Civil War re-enactors remind Celebration attendees of the contributions and sacrifices of our military veterans

Charlton Claywell (left) and Mark Maupin donned Civil War garb and carried period-era weapons during the Celebration to remind us of the contributions and sacrifices of our military veterans.

     Photos by James Guffey

Maupin and Claywell spoke to attendees at the historic Seventy Six Baptist Church.

Historic Seventy Six Baptist Church hosts two days of tales, music, family memories, quilts and other displays

Gospel singing, family stories, displays and the history of the community were enjoyed Friday and Saturday, July 3 and 4, at historic Seventy Six Baptist Chuch, founded in 1822, as part of the Spirit of 76 Celebration. Above, the gospel group Generations of Grace performs in the sanctuary.

At right, David Cross discusses the long, colorful history of Seventy Six. Here's a short video of his introduction, with his description of the Semple family, who came here from Virginia, laid out Seventy Six as a town, then moved on to Iowa and California, where they made major marks. Read David's story on the history of Seventy Six here, on the third page of this website.

The two-day event included displays of many quilts and some historical articles from the website and the Celebration's commemorative program, including one below on the Thomases, likely Clinton County's greatest singing family. At bottom, the Cross Brothers of Byrdstown, Tenn., and Ryan Thomas perform.         PHOTOS BY JAMES GUFFEY

Rudy Thomas, educator and poet, reads his work to illustrate the importance of place at Seventy Six

Rudy Thomas and Faye Piercey Dalton (Photo by Al Cross)

For a YouTube video of this part of the Spirit of 76 Celebration program, go here.

Rudy Thomas has been a teacher and a Clinton County school superintendent, and remains a poet who has published more than 1,000 poems, many of them tied to the concept of place. His presentation during the Spirit of 76 Celebration was titled "The Importance of Place."

Rudy learned the importance of place by growing up on the hill above 76 Falls, where he had hoped to begin a walking lecture, but the weather was too hot, so he spoke in the air-conditioned Mount Union Christian Church.

"I had good luck getting poetry published about my father; he was a character," Rudy said of his father, the late Morris Thomas, who was the inspiration for the title one of Rudy's 35 books, The Song Leader.

Though Morris was the song leader at the church, he was not baptized until he was old and had 19 strokes, Rudy said. His uncle Maxie Thomas asked why he had waited so long, and Morris replied, "When you go to the show you have to have a ticket to get in."

Rudy said his father went fishing under 76 Falls and came home drunk, explaining that "mermaids" from recreational boats on Lake Cumberland brought him beer. Morris came through the Battle of the Bulge and wouldn't stay in New York for a medical evaluation, so the doctor said he would rate him 10 percent disabled. "It was a small check," Rudy said, "but it was something that meant something to him." Morris was a well-known auto-body repairman.

When the lake was impounded, Rudy said, Lyman Cook was the last person to leave Indian Creek as the waters rose. When they reached his fromt porch, he hutched up his mules and said, "Let's go."

The next big event at Seventy Six was the April 3, 1974, tornado that destroyed the church and devastated the park on Indian Creek above the falls. He said the tornado gave him the idea for the poem "Threatening Conditions" in the book Old Wounds, New Words, published by the Jesse Stuart Foundation, and for "A Local Legend," a poem about Effie Wells, who lived on a hill overlooking the falls and was killed by the tornado at age 64. He read it, adding some explanations:

"She was a good woman, folks say; loved the Bible and a church she could not attend. Hard feelings stood in the way, her husband's and another's. . . .

A green light came to the opposite bank when the creek was raging wild. No one could cross from bank to bank, not man, not woman, not child.

To the folk that was a warning they should not take it light. She had cause for warning. death came in a fortnight. ("Took her husband," Rudy added.)

She lived in fear alone; her children realized they must care for her, and brought home a dog to guard a woman to dust, both capable.
The [next] woman saw a sign; she too became afraid, coming from east to west in a line, coming from west to east, she said, and moved out.

("So that was two women who moved out of the house because they saw this strange light across the creek when it was roaring.")

The storm came from the west that day, spiraling like a swarm of bees, cleaning the land in a warlike way, of her houses, her barns and her trees.

Howling down to the river the animal would go until the rescuers followed his run; across the river he had them go, to find her body, her Bibles, her guns, twisted and torn.

The folk now fear the woman dwells within in the storms' calm eye; when they hear the wind, they hear her yell, so shrill, so real, the children cry."

Rudy also spoke from his book Life on the River Hill, which he said was based on the manuscript of a half-Indian woman whose father reportedly rode with the Jesse James Gang. He said he was mentored by the late Jim Wayne Miller, the Appalachian poet at Western Kentucky University.

After Rudy spoke at noon Saturday, July 4, he asked Faye Piercey Dalton to share some stories of the community. She said after Wednesday night prayer meetings, she and other children would enjoy watermelon "and we all thought we had to go to the spring . . . a little bitty narrow path into the woods. And to tell you the truth, there might have been some hand-holding, and maybe a few stolen kisses, but you have to remember most of us were kissin' cousins, so that's about all it amounted to. . . . I look back at all those days and I see what a big impact Mount Union made on me. I still have a special place in my heart for this church."

Faye's brother, Terry Piercey, recalled an energetic preacher at a revival who "ran up and down the aisles and everything, and he caught my eye. He ran over and he grabbed me by the arm . . . he thought I was of age and that I looked like I was under conviction, but I was really just scared to death." He read "a poem Rudy wrote about our nights in church:"

"I remember. Terry laughs. Going to Old Seventy Church once one night when I was about 8. It was hot, no screens on the windows, and the bugs would come in. I was whippign a snapping bug, a brown bug hinged in the middle; they coudl flip straight up when you touched them. I was doing that. And the preacher came back, hobvering over me, and told me I was under conviction. I'd already read all of Edgar Allan Poe and most of Shakespeare by then, but I didn't have a clue what 'being under conviction' was. He asked me, 'What do you think your parents were about when you were conceived, young man? They weren't wanting a sweet baby, they were lusting,' I remember him saying, and I had no idea what lust was. I kept looking at my mother for help, but she didn't give me any."

Piercey sisters talk about family, community and history; one of them spins some wool as a brother interjects

A great part of the Spirit of 76 Celebration was the package of historical presentations at Mount Union Christian Church by children of the late Rodney and Jean Piercey.

Faye Piercey Dalton and Phyllis Piercey Amonett, both retired teachers, helped plan the program, and Faye acted as a sort of mistress of ceremonies. "It's been such an adventure getting this done," she said July 3. "It's been a privilege to grow up in this place . . . Community makes you who you are, family makes you who you are."

Faye displayed and discussed the black silk "flapper" dress of one of her grandmothers, Zada Thomas Brown, "something very special to me." She said hemlines rose in the 1920s, and "She was independent, oh, so very independent, and I thnk this dress is just a reflection of who she was. She was probably the first woman in the community whose skirt went that far up. . . . She was just such a blessing to me, and I hope I treat my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren in the same way I was treated because it was a very special relationship."

Earlier, Faye stressed the value of history: "You don't know much about yourself unless you know some history. It's tragic for people to get to my age, anyway, and not know who they are. I think it gives you a special feeling of confidence and identity, and learning to get to know people. . . . Share with your children their history. Tell those stories about grandparents, great-grandparents, all you know about your past, and expose them to it. They're not perfect people; they had their strengths and weaknesses, just like all of us, butthose people that have your own genes, you can see yourself in them. Have you ever seen that grandchild or great-grandchild and just a glimpse of someone, your grandparent or your grandfather? It's a wonderful experience."

Faye Dalton and Phyllis Amonett dressed in period costume.

Faye continued, "What is [the] Seventy Six community? It is a community. We still identify with each other. We've been meeting up at Junction Station [about a mile south, to plan the Celebration] . . . getting to know people who we knew when we were children or whatever. So we are a community here; we still have some boundaries, but they aren't really that clear; we go to Fairland, and that's really still Seventy Six. Those lines are blurring, and they will continue to blur," to the pount that "at some time in the future, nobody'll even remember" the place. "We're the only Seventy Six in the United States, but other than thatg we're not that unique. But we live in a special place . . . the land, we're very attached to it, but more important, the people."

Faye and her cousin, poet and retired teacher Rudy Thomas, recalled that after the Mount Union church was destroyed by one of the April 3, 1974, tornadoes, the community saw to it that it was quickly rebuilt.

Phyllis P. Amonett, at 79 the oldest of the siblings, said "I feel like this community has built me and who I am and how I raised my kids." She recalled attending the church with the Thomas, Wells, Orton, Conner and Wray families, and "We always had a relationship. . . . They built your character, they built your community, and sometimes they built your work, because you worked with them all the time. We worked in tobacco, we worked in gardens, we worked in the hay. . . . We worked putting up food, we chopped kraut, we dried apples and tomatoes. I can't remember everything that we did do, but our No. 1 hate . . . was the ironing. My mother sprinkled, and she ironed everything from the underwear on down."

Vickie P. May at the wheel (Photos by Al Cross)

Vickie Piercey May of Lexington, the youngest Piercey sister, demonstrated how to spin wool thread on a wool-only spinning wheel that was given to her grandmother Margarette Piercey by her mother-in-law (around 1840, Phyllis says) and restored by her brother Terry, who rescued it from a chicken house.

In college, she said, "I followed a path that included working in pioneer crafts and then after that I followed a path into industry and I retired from Toyota in Georgetown after 25 years as a mechanic."

She explained that weavers often made "linsey-woolsey," with linen threads (from flax that grew along streams) in one direction, because wool was too heavy to wash and dry and the combined fabric lasted much longer. The wheel to make thread from flax was much smaller, she said.

Terry Piercey, expert collector of Native American artifacts, shared his knowledge July 3 and 4 at Mount Union Church

Piercey with a Benton projectile point he found (Photo by Al Cross)

Terry Piercey has colleced Native American artifacts since he was a small child, and he lived in a good place to start doing that: along Indian Creek, which was named for Native Americans or the evidence they left behind.

Piercey, who calls himself "an avocational archaeologist," shared his knowledge in presentations July 3 and 4 at Mount Union Christian Church as part of the Spirit of 76 Celebration. For a video of his July 4 presentation, go here.

In discussing how the Adena people and earlier Native civilizations lived, he also discussed the geology of the area, including its many disappearing creeks, which run underground through karst limestone. He suggested that they knew Indian Creek as "Mystery Creek" because of its in-and-out route and perhaps its huge waterfall, now named 76 Falls.

He also discussed the Longhunters and Voyageurs, the French explorers who named the Cumberland River the Rivere des Chouanons, or River of the Shawnees, the name it was known by until English explorers and the Longhunters came downstream and named it for the Duke of Cumberland, King George's brother. He said the Longhunters wore buckskin, and harvested deer mainly in the summer, when hair was easier to remove from their hides.

Portraying Ben Franklin, Buz Piercey recalls the past to make points about the present: seek truth and compromise

Rodney "Buz" Piercey as Ben Franklin (still from video)

By Al Cross

"We dared to dream of what America might become -- and look at you now," Benjamin Franklin said at the Spirit of 76 Celebration. Well, Ben Franklin as portrayed by Rodney Piercey Jr., better known as "Buz," in the Mount Union Chrstian Church where he grew up.

"Franklin" recalled that he was involved in drafting the Declaration of Indepedence in 1776 and the Constitution 11 years later, both at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the city where he lived.

"We needed a birth announcement . . . a ceclaration to the world, a statement of our intentions" and reasons for separating from Great Britain, he said. That job was assigned to a five-man committee, but Thomas Jefferson did most of the writing.

Franklin said one "correction" he made was to replace Jefferson's line "We hold these truths to be sacred and inviolate" to "We hold these truths to be self-evident," because people can disagree on what is sacred and "The monarchy gets its authority from the church."

When the drafters of the Constitution emerged from Independence Hall in September 1787, a woman asked Franklin, "What have we got? A republic or a monarchy?" Franklin replied, "A republic, if you can keep it."

"A democracy, unlike a monarchy, is not self-sustaining," Franklin said. "If you want to have a democratic republic, you'd better get to work. . . . In a democracy, the work is never over." He said that when democracies fail, it is usually from "a decay of civic virtue."

Franklin, who discovered several of the fundamentals of electricity, then staged a pseudo-science experiment that failed. His point was that while most scientific experiments fail, they can be repeated until success is achieved, but "Our democratic experiment is very different. We might not get another chance. . . . We must not let it fail."

He said divisions of opinion nearly prevented adoption of the Declaration and the Constitution, and "Division is still your worst enemy," made worse by misinformation and the desire for confirmation of our beliefs over information that might be contrary to them.

Keeping a republic "requires seeking truth over confirmation," and compromise, "which is the very soul of a democracy," he said. "It involves seeking cooperation and compromise every time. . . . When we compromise, we are not surrendering principles. That's not what compromise is about."

He quoted from a letter that he wrote at the constitutional convention: "We must all approach our public lives with a degree of humility, recognizing that our opponents may sometimes be right and that we ourselves may sometimes be mistaken."

Concluding, he shifted to the present: "If we've lost that skill set, if we've lost that ability, then we certainly have lost this country."

Free veterans breakfast at VFW Post attracts 58 people

Part of the crowd of 58 at the veterans' breakfast (Photo by Larry Craig)

The free breakfast for veterans, active military, reservists and spouses Saturday morning at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Murl Conner Post No. 1096 attracted 58 people. The event was held to highlight the role of military service in the history of Clinton County and the nation. Thanks to all veterans for your service!

Commemorative programs, T-shirts, caps and posters (including some framed and numbered) are still available

Some limited-edition mementos of the Celebration are still for sale at the 76 Falls Country Club and at the David Cross Law Office, 200 East Cumberland St., Albany (northeast corner of the courthouse square).

These were produced to defray the cost of events. Available are caps; posters, framed (and numbered, 1 through 76) and unframed; T-shirts in black, white, gray and sand; and the tremendous 118-page commemorative program, not just a collector's item but a historical treasure. Get yours before they're all gone!

7.6-mile race from 76 Falls to Albany draws 52 runners; was sponsored by Med Center Health

The 7.6-mile race to the Albany square began at the steps to 76 Falls at 8 a.m. (Photos by James Guffey)

The 7.6-mile race from the 76 Falls Recreation Area on Lake Cumberland to Albany on Saturday, July 4, drew 58 signups, 52 runners who started the race, and 49 who finished at the courthouse square on a very warm morning, race coordinator Dee Soma said.

The Clinton County High School Alumni Band, joined by some current CCHS band mambers, performed just past the finish line at the former Albany City Hall on South Cross Street. Soma said the runners appreciated the musical welcome.

The race was sponsored by Med Center Health, which owns the hospital in Albany.

Free concert and fireworks attract big crowd to 76 Falls CC

A huge crowd gathered for the free concert and fireworks show that capped the Spirit of 76 Celebration. This photo was taken near the end of headliner Chris Knight's long set, around 9:30 p.m. at the 76 Falls Country Club. The big-time fireworks show followed quickly after Knight wrapped up. For a short video of part of the fireworks show, see the Celebration's Facebook page.

Colton Bowlin plays 100 minutes for his hometown fans; Kristen Hunter and Thomas Oesterreicher opening acts

Kristen Hunter

Colton Bowlin

Friday night's concert went two minutes into Saturday, July 4, because of a two-and-a-half-hour weather delay that began during the latter part of Kristen Hunter's set. Not much rain fell, but dark clouds swirled and the radar projections did not look good.

However, Colton Bowlin very much wanted to play for his home Clinton County crowd, so a tarpaulin was placed over the stage and he and his band performed from about 10:20 until just past midnight. He did much of his set with an electric guitar, something new for him, and it seemed to go well. He did a short acoustic set while his rocking band took a break.

Thomas Oesterreicher, who like the other entertainers is from Albany, was the opening act, below.

Photo by Al Cross; above photos by Patti Cross

Posters, 76 of them framed, go on sale Friday at golf course

Limited-edition posters promoting and commemorating the Spirit of 76 Celebration will go on sale at noon Friday on the back porch of the 76 Falls Country Club and golf course.

Only 200 posters have been printed; 76 of them will be framed and numbered as collector's items. The framed posters will be $76 each and the others will be $30 each. Proceeds will help defray the cost of the Celebration.

Also on sale will be two styles of Spirit of 76 Celebration caps, and four colors of T-shirts: white, sand, gray and black. The front of the T-shirts has a small Celebration logo and the back has the poster design. Caps and T-shirts are priced at $30.

Priced at $20 is the 118-page Commemorative Program, full of historical articles and other information, including advertising from the many sponsors who have made the Celebration possible.

Veterans' breakfast will be held at VFW Post after all

The free breakfast for veterans, active military, reservists, and their spouses will be held at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Murl Conner Post No. 1096 on Hopkins Street in Albany after all.

The breakfast had been moved to the Albany First Baptist Church because the VFW Post was going to be used for storage and distribution of washers and dryers for flood victims, but that decision has been reversed.

The breakfast will run from 8 to 10 a.m. and is open only to veterans, active military, reservists, and their spouses.

Hopkins Street runs from the Burkesville Road (KY 1590) to West Wood Street (which becomes the Old Burkesville Road).

Jeff Vincent, who lives in the heart of Seventy Six, has a big flag display for the Celebration

Jeff Vincent, who lives very near where the Seventy Six post office and store stood, has decorated his place in a big way for the celebration. The photo was taken by Professor James Guffey. See more on our Facebook page.

Kentucky Living magazine and student newspaper at WKU give Spirit of 76 Celebration a publicity boost

Media outlets beyond Clinton County are picking up on the Spirit of 76 Celebration. KET did a story this week, and now there are stories in the student newspaper at Western Kentucky University, the College Heights Herald, and in Kentucky Living, the magazine of the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives. The latter article was written by Byron Crawford, "Kentucky's storyteller," and is accompanied by a painting of 76 Falls by Melissa Warp, above.

The perfect place for the nation’s big birthday
By Byron Crawford

The small comunity of Seventy Six in Clinton County is not about to let the 250th birthday of the USA pass without a celebration.

“Where better to celebrate the spirit of ’76 than in Seventy Six, Kentucky, the only Seventy Six in America?” says David Cross, a Clinton County attorney and historian who helped organize the celebration.

Missouri once had a hamlet named Seventy Six, he says, but it vanished many decades ago and now lies beneath a forest of hardwoods. So Seventy Six, Kentucky, population maybe 500, will mark America’s semiquincentennial on the Fourth of July with the biggest fireworks show ever seen in Clinton County.

Other plans for July 3 and 4 include concerts and events honoring Clinton County’s two Medal of Honor recipients, Union soldier Oliver Hughes of Seventy-Six, and Lt. Garlin Murl Conner, a World War II hero with close ties to Seventy Six. There will be special observances by churches, a golf tournament and a program featuring prehistoric artifacts found near Indian Creek—which flows through Seventy Six and over a cliff into nearby Lake Cumberland as 76 Falls.

Since 1952, when Wolf Creek Dam on the Cumberland River impounded Lake Cumberland, the falls has been among the most familiar landmarks and one of the favorite party coves for boaters along the lake’s approximately 1,255 miles of shoreline. . . .

Long ago, historian Ella Nunn, a native of Seventy Six, wrote that when her brother was 6 years old, he and a young cousin were chasing geese in Indian Creek above Seventy Six Falls when the cousin slipped and nearly went over the falls. She said he was saved when her brother grabbed him by the hair as his feet went over the edge.

As children, she wrote, she and her two brothers slipped away from home and “got brave enough to lie on our stomachs right beside where the water poured over the falls and look over.” They waited until they were grown to tell their parents.

Poet, author and historian Rudy Thomas will share many more episodes of local history and folk life during the celebration’s events, including stories of river life before Lake Cumberland, as well as a remembrance of the deadly April 3, 1974, twin tornadoes that took several lives and left permanent scars in Seventy Six and neighboring communities.

Yet, this July Fourth, the little community whose spirit so perfectly matches its name is still here to celebrate America’s 250th birthday.

“We started a foundation a few years ago that’s helped financially,” says Cross, a consumer-member of South Kentucky RECC. “I told somebody, ‘We’re gonna ask for money this year, but we won’t be back for another 50 years.’”

Film on Medal of Honor winner Murl Conner to be shown twice, followed by panel discussions about him and vets

First Lt. Garlin Murl Conner

This story is an updated version of one published May 24.

By Al Cross

More than 3,500 service members have won the Medal of Honor, but no one earned it and won it quite like Garlin Murl Conner, who was from Indian Creek in Clinton County.

The story of Conner’s World War II heroism, and the efforts of friends and admirers to get him the medal 20 years after he died, is told in an hour-long documentary, “From Honor to Medal: The Story of Garlin M. Conner,” which has aired many times on KET.

The documentary will be shown Friday and Saturday, July 3 and 4, at 3 p.m. both days, at the Mount Union Christian Church near 76 Falls. The showings will be followed by panel discussions about Conner’s life and veterans’ experiences. Panelists on Friday will include State Treasurer Mark Metcalf, a veterans’ advocate.

From The New Era, Albany, Nov. 11, 1944

One item up for discussion is whether Conner was the most decorated American soldier of World War II. That title is typically given to Audie Murphy, who was in the Third Infantry Division with Conner and earned his Medal of Honor two days later and a few miles away, in Alsace in eastern France in January 1945. Conner received four Silver Stars, two more than Murphy, and said he was wounded seven times, about twice as many as Murphy, but the records of his Purple Hearts were destroyed in a fire at a federal records center.

Audie Murphy came home to fame and fortune as a Medal of Honor winner and movie star sponsored by James Cagney. Murl Conner earned the Distinguished Service Cross, which wasn’t upgraded to the Medal of Honor until 2018. He came home to an Indian Creek farm with no electricity or running water. He had a family, gave them a good life, and was a leader of his fellow farmers and veterans. He suffered in body and mind from his Army service, but said very, very little about it.

He had offered the ultimate sacrifice, calling in artillery on his forward observer’s position for hours, to stave off an attack by a German tank unit. He had volunteered for the task soon after being released for treatment of a leg wound. His valor earned him Medal of Honor, after a campaign he authorized shortly before his death in 1998.

His story was first told by a rank stranger who became his greatest advocate and inspired others to join his campaign to get Conner the Medal of Honor. Led by a neighbor who wouldn’t take no for an answer, they struggled for 20 years to break through the Army bureaucracy, losing at every turn – but remaining inspired by Murl Conner’s battlefield examples of determination and resolve.

In the end, in an amazing turn of events, they won. Their story is told in the documentary, produced by the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky.

“He was a combination of Kit Carson and Davy Crockett,” said the late Walton Haddix of Albany, who took up the campaign begun by Richard Chilton, a Green Beret veteran from Genoa City, Wisconsin, who met Conner and learned his story while researching the service of his uncle, who died at Anzio under Conner’s command.

“He cared about his men more than anybody I ever knew,” Chilton says. “If you want to save your life, go out with Murl. Don’t go out with anybody else.”

The documentary was sponsored by private donors and the Veterans Trust Fund of the Kentucky Department for Veterans Affairs, which assisted the Conner team’s legal efforts at the direction of then-Commissioner Heather French Henry, whose cause was veterans when she was Miss America. She says in the documentary, “Just to know that you are part of this great mission that has lasted so long, and that you could at some point in your future, tell your kids, tell your grandkids, that once upon a time you were part of this fight . . . ”

President Trump embraces Pauline Conner at White House (EPA-EFE)

The fight ended June 26, 2019, when President Trump presented the Medal of Honor to Conner’s widow, Pauline Conner, in a ceremony at the White House. She said in a speech at the Pentagon the next day, “This is what Murl would want me to say: God bless these United States of America.”

The documentary was written and directed by Jeff Hoagland of Lexington. The associate producer was Janet Whitaker, formerly of KET and the Institute for Rural Journalism. The writer of this article, who was director of the Institute at the time, was executive producer.

The panel discussion about Murl Conner’s life and the effort to get him the Medal of Honor will be led by his cousin, Luther C. “Hoppy” Conner Jr., a lawyer who was part of the effort. Metcalf, the state treasurer, has made veterans and military personnel one of seven communities in his Financial Empowerment Coalition and Database.

KET's 'Kentucky Edition' features Spirit of 76 Celebration

KET's Laura Rogers interviewed Barry Melton at the golf course.

"Kentucky Edition," the nightly news program on Kentucky Educational Television, had a three-minute story about the Spirit of 76 Celebration Tuesday evening.

Reporter Laura Rogers interviewed Barry Melton and David Cross at the 76 Falls Country Club. "I've been looking forward to this since 1976," when the nation celebrated its 200th birthday, Barry said.

David recalled what he thought when he saw that Charles Kuralt of CBS News was doing feature stories on "places associated with the 200th anniversary of the country, and I remember thinking to myself, I wonder why he doesn't come to Seventy Six, Kentucky." Perhaps no one told him about it.

The segment shows several locations in Clinton County.

David said that of the nearly $100,000 raised to stage the Celebration, 90 percent has come from private sources, "and a lot of it has come from the community of Seventy Six."

"The whole community's excited about it," Barry said. "The whole county, surrounding counties."

Rogers concluded, "As communities across America celebrate America 250, this one has 76 reasons to feel festive."

To watch the program, click here.