Following the Chris Knight concert, the crowd will be treated to a huge show from LT’s Fireworks.

The Spirit of 76 Celebration is a project of the Clinton County Community Foundation and is funded almost entirely by private donations and sales of commemorative items, including a keepsake program with many historical articles and photographs. Articles are being published on the Celebration website, AlbanyKySpiritof76.blogspot.com, and its Facebook and Instagram pages.