The following is an article I prepared this past summer at the request of the editor of the magazine for the Kentucky League of Cities, one that the editor later very rudely opted to refuse without comment after asking for it. When I say "without comment" I mean she wouldn't even acknowledge receipt of the draft, much less offer suggestions on a different approach to the topic, as I urged. It was intended for their January/February issue as a cameo feature on Hodgenville for Lincoln's birthday. Since I was awaiting editorial direction to complete the article, a direction that never came, it was never quite finished. Needless to say, though, I was quite finished with it!
Folks are strange today. Seems "professionals" have forgotten how to be polite and do business at the same time. For those of us who write, it's not rejection that hurts, but rather the utter silent dismissal of your labors that cuts to the quick. That's a peeve of mine anyway. Criticize if you will, but offer me enough respect to tell me what you don't like or agree with. Just never dismiss me as irrelevant. Oh well, water under the bridge and down the river. Perhaps someone can appreciate through the blog what "Kentucky City" magazine & its editor had such unexplained disdain for.
I’ve only known her personally
for a half century, yet I feel I’ve known her intimately for many
generations. Sleepy, quiet, perhaps out
of touch to the passing viewer seeing the community only at its surface, I long
ago heard her steady, ancient pulse and eventually felt the constant surge of
strength that lies beneath through her stories as told by those vestiges of
another era now departed from us. We are
not Hopkinsville, and we are not in Laurel County. We are Hodgenville, of LaRue County, and we
are unique, we are proud, and we are vital, just as we have been since our
origins in what was once 18th century Virginia.
That early life’s cord to the past still seems to supply a
steady source of pioneer energy to this small town seeking a place in the 21st
century with the timeless grace of a lady whose has come to understand the role
of matriarch in the greater family of Kentucky communities. Oh, and don’t for a second think she isn’t a
lady. While men of character have been
plentiful here, the ghosts of those formidable Southern ladies still make their
presence known. From Mary Brooks LaRue
and Sarah LaRue Hodgen to Sarah LaRue Castleman and down
the generations to Mary Jane Ferrill, Grace Green Middleton and Kaye Bondurant,
the ladies of LaRue have left a legacy in Hodgenville that creates a pattern we
all tailor our service to, each woman making her mark and leaving our community
a little better than she found it. The
men may have had the primary positions of leadership, but our ladies have
always taken the lead.
Best known today for its iconic
National Park, the true history of Hodgenville has always been preserved and
passed down by its story tellers. True,
there is a pervasive male voice, perhaps due to our fame as the “Cradle of
Emancipation” that gave birth to America’s best remembered historic
President. From men like Homer Nicholas
I heard the saga of the illustrious LaRue family who gave their name to the
county. He wove fascinating tales of
distillers, poets, Confederate soldiers and early churches, but that softer
feminine voice has always best recounted the stories of the past in
Hodgenville. Aunt Grace Green Middleton,
widowed grocer and artist, narrated the visits of Presidents, the culinary arts
as preserved in the famed cookbook of the Hodgenville Woman’s club, and the
talents of fellow artisans who left a legacy of hand-crafted furniture, silver,
paintings and coverlets that graced the homes of descendants nearly two
centuries later.
Some of the richest stories, though, came from Cousin Mary Jane Ferrill, or “Lady Jane” as we called her, childhood friend & cousin of my grandfather and the daughter of a 19th century dry goods merchant whose pennies grew to dollars from the sale of farm implements and patent medicines. While other teens spent their summer Saturdays at more youthful pleasures, mine were commanded to Saturday tea where, seated on her Chippendale sofa, the elegant dowager of Hodgenville introduced a teenage boy to opera and etiquette over stories of Hodgenville’s past, laced with dreams for its future that extended so far past her near century of diary entries. In her parlor filled with Staffordshire figures and all the furnishings from a gentler, slower time, she told tales of pioneers and Gaelic slaves, Edwardian school days and a postbellum healing of a nation torn apart by a war that impacted the little town of Hodgenville more than most then living could start to comprehend.
Some of the richest stories, though, came from Cousin Mary Jane Ferrill, or “Lady Jane” as we called her, childhood friend & cousin of my grandfather and the daughter of a 19th century dry goods merchant whose pennies grew to dollars from the sale of farm implements and patent medicines. While other teens spent their summer Saturdays at more youthful pleasures, mine were commanded to Saturday tea where, seated on her Chippendale sofa, the elegant dowager of Hodgenville introduced a teenage boy to opera and etiquette over stories of Hodgenville’s past, laced with dreams for its future that extended so far past her near century of diary entries. In her parlor filled with Staffordshire figures and all the furnishings from a gentler, slower time, she told tales of pioneers and Gaelic slaves, Edwardian school days and a postbellum healing of a nation torn apart by a war that impacted the little town of Hodgenville more than most then living could start to comprehend.
Yes, the Civil War divided a
nation, but it also split a small town, one where the wartime Commander In
Chief had been born, but so too had a Confederate General as well as soldiers
and citizens sympathetic to and represented on both sides of a conflict our
country is still healing from. For
these, and many more reasons, Hodgenville is so much more than the mere
birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, though his legacy continues to shape and define
us.
Ironically, while the name of Lincoln has been tacked on to countless small businesses and agencies over the years. Hodgenville has never pushed the industry of tourism. We have an active Chamber of Commerce, but no Tourism Council. We have two components of a National Park, but no visitor center. In lieu, though, we manifested community spirit in the establishment of the Lincoln Museum. A multi-faceted gem that most small towns would be envious of, the power-packed institution boasts an incredible interpretive wax museum of Lincoln’s life along with an art gallery and research library rooted in the original collections of the Ladies’ Lincoln League a hundred years ago. At its helm the museum is steered & guided by a representative of the current generation of Hodgenville ladies carrying on a tradition of dedication and service, that being Mrs. Iris Stanley LaRue.
Bearing the same last name now and family representation as three other iconic LaRue women already referenced from the early 19th century, Iris has successfully integrated that fabled fortitude and strength from the centuries past with a modern perseverance, paving the way for future women, more correctly ladies, of equal integrity and devotion to answer the call to service. Iris LaRue stands as a role model for those who will yet come to be leaders in Hodgenville’s future. She isn’t guided so much as she is inspired by the ghost of town founder Sarah LaRue Hodgen to perpetuate a legacy of strong female trailblazers in a town where its women were never relegated to the kitchen, but rather had the skills of the hearth they transformed into skills of independence and governance.
Ironically, while the name of Lincoln has been tacked on to countless small businesses and agencies over the years. Hodgenville has never pushed the industry of tourism. We have an active Chamber of Commerce, but no Tourism Council. We have two components of a National Park, but no visitor center. In lieu, though, we manifested community spirit in the establishment of the Lincoln Museum. A multi-faceted gem that most small towns would be envious of, the power-packed institution boasts an incredible interpretive wax museum of Lincoln’s life along with an art gallery and research library rooted in the original collections of the Ladies’ Lincoln League a hundred years ago. At its helm the museum is steered & guided by a representative of the current generation of Hodgenville ladies carrying on a tradition of dedication and service, that being Mrs. Iris Stanley LaRue.
Bearing the same last name now and family representation as three other iconic LaRue women already referenced from the early 19th century, Iris has successfully integrated that fabled fortitude and strength from the centuries past with a modern perseverance, paving the way for future women, more correctly ladies, of equal integrity and devotion to answer the call to service. Iris LaRue stands as a role model for those who will yet come to be leaders in Hodgenville’s future. She isn’t guided so much as she is inspired by the ghost of town founder Sarah LaRue Hodgen to perpetuate a legacy of strong female trailblazers in a town where its women were never relegated to the kitchen, but rather had the skills of the hearth they transformed into skills of independence and governance.
Iris isn’t alone as a symbolic
lady leader of Hodgenville. Another
LaRue, her sister-in-law actually, has helped put Hodgenville on the culinary
map and stands out as an endearing and progressive business leader. Paula LaRue Varney knows a little something
about a biscuit, as the name of her cozy restaurant The Hot Biscuit would
imply. She also knows a bit about good
country cooking in general, inclusive of some of the region’s best homemade
desserts. Her Hot Biscuit is the
gathering place for Hodgenville’s “movers and shakers”. Any given morning will find folks from all
walks of life enjoying good food and good conversation. Now there is no gossip going on, understand
this. But, there may be some
well intentioned criticism enlivening the table conversations, all meant to work
out the main issues of the day and to educate the audience at Paula’s who can
only listen due to their mouths being full of buttered biscuits, ham and
jam! Paula carries on a tradition of
professional female cooking in Hodgenville that spans time and culture.
She follows a litany of wonderful home cooks who were enterprising enough to create culinary careers for themselves, from Nellie Hornback Thomas who gained a loyal following of GI’s and locals for her famed pies at the Hazel Hotel, on back further to former slave Joanne Durham who built up her own catering business during the Reconstruction Era. By the way, that legacy of professional African-American cooks and caterers is a story all to itself, perpetuated in the 20th century by the likes of Elizabeth Bell & Johnny Dorsey as well as Catherine Montgomery who satisfied the appetites of county music fans at Joey Ray Sprowles’ Lincoln Jamboree, Linda Thurman, who brought her own special touches and tastes to Paula Varney’s Hot Biscuit, and the late Claudine McDougal Thomas, whose jam cake and butterscotch pie became legendary pastries of choice at long remembered Christmas banquets of Hodgenville’s most “tasteful” holiday gatherings.
She follows a litany of wonderful home cooks who were enterprising enough to create culinary careers for themselves, from Nellie Hornback Thomas who gained a loyal following of GI’s and locals for her famed pies at the Hazel Hotel, on back further to former slave Joanne Durham who built up her own catering business during the Reconstruction Era. By the way, that legacy of professional African-American cooks and caterers is a story all to itself, perpetuated in the 20th century by the likes of Elizabeth Bell & Johnny Dorsey as well as Catherine Montgomery who satisfied the appetites of county music fans at Joey Ray Sprowles’ Lincoln Jamboree, Linda Thurman, who brought her own special touches and tastes to Paula Varney’s Hot Biscuit, and the late Claudine McDougal Thomas, whose jam cake and butterscotch pie became legendary pastries of choice at long remembered Christmas banquets of Hodgenville’s most “tasteful” holiday gatherings.
One might already see that the ladies
of LaRue and good food have a long communion together in
Hodgenville, as
our illustrious Woman’s Club cookbook will attest to. So will the decadence of a piece of
hand-pulled cream candy crafted by the loving hands of Rooney Gray, once it
hits the back of your mouth and melts into a rich sensation that might bring a
twinge of guilt. A Mount Sterling,
Kentucky native, Rooney secreted away the recipe and technique for this
cherished candy of the Commonwealth to produce it here in Hodgenville at her
MAM Candy’s kitchen. There she as well
lovingly creates a plethora of chocolates to tantalize any palate. Just don’t come seeking these sugary
temptations the 3rd Monday of October, or the weekend before it, as that’s when
Court Days are held back in Montgomery County, and for just a
few days Rooney is no longer a Mt. Sterling expatriate as she returns home to
provide her candied delicacies to her old friends, family, and Court Days
guests. The rest of the year, though,
she, and her candy, are all ours!
While we don’t encourage our
visitors to Hodgenville to simply eat their way across town, the idea isn’t a
bad one, and Anita Laha is happy to provide yet another stop on the local food
tour. Like Iris LaRue, Anita proudly
bears and represents her husband’s family name, accepting through marriage a
proud position of young matriarch of an esteemed family that, for many
individuals, truly “means” Hodgenville.
For to countless legions of devoted followers, going back to 1934 when
the tiny family restaurant opened, the name Laha has been synonymous with
Hodgenville and Hamburgers! Called the
“Red Castle” by husband Kelly’s grandparents and restaurant founders Sally and
William Laha, the current wife and husband Laha team continues after 80 years to
serve only fresh ground beef laden with onion and pepper grilled perfectly as
you watch, and smell. That aroma, in
fact, can make you salivate from across town, depending on the wind. For that reason alone there is no reason for
Anita to advertise, for the smell of onions draws hungry locals every day to
the lunch counter where you are likely to see patrons that have eaten Laha
burgers since childhood, as their parents and grandparents did.
Were Anita Laha, or any of these
formidable ladies of Hodgenville, to advertise their talents, ambitions,
contributions, and dedication to this small Kentucky town, no phrase or slogan
could adequately convey their love of community. No cartoon or graphic could ever represent
their pride of place. Only their genuine
smiles are sufficient to sell what can never be sold, for the experience of
Hodgenville, thanks to these and many more fine ladies like them, is free to
all who come and partake of it.
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