Homegrown Media

15/04/2025

So I'm a college student now at Morehead State and I wanted to do a fun project instead of worrying about my upcoming exams. So I went on a deep dive of the history of my University. This is just a brief history of Morehead State.

Nestled in the hills of eastern Kentucky, Morehead State University is more than just a center of higher education — it’s a place where history lives in every brick, bell tower, and building. Its story is one of perseverance, transformation, and dedication to public service through teaching, the arts, and communication.
Humble Beginnings: 1887
Morehead State’s origins trace back to October 3, 1887, when the doors of the Morehead Normal School opened to just one student, Annie Page. By the end of that first day, a second student, Ethel Bertie Hamm, had enrolled. The school operated out of a small rented cottage on land that today is home to the Adron Doran University Center (ADUC). It was founded with support from Phebe Button, her son Frank C. Button, and the Christian Church of Kentucky to meet a growing demand for teacher training in the region.
Though the private school closed in the spring of 1922, its spirit endured. That same year, the Kentucky General Assembly established Morehead State Normal School, and in fall 1923, the first class of state-supported students enrolled. The school’s first president, Frank C. Button, led a small but mighty team of nine staff who taught subjects ranging from English and math to agriculture and speech.
Growth Through Change: From Normal School to University
In 1926, the institution was renamed Morehead State Normal School and Teachers College, reflecting its expanding academic scope. By 1930, it had become Morehead State Teachers College, and then simply Morehead State College in 1948. Finally, in 1966, it achieved full university status as Morehead State University.
This evolution was not just in name. Campus infrastructure blossomed, with numerous iconic buildings erected, each carrying its own unique story.
Breckinridge: A Center for Teacher Training
Built in 1931, Breckenridge Training School was once the heart of teacher education, serving as a lab school for grades 1 through 12. Students affectionately known as "Breck Brats" walked the halls while future educators gained hands-on experience. In 1966, as the university's status rose, Breckenridge underwent expansion and was briefly renamed the University Breckinridge School. However, due to economic challenges, it merged with Rowan County Schools in 1981 and closed the following year.
Today, the building lives on in a new role, housing the departments of Art and Communication Sciences. Inside are vibrant creative spaces like the Kozy Hamilton Costume Shop, Lucille Caudill Little Theatre, Thom Yancey Television Seminar Room, and an audio studio, offering modern students hands-on learning in the arts.
Wartime Service: The Bluejackets of World War II
During World War II, Morehead State played a crucial role in national defense. From June 1942 to July 1944, the university hosted the U.S. Navy Training School Electrical, educating 4,400 sailors in shipboard electrical systems. As many as 600 trainees were on campus at once, living in Thompson and Mays Halls during intensive four-month courses. Many of these Bluejackets later served on U.S. warships, and some never returned home. The presence of the Navy on campus helped the university survive difficult times marked by rationing and low civilian enrollment. Today, a historical marker at Grote-Thompson Hall commemorates their legacy.
Morehead State's dedication to preserving its past is evident in the recognition of several buildings in the National Register of Historic Places, including the President's Home, Button Auditorium (named for the first president), Fields Hall, Camden-Carroll Library, Allie Young Hall, Radar Hall, Grote-Thompson Hall, and Breckenridge Training School.
Over the decades, fourteen presidents have guided the university’s journey from a one-room cottage to a full-fledged regional institution. With more than 100 years of service to the region and beyond, Morehead State University remains a beacon of educational opportunity, resilience, and community pride.

18/11/2023

Welcome to Homegrown Media, the new age. We started out as a school club bent on telling stories about the history of our amazing county. We posted many things, made newsletters, and even competed in competition while in school. Now however, we are opening up a new beginning and we are hoping to included more of Eastern KY while still being true to our roots. We would love to have you interact with our page and more. Thank you for all your support!

16/11/2023

While he isn’t from Wolfe County, did you know that the first ever poet laureate of the United States came from Kentucky? Robert Penn Warren was born on April 24th, 1905 in Guthrie, Kentucky. For those of you who don’t know (because I didn’t) Guthrie is very close to the Tennessee border. His writing journey starts out very interesting. Due to an accident with his brother, his left eye had to be removed which in turn canceled his Naval Academy appointment. The summer following this incident he published in “Messkit”, a small publishing given to soldiers in mess kits. It was his first poem “Prophecy.”
Before I get into all of his awards and education, I want to add in some other facts that you might find interesting. He married twice. His first wife was named Emma Brescia. Not much is said about her. His second wife, Elanor Clark, however, had two children with him. A daughter named Rosanna Phelps Warren and Gabriel Penn Warren. He moved around quite a bit but never forgot his home. He fought a battle with prostate cancer which ultimately led to his death. Though he is buried in Vermont he requested a special grave marker to be placed in the Warren Family gravesite in Guthrie, Kentucky.
There is a commemorative stamp issued by the United States Postal Services to mark the 100th birthday of the author. It was introduced in his post office in his hometown. It is an image of the author from a photograph with a background that reminds the viewer of the setting from his story, All the King’s Men. His two children can also be seen. Vanderbilt has a center for Humanities in his name and an endowment grant for students to get scholarships for research in the arts.
This man’s education list is long, crazy, and incredibly impressive. He was obviously intelligent. He finished private high school early at the age of fifteen. His mother thought he was too young to go to college so she enrolled him in a high school in Tennessee for a year. When he was sixteen he enrolled at Vanderbilt University. In the fall of 1925 he entered the University of California as a graduate student and teaching student. After receiving his M.A in 1927 he decided to enroll and enter Yale University on a fellowship. In October of 1928 he then gained entry into New College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and received his B. Litt. He received the Guggenheim Fellowship to study in Italy during the rule of Benito Mussonlini while teaching at the Southwestern College (now Rhodes) in Memphis.
During his time at Vanderbilt, Warren became a member of Fugitives. Many of his poems are related to difficult topics. Some of which are not views that are okay today. He later recanted most of these views though. A good example would be his writings in “Divided South Searches Its Soul.” Many of these writings included interviews with civil rights leaders at the time like Martin Luther King Jr.
Warren’s novel All the King’s Men is his best known novel. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 1947. There were two film adaptations of this novel. One in 1949 that won an Academy Award for best picture. The other was filmed in 2006. An opera was also inspired by the novel.
Warren served as a consultant for the Poetry to the Library of Congress Cabinet. He won two Pulitzer Prizes in poetry, 1958 for Promises: Poems and 1979 for Now and Then. Promises also won the National Book Award for Poetry. In 1974, the National Endowment for the Humanities elected him a speaker for the Jefferson Lecture. (It’s the highest honor of achievement in the arts and humanities.) President Jimmy Carter awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980.
As I mentioned in the very start he was the first U.S Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts a year later. He wrote an influential literature textbook called Understanding Poetry, a resource that can still be found today.
Robert Warren certainly was a very successful man. His life was filled with many achievements but throughout it all he still found ways to express himself and stuck to those methods as much as he could. He has gone down in history as a poet who formed the foundation of so much modern poetry we see today. And he came from good old Kentucky. I think that is certainly something to howl about.

15/11/2023

Hello everyone, it's been a while. This is Heather Parks, one of the orgional Homegrown Media members. With the blessing of Mrs. Creech (who is the most amazing person ever), I am bringing Homegrown back! I might expand it alittle to Eastern KY but with a focus on Wolfe still! You can looked forward to a new post Friday or Saturday!

04/05/2023

Homegrown Howl: To The Booklovers
Author: Kristen Smith

Have you ever read a book that changes your whole life? Many people don't understand the power a book can hold. A book is like a key to a new world. We build a foundation around one book or a series, and our morals, characteristics, dreams, inspirations, and expectations all circle around a masterpiece of pages.
I love all books; I love romances, thrillers, mysteries, and nonfiction. My list could go on forever. I love libraries and the beauty of being surrounded by books, papers, and freshly brewed tea. Some people don't understand how I could be invested in worlds I have never experienced, but there is something utterly breathtaking in being transformed into a new realm of knowledge.
A very important and wonderful part of reading is finding the perfect getaway. The perfect getaway helps us disconnect from reality and focus on our book. Some love large libraries with tall shelves and fancy displays, while others prefer their own room with a cozy blanket and a warm drink; my favorite place to read, however, is nature.
I love to watch the trees sway in the warm breeze and admire all the beautiful plant life. I love seeing all the adorable animals in their natural habitats. I also love reading at quaint little coffee shops in the Gorge, such as The Brick, while the sunlight shines through the window and onto my face. Reading over a cliff view or in a Gorge coffee shop gives great aesthetic pleasure. As a bonus, most of the coffee shops have pottery and souvenirs to purchase so we can always remember our visits.
A good book is like a safe place. I have many books which I love, but there is always that one book I can read over and over again and never lose interest. In fact, when we read a book over and over, we seem to relate to it more and more each time we read it. Many times, we connect to the characters and settings—in some ways, more than actual people and places. It is hard to comprehend sometimes that the story is fake; we get caught up and the characters and happenings become real. However, is our experience fake? No, the book is not real, but for something to have such an effect on people, our experience must be real in some way.
Why do some readers connect to characters so much? I believe it’s because we are inspired by the characters’ personalities and actions. We want to experience what we don't have ourselves. For example, I wish I was more confident and carefree; when I read a book with strong, self-assured characters, I imagine I am in their position and that boosts my confidence. Book characters inspire people to be who they wish to be. Books help us grow into the people we want to be.
The one negative part of having an exhilarating imagination is remembering the real world is not as fantastic as our fictional world. No matter how much we love and connect to our books and fantasies, they will not become reality. The characters will not become people, and the settings will not become places. All we have is our beautiful, wonderful imagination and the lives we live while there.
This concludes my insight into the majestic, exuberant, nearly magical life of a book lover. The connection between certain people and certain books is unbelievable. And that's something to howl about.
* * * * *
Although no Wolfe County writer has made the bestseller list to my knowledge, Kentucky is home to many authors. Here are a few Kentucky authors and some of their works:

Joseph Altshelter( Journalist, author of short stories, novelist) :
—The Young Trailers

Nancy K. Allen( Fictional writer who focused mainly on children's stories) :
—Hiram´s Gift

Harriet S. Arnow (wrote a Kentucky trilogy and social history pieces) :
—The Dollmaker

Glenn Kleier( also co-founder/ president of a national marketing company) :
—The Knowledge of Good and Evil

Silas House( recipient of the governor's award from Andy Beshear in 2019):
— Lark Ascending

Barbara Kingsolver( awarded the National Humanities Medal):
— Unsheltered

Wendell Berry( a poet, critic, activist, and storyteller):
— The Need To Be Whole

Crystal Wilkinson( Teaches at the University of Kentucky as Associate Professor of English in the MFA in Creative Writing Program):
— Perfect Black

Geraldine Brooks( Her novel, March, is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize):
— Horse

Gurney Norman( a producer and writer for Coming to Ground, Fat Monroe, and The Wilgus Stories):
— Ancient Creek: A Folktale

George Ella Lyon(She has published poetry, juvenile novels, picture books, and articles):
— Where I´m From

Cheryl Hollon( She was an engineer before becoming a writer)
— Death a Sketch

Leatha Kendrick( a poet who was a chemistry major at the University of Kentucky)
— And Luckier

17/04/2023

Homegrown Media is selling t-shirts! If you would like to purchase one, please fill out this form and give your money to Mrs. Tiffany Goff, Mr. Lee Pickesimer, or any other Homegrown Media member. They are $15 for sizes small-XL and an extra $2.50 for sizes 2XL or larger. Thank you for supporting us!

If you are planning on ordering any Homegrown Media merchandise, please fill out this form. As of now, we are only selling t-shirts, but we plan on selling more merch in the near future. Please turn in money to Mrs. Tiffany Goff, Mr. Lee Picklesimer, or any other member of Homegrown Media. All check...

11/04/2023

Homegrown Media is very grateful to have had the opportunity to attend the Young Entrepreneur Show by Boom KY today. We are also very grateful to report that we placed third out of 13 other business pitches. Homegrown Media has received $250 as well as assistance with software development, videography, design, branding, legal, accounting, and mentoring from Boom KY to help expand Homegrown into an official company.

16/03/2023

Yesterday evening, the Homegrown Media team went to the Wolfe County Tourism Meeting to pitch our business idea to them. On April 11, Homegrown Media will compete against multiple different startups from other schools to win $2,500 for startup money. The main product we will pitch is a documentary trailer focusing on the Red River Gorge and the expanding tourism there. We thank Wolfe County Tourism for allowing us this opportunity and supporting our upcoming project.

Exciting things are coming soon!

03/03/2023

Homegrown Howl: Origins of Helechawa
Author: Molly Collier

Most people in Wolfe County are familiar with the name Helechawa, whether they have been there or not. It is a relatively small community right at the border of Wolfe County and Morgan County and is usually reached by going down road 191 or taking the Mountain Parkway from Campton. However, if you asked someone around here where the name came from, they would most likely shrug or attribute it to Native Americans who might have lived there previously. That is, in fact, not true.
Helechawa used to be a station on a railroad called the Ohio and Kentucky (or the O&K). Instead of being the derivation of a Native American name—some stories connect it to Tecumseh’s brother or an Indian maiden—it came from combining the starting syllables of Helen Chase Walbridge, one of the daughters of the railroad’s president. Before it was Helechawa, however, it was called Neola; at least, the post office close to the railroad was. In the beginning, it had a population of only 50 people.
Neola (the post office) was established in 1900 and closed in 1988. The origins of that name are even more unclear than the one that came after it. “Helechawa” only surfaced in 1922 when a petition for the post office to be moved closer to the railroad station was made. By 1923, though, the post office was also known as Helechawa, and the name has stuck around, although its location was petitioned to be changed many times over the years.
Although the actual origin of the name is now well-documented, there have been many accounts of other “explanations” made in true Appalachian fashion—in other words, sometimes making things up to have a story to tell. I already mentioned the supposed Native American roots of the name, but there was another tale that went something like this: one or two travelers would get lost on their way to Campton, and they would ask each other or one of the residents for directions. The reply was always, “There are two roads, but it doesn’t matter which way you go because it’s hell each way [or ‘hell-each-a-way’].” This is explained by the dirt roads that were there when Wolfe County was first being settled. It is not a very logical explanation, but it is more interesting and memorable than the name of a railroad president’s daughter.
Like a lot of names in Kentucky, Helechawa was thought to have Native American origins. Also typical of those places, it proved to have no connection to Native American life. Regardless of its origins, people in Wolfe County and perhaps surrounding counties are familiar with its unusual name and pronunciation (which is something like “hel-each-uh-wah”). It’s a small place, but there are quite a few establishments there that are well-liked by the community. In the end, it’s a part of Wolfe County and something we can all howl about.

If you want to read more about Helechawa or any other Kentucky place with an unusual name, feel free to explore the links below. They are all from a researcher named Robert Rennick. I found my information on slides 108-131 of the first link, slide 4 of the second, and slide 18 of the third. I hope you find the background of Helechawa’s name as interesting as I did!

Links:
https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1143&context=rennick_ms_collection
https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1151&context=rennick_ms_collection
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/217275384.pdf

17/02/2023

Homegrown Howl: Love Over the Ledge: A Retelling of a Local Legend
Author: Allie Combs

Twilight has always been my favorite time of day. When it’s not quite day and not quite night and things sleeping in the shadows begin to come alive and hum their songs into the half-light. Derek, however, is always so annoyingly practical. He hates the shadows that creep across the ground, making one thing into something else, and somehow he always seems to draw every mosquito in a 5-mile radius. But here we are, watching the last of the sun slip behind the hills and the night slowly creep in. He knows this was my favorite spot: Lover’s Ledge, one of the best perches in the entire Gorge. Derek calls me a morbid fantasizer; personally, I prefer tragic romantic. After all, the most famous love stories always end in disaster. They’re all doomed lovers whose love was stronger than anything, even life. The story behind Lover’s Ledge, the real reason I love it, is no different. Generations ago, a young woman jumped right over the ledge after eating poisoned flowers that littered the area, preferring to die rather than live without her lover. Legend says that she still walks these lands, her dress stained purple by the plants that contributed to her death…the Purple Lady, forever waiting for her love. Derek thinks it’s weird that I want to have a cheerful little picnic at the same place where a su***de happened, but he went along with it. That’s just how we work. Halfway through our sandwiches, Derek gets up to take a call. As he goes, I warn him to stay away from the flowers. You can never be too careful with them–even a touch can kill.
“And make sure to watch out for the Purple Lady,” I say with a quirk of my eyebrow. With a small laugh, Derek strolls off into the trees and I am left to admire the scenery alone. Sometimes, I wish Derek took a little more time to appreciate what was going on around him. Half the time, I look over and he is on his phone, smiling down at something, not paying any attention to what I have to say. But that kind of stuff doesn’t really matter much in the end, right? The only important thing is that I love him and he loves me. As these thoughts run through my head, the crickets cease their humming and the squirrels stop rushing through the underbrush. I begin to dumbly wonder why I wasn’t hearing Derek’s call. He must have walked really far into the trees. That’s the logical answer. But something about it feels off and after a few minutes I get up to make sure his phone hadn’t died and he wasn't stumbling around in the dark. The flashlight on my phone does little to pe*****te the darkness as I clumsily stumble through the woods. It was as silent here as it was in our clearing, and I begin to miss the noise as an unexplained dread pools in my stomach. Images of Derek being attacked by animals or falling and spraining an ankle spin through my head. After combing through the woods surrounding the clearing, a new threat strikes my mind. Immediately, I begin to stumble my way toward where I know the Soyar bushes are clustered. I told Derek to stay away from the Soyars, but Mr. Knows It All didn’t deem what little ol’ me had to say. He just went strolling into the woods, carelessly making his way towards something that could kill him in under 10 minutes. Breaking through the trees, I am taken out of my angry thoughts by Derek convulsing on the forest floor. Running towards him, I take note of the startling purple stains on his mouth and hands. How on Earth did the flowers get on his mouth? Was he trying to die? Before I can think of anything to do but scream, Derek stills, never to move again. I break down, kneeling on the ground beside Derek as I cry and scream.
“Aww, do you not appreciate my handiwork?” a cool, drawling voice says behind me.
I spin around and I know at that moment that I must have truly lost it. Standing before me is the Purple Lady, a faint light radiating from her pale, not quite opaque, form. The purple stains on her mouth and hands were the same as Derek’s, but she also has deep stains on the skirt of her dress.
“I am terribly sorry,” she continues in a sickly sweet voice, “I thought you would enjoy it. I heard you discussing my own history and now you have your own tragic, tragic story. How romantic.”
“Yo-You killed him?” I finally choke out.
The ghost pursues her lips, “Not necessarily, let’s just say that he did it to himself. You see, my dear, that’s just the thing with men. They will always disappoint you. I think of it less as me killing him than saving you. When my husband left me I was so stupidly heartbroken that I poisoned myself and then threw myself over the ledge for good measure. And for what? That dog? Lovers’ Leap indeed.” She starts to move towards me, but I can’t even flinch away.
“You see, I did save you. Imagine what would have happened if he had lived long enough to know what he did and would have continued to do. You have won. The one who did the crime has been punished and you can move on with your life knowing that he got what he deserved.”
“Derek didn’t do anything. He didn’t deserve this.”
The Purple Lady laughs before smiling down at me. I don’t know when she lost her purple stains and ethereal glow, but she suddenly looks like a beautiful woman.
“Oh darling, why do you think the poison was on his lips?”

10/02/2023

Homegrown Howl: Native Life in Red River Gorge
Author: Heather Parks

As you walk down long, winding pathways; look out at the grand, green ocean of trees; or just sit on the creek banks with your friends, you can’t help but feel the ancient energy of the Red River Gorge. There is no doubt that the Gorge is an old place, but how far back does our hold on the place go? Before the campsites and gravel trails, before a dam that almost flooded, even before Daniel Boone and his mighty adventure…who lived, worked, and played here?
Turns out, those stories about your great-great-great grandfather being a Native American might be more accurate than you thought!
People who archaeologists identified as hunters and gatherers lived in the Gorge as some of its first inhabitants. The Gorge’s rich environment offered these people a haven to settle down in and leave their nomadic ways behind in favor of a more domesticated lifestyle. They would set up camps along the Red River, and some of them chose to use the Gorge itself as a home. While walking on common and less common hiking trails, you can still find evidence of the rock shelters being used. In their new homes, these people carved pits into the ground for storage, and with less moving about and more time on their hands, they were able to invent tools, including one called the atlatl. It is a type of strap used for throwing spears in hunting or defensive actions. Mortars and pestles were also useful to them, as they would grind up shells and nuts for their food. Gourds they grew became bottles for water and medicine. By now, you may be thinking that this sounds like something out of your high school history book in the chapter about pilgrims, and you would be right. Thankfully, Wolfe Countians don’t have to go to textbook places like New England to explore what life was like for Native Americans; some of them have pieces of history in their own backyards.
For example, at Cloudsplitter Rock Shelter, on the namesake trail just past the Gladie Center on the right, researchers found fragments of a squash that was 3,700 years old. The unique sandy soil had preserved it. Chipped tools, knives, spear points, and arrowheads were also included amongst the treasures. Other rock shelters that have offered bounty are the Newt Kash Shelter (a shelter that is thought to have been used as a women's retreat during birthing and sickness), Haystack Shelter, and Rogers Shelter near Robbie Road in Stanton. Archeologists found everything from weapons and leather items or from textiles to grass beds. They even found what they thought to be a baby’s wooden cradleboard.
These rock shelters were great homes for the natives. They offered shade when it got too hot, and most of them pointed east (away from the sun) in the afternoon and offered warmth and light to shelters in the morning. Some shelters instead faced south, which was away from cold winter winds, leading researchers to speculate that the natives might have moved between two different shelters during season changes. Like modern homes, natives separated their shelters into different living areas. Back walls were most often kept as bedrooms, with beds made of twigs and grass built into shallow pits in the ground. Hearths–equivalent to modern stoves–were kept throughout the house. The houses weren’t empty but full of things families needed for everyday life. They dug trash pits for leftovers. Cornhusk dolls, found under the sand after centuries of preservation, were used for children to entertain themselves. Arrowheads, tool-making objects, and pieces of pottery have all been found in shelters by archaeologists today.
Rock shelters aren’t the only Native American relics people come to study in our area. The Red River Gorge is filled with images called petroglyphs that were drawn or carved into rocks. The Red River Gorge is known to have the highest number of petroglyphs in the Eastern United States. Researchers think that these drawings were made by some of the first hunters or gatherers who lived in the Gorge’s shelters. They can be found inside and outside rock shelters, though most of them are hidden deep within the forest. The locations of these groups of petroglyphs have been lost because most of them are on trails deemed too dangerous for inexperienced hikers.
One such carving is the High Rock Carving. It was found in the Red River Gorge in August of 2012 and is an excellent example of what these images look like. It was discovered in a small rock shelter near its name-bearing home, the High Rock Fire Tower. It is now located in the Red River Museum, located in Clay City, to protect it from vandalism. The carvings on it vary wildly. We can see everything from indistinct curved shapes to images that might be animals. There are also many holes found throughout most of these drawings, though we do not know if they are intentional.
Other petroglyphs from our area are known to sometimes include figures and human footprints, but they are very rare to find. Most of the time they will have depictions of animals like turkeys, bears, and deer–all animals that are probably what the early peoples hunted when they were not at home. We are not sure of the purpose of the drawings. They may have been made for religious purposes, as in rituals or ceremonies; for navigational purposes, as in maps; or perhaps only to communicate with each other. Perhaps they were made simply for entertainment purposes. Who’s to say that it wasn’t a way for parents to get their children to behave? Indeed, we still have many people today who would draw on a rock if they got bored enough. You just have to look all around you: graffiti on the side of the highway, students drawing their names into desks, hearts carved into trees to show love…people have always wanted to leave their mark on the world, regardless of the times they lived in. It provided, and still provides, a chance to live on even after you are gone.