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Sunday, June 15, 2003

By Susan Scott Schmidt

CUMBERLAND FALLS STATE RESORT PARK, Ky. -- I am deep in the heart of southeastern Kentucky in a six-person raft, paddling straight into a waterfall. Only three feet away from a roaring 68-foot curtain of water, I'm feeling nervous. This is Cumberland Falls, the "Niagara of the South."

Despite the mist, our guide urges us to keep paddling. "Don't worry, you can't go under the falls, no matter how hard you paddle. The water has a boiling point, which this raft can't cross."

	If you go: Eastern Kentucky SOUTHERN AND EASTERN KENTUCKY TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION: 1-606-677-6098 or www.tourseky.com LAKE CUMBERLAND STATE RESORT PARK: 1-800-325-1709. BIG SOUTH FORK SCENIC RAILWAY: 1-800-462-5664. RENFRO VALLEY ENTERTAINMENT CENTER: 1-800-765-7464. KENTUCKY COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME: 1-877-356-3263; www.kentuckymusicmuseum.com TATER KNOB POTTERY AND FARM: 1-859-986-2167.

A few minutes later we emerge safely from the raft, and the next leg of my Kentucky odyssey is under way. I am making a loop of a trip south of Lexington, stopping in small towns and state parks, to take in all that the area has to offer. It took us an hour on winding roads through rural hollows to get here.

These falls are famous for their moonbows, rainbows created by the light of the moon. The unique phenomenon appears only five days each month, before and after the full moon. I'm told the only other moonbows in the world are at Victoria Falls in southern Africa.

This part of Kentucky is a land of houseboating, hospitality, barbecue as an art form, tobacco farms, coal-mining towns and country music. Religion appears to be a major industry. Baptist churches are everywhere.

Kentucky has more miles of navigable waterways than any state but Alaska, and houseboats are king. The Tennessee Valley Authority impoundments of smaller waterways in the mid-20th century created huge lakes for boating. Eighty percent of the houseboats in the nation are manufactured here.

There is nothing modest or cramped about these houseboats. They're floating condos with full modern kitchens, two bathrooms, Jacuzzis, water slides off the back, washer/dryers and big screen televisions.

In fact, many houseboat owners never even take the boats out. They just party at the dock!

The boats sleep up to 12 and are easy for a novice to steer, cruising at nine mph.

Rental prices range from bargain supersaver prices of $895 for a three-night weekend to $3,500 for the same period.

My houseboat cruise took place on Lake Cumberland, which is a prime fishing spot. Boaters catch bass, walleye and crappie on its 63,000 acres of water. At night, we retired to the state park's Lure Lodge, where we could watch deer from our back balconies with a lakeside view. The private cottages here are so coveted that they are booked up to three years in advance.

We ate at the Lure Lodge buffet, where dinner cost $11.95. Kentucky menus favor home cooking. That means baked beans, coleslaw, biscuits and country ham for dinner.

For barbecue lovers, however, the tiny town of Tompkinsville is a key destination, with no fewer than seven barbecue joints within its borders. The most famous is Frances' Barbecue, where owner David Arms has been serving up pork butt in many variations since 1977.

His barbecue is so prized that customers drive an average of 30 miles round trip to eat it. Arms sells 1,100 pounds of barbecue meat per week, in a county with only 12,000 residents.

The grandson of sharecroppers, Arms says his mother perfected the recipes. They serve shredded pork, beef and chicken barbecue (and sliced smoked loin) in Styrofoam containers with vinegar slaw and molasses baked beans. A slice of white bread is included to soak up the sauce. Arms even created a recipe for "barbecued egg," a hard-boiled egg soaked in tangy sauce.

Since my Kentucky trip took place a month after the rescue of the Quecreek miners, I was anxious to see the abandoned mining towns that are now historic sites. For years, Kentucky coal miners pried the black gold from mountain seams, and they did indeed "owe their souls to the company store." The miners were paid in "scrip," a company-issued currency, redeemable only at the company-owned shop.

To reach the mining camps, you can take the Big South Fork Scenic Railway, which originates in the town of Stearns. But before boarding the train for the $15 ride, I paid a visit to Stearns' coal-mining museum.

A genuine "moonshine still" illustrates the prominent role "white lightning" played in the county's history. Today, much of southeastern Kentucky remains dry, so you have to take your own six-packs of beer and nightcaps.

Museum Director Dawn Strunk came up with an exhibition jar of moonshine, a clear liquid that can be deadly if you find a bad batch. "You'd better know where it came from," says Strunk. "Bad moonshine can kill or blind you."

The railroad ride in open cars takes us 25 miles to two mining camps -- Blue and Barthell. In 1902, Justus Stearns came to this Kentucky valley looking for timber and discovered the coal by accident.

The first stop, Barthell Mining Camp, has been privately restored by the Roger family, ex-miners. Owner Harold Roger is descended from Welsh immigrants, who worked the mines and brought the ventilation system with them from Wales. Rogers' father worked in the pits for 48 years. "I've got coal dust all over me," he says, explaining his attachment to the camp. You can look down a coal shaft (but not enter) and explore the one-room schoolhouse they used.

At the next stop, Blue Heron, the National Park Service has created a living history exhibit, where recorded voices of miners and their families play at the push of a button. The stories were engrossing. You can learn what a tipple is (it grades coal), take in a history exhibit and eat at the snack bar, which serves chili, hot dogs and funnel cakes.

On another day, for a dose of architecture, we traveled to the Fay Jones-designed Begley Chapel at the Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia. Frank Lloyd Wright buffs will recognize Jones, who was a Wright disciple. At a cost of $2 million, Jones used 500 circles and 170,000 bricks to create a chapel with laser-cut steel gates and a high dome, inspired by the surrounding farm silos. College president Bill Luckey Jr. called it the finest masonry work in Kentucky.

On our final day, we headed for country music headquarters. Branson, Mo., may be famous, but Kentuckians say the "real country music" is found in Renfro Valley, home of the Kentucky Country Music Hall of Fame.

Renfro Valley Entertainment Center is one of the oldest country music venues, operating continuously sine 1939. The music in its nightly shows is traditional country, with some perfectly awful comedians with barnyard humor reminiscent of "Hee Haw."

For accommodations, you can choose among the modern RV park (where the country stars pull in their customized buses), the award-winning Country Hearth Inn, or some charming one-room cottages. The nearby Lodge serves good boarding house food: fried chicken served family style on blue-checked tablecloths.

We spent the day touring the hall of fame, where stars such as Loretta Lynn, Crystal Gayle, the Judds and the Everly Brothers have donated their costumes. The exhibits cover everything from bluegrass to hillbilly radio to jug bands.

I'd been looking at quilts and fudge for a week, but my favorite crafts stop was Tater Knob Pottery and Farm, in the foothills of the Cumberland Mountain, near the town of Berea. As far off the beaten path as this is (and it is far), owners Sarah Culbreth and Jeff Enge have built such a following that they ship their signature orange bisqueware and spoonbread bakers all over the country. (In the beginning of their 23-year career, they used to dig their own clay.)

The public is also invited to visit Tater Knob's workspace to see them throw or fire a pot. These charming craftspeople will even serve you a cup of organic coffee and a slice of homegrown cantaloupe.

Susan Scott Schmidt is a freelance writer.