Experience the Knob Creek Conservancy: Nature Trails and History in Hodgenville, Kentucky

Experience the Knob Creek Conservancy: Nature Trails and History in Hodgenville, Kentucky.

Welcome to another exciting episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series podcast! Today, we're thrilled to bring you a conversation with two exceptional guests, Jimmy Shaw and Jim B. Phelps, representing the historic destination of Hodgenville, Kentucky, and the Knob Creek Conservancy.

Jimmy hails from an area rich in history, with deep roots tracing back to Abraham Lincoln. Known for its charming small-town vibe, the community boasts eateries offering classic short-order meals. Jimmy takes pride in his region's heritage, where visitors can explore a museum dedicated to Lincoln, indulging in the historical richness the area is celebrated for.

Jim B. has lived in Hodginville nearly his whole life. After attending college in Lexington, KY, he returned to his hometown to pursue a career in education. His journey took an unexpected turn when his father became the mayor, leading to the rediscovery of unused city property at McDougal Lake.

Jimmy and Jim B. share their deep roots in the community and their passionate efforts to promote this hidden gem with other community leaders. You'll hear how the Knob Creek Conservancy has transformed unused land into a thriving hub for outdoor enthusiasts, offering hiking, mountain biking, and more against the backdrop of breathtaking natural beauty.

TOPICS DISCUSSED

History of Hodgenville

• Importance of Abraham Lincoln's birthplace and boyhood home
• Historical context and significance of LaRue County and Hodgenville

Knob Creek Conservancy

• Formation and development of McDougal Lake
  • Creation of hiking trails and conservancy efforts
  • Community and educational involvement

Outdoor and Recreational Opportunities

• Details about trail systems and outdoor activities

Local Events and Attractions

• Downtown attractions and events
  • Lincoln Jamboree, Lincoln Days festival, and local shops
• Connections to other regional attractions
  • Notable places like Bardstown and Fort Knox

Concluding Remarks

• Invitation and hospitality for visitors

CONNECT HODGENVILLE AND THE KNOB CREEK CONSERVANCY

To see everything Hogenville and the Knob Creek Conservancy has to offer, check out their website at https://visithodgenville.com and  https://www.knobcreekconservancy.org, and their social channels for the latest updates:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/knobcreekconservancy

NEXT STEPS

Visit us at https://outdooradventureseries.com. We welcome likes, comments, and shares.

KEYWORDS

Visit Hodgenville, Knob Creek Conservancy, Lincoln’s birthplace, Outdoor Adventure Series, Podcast

#VisitHodgenville #KnobCreekConservancy #LincolnBirthplace
#OutdoorAdventures #Podcast 

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Transcript

Howard: 0:07

Hello everyone This is Howard. Foxx and welcome back for another episode of the outdoor adventure series podcast where we celebrate individuals and families businesses and organizations that seek out and promote the exploration stewardship conservation Access and enjoyment of the outdoors. Jimmy Shaw and Jim B. Phelps are our guests today. Jim and Jimmy are representing the destination of Hodgenville, Kentucky and the Knob Creek Conservancy. Jimmy and Jim, welcome to the podcast. How are you guys doing

Jimmy Shaw: 0:43

good. man. Thanks for having us. So we're glad to be here. We've, we've gotten to know each other over the last couple of weeks, Howard, and this is Jim B's first podcast. I'm telling him to smile a little bit and have some fun. I do this, I do this probably too much and, but we're glad to be here. Thanks for the opportunity. Thank you. Showcase. Yeah. Talk

Howard: 1:00

it is, it's a pleasure, and I'm just excited because I love history, that was my favorite subject, and I felt like as I was doing the research for this podcast when you and I chatted a couple weeks ago to lay the groundwork for it, that this was going to be really possible. Yeah. Great. feeding my, my love of history, and, and I have to say, ask you first for our listeners and for the folks that are going to view the video, uh, first off, Way to the camera. Which one of you is Jimmy and which one of you is Jim?

Jimmy Shaw and Jim B: 1:37

I'm Jimmy. I'm Jimmy.

Jimmy Shaw: 1:38

I'm

Jim B: 1:39

Jim.

Jimmy Shaw: 1:39

I'm Jim. I'm Jimmy Shaw. It's Jim B. Phelps. Yeah.

Howard: 1:42

All right, I love it, I love it. Now if you would I would love if you could share a little bit of information about yourself, So, Jim B, give us a little bit about your background and your connection to the to Hodgenville and the county and the community in your your area of Beautiful, uh, Kentucky.

Jim B: 2:06

yeah. So I was born and raised here in Hodgenville. my life, I've been here my whole life, except for the four years I attended college in Lexington, Kentucky, uh, came back and was fortunate enough to be a teacher. I'm still in the education business, finishing up my 21st year. I now work as the curriculum support for, uh, the LaRue County school system. and, uh, the whole Knob Creek thing kind of, popped up four or five years ago when, uh, my dad took over as mayor and we, uh, discovered some unused property that the city had owned at MacDougall Lake and, uh, a group of us kind of banded together that were outdoor enthusiasts and created the Knob Creek Conservancy to, uh, promote conservation, education, and recreation.

Howard: 2:58

Excellent. And great background. How did you decide to go into education and become a teacher? Cause that's a hard profession, but you know, you're making a difference in kids lives.

Jim B: 3:09

Yeah, my mom was actually a teacher. So I lived and breathed the teaching world or education world, staying after school with her and and I just like people. I like to help people, uh, love sports and I had a real good, uh, experience in school here at LaRue County. And when I, I don't know, it was just kind of one of those things was in college and I was like, you know what, I think I want to go into teaching and It all worked out thankfully. And here I am.

Howard: 3:40

Very good. Well, I appreciate you sharing that. So now I have to ask, how did you meet the guy next to you?

Jim B: 3:47

we go way back. I think. I think we were, I got some pictures at home where we were in preschool together. So Jimmy was the year ahead of me and, and, uh, high school. So, we played little league sports together, uh, probably hung out at each other's house. here and there.

Howard: 4:03

Okay, okay. Now, Jimmy, I, I recall when we first had that conversation, I mentioned I'm going to need some photos to put up on it for our banners and our show notes, so I want to see that picture of you guys in preschool, okay, for the show notes, so just no pressure. All right. Excellent. So, Jimmy, tell us a little bit about yourself. What's your background?

Jimmy Shaw: 4:25

Yeah, So I, um, won Jimmy Shaw. I think one of the things that's unique, Jim B and I both, I'm, I'm junior Jim B's the, are you the third or fourth? You're the third. So he, he, my son's the third. His son is goes by Burke and his he's the fourth. And so we have just deep roots here in the community. I shared that with you, Howard, and I usually describe myself to people is like, I do this quite often. And how do you describe yourself? But I, I've got a little personal saying of just faith family. Adventure and then doing work worth doing. So born and raised the county goes back. We've got deep lineage in the county. So the LaRue County, I was a LaRue, um, goes back eight or nine generations. The county is named after my family. Both of our families have been prominent members of the community for a long time. And so we just hope we're doing some justice to that. But I've lived here my whole life. Other than my college days, I went to school at the University of Louisville. I'm an engineer. I own a business called Zion Solutions Group and own some real estate businesses. And, um, my family, I've got four kids. they're my world. my wife's Holly. She's put up with me for 15 plus years. And, uh, LaRue County is a small farming community. And I think Jim B and I both share in the fact that we really could have probably gone anywhere and, uh, and had careers in, in, in any location. And we both, I think share the same same mindset of that. We wanted our children raised in this community where we were raised. It made us who we are. It's the fabric of us. And just it's, it's a great community full of great people and a rich history that we're going to get to. So that's just a little bit about me, but yeah.

Howard: 6:06

Excellent. No, I appreciate that. Let's talk a little bit, if we could, about the history. I mean, you, you, LaRue County. and you've, you've got Hodgenville, so all this interconnection, how far does this history go back and what are some of the significant, uh, highlights that are important for the visitor if they want to come and either partake in the outdoor adventure, or maybe they want to get immersed in history, or I imagine you also have some great food and, uh, beverage and music around you as well. But what's a little bit about that history, Jimmy?

Jimmy Shaw: 6:40

Yeah, for sure. So I think we got to start with what we're probably best known for. Hopefully, how I describe it is, um, Abraham Lincoln was born about two miles from where we're sitting today. So there's a National Historic, um, Park, I think is what they call it. And then there's another place where when they move from from where he was born to another place called Knob Creek, the boyhood home. So our Jim B probably knows better than I do when the city was formed, and it was in the 1800s, and I'm gonna get it wrong, so I'm gonna let him know it and say it for exact, because somebody will listen to this and be like, he has no idea, but our biggest, richest history is going back to Lincoln, so that's, um, what we, what we've been known for. there's in the general area, Howard, I think you've got to look at. We've obviously got good little dive places to eat. We'll talk about Leahy's. We'll talk about a few of the other places here to eat and still get that. That that short order type meal that small communities are famous for. We've got a museum that's dedicated to Lincoln. we've got a rich, history in terms of we are in the Bible belt. So we've got more, I don't even know the number of churches we have in the area, but it's a lot. We're nestled really between Bowling Green and Louisville. We're dead center of central Kentucky. So we're 65. Bowling Green's got the Corvette Museum. It's got, a Mammoth Cave, a National Park, one of the most visited National Parks, is about an hour, 60 to 90 minutes south. Louisville, which is the biggest city, is about 60 minutes north. Lexington's about 60 minutes northeast. So we're nestled in a good spot. Bourbon, a lot of people really know Kentucky for a few things, racing, horse racing, and bourbon. And, uh, So we're right in the middle of, within an hour, you could go visit some of the world's most recognizable brands of bourbon and the tourism around it, but specific to Hodgenville, I think Jim B and I are here to just promote, like, we're a small farming community with a rich history. It goes back to Lincoln, that's our anchor, and then Jim B has led, he's too modest about this, Howard, but he's led just a real revitalization effort in terms of making this more of an outdoor location, more of an outdoor, what your podcast is about. It's a destination now in terms of, we've got hiking, we've got fishing, you can kayak, we've got a trail system that's pretty awesome that we've self built. Hey, while you're here, you can grab a cheeseburger at Leigh Hayes, you can go visit the Lincoln Museum, you can ride around a small town in America, and then you can go see where Lincoln was born and where he moved

Howard: 9:16

it.

Jimmy Shaw: 9:17

That's a, that's a high level overview of some of the attractions. Yeah,

Howard: 9:21

No, that's that's actually perfect. Jim. Jim B. If you want to add another layer to that, I'm curious if you know this answer if and if you don't, I'm sure it's going to be significant. The number of visitors or the economic impact that you all have with folks coming in, whether it's a day trip. I mean, like,

Jimmy Shaw: 9:44

I know it. It's about 400, 000 people is what, what some, some stats that we've had, and that number may fluctuate up and down, but there's probably about 400, 000 people that come in and visit, visit the National Park and just spill over through the tourism, through Lincoln Museum and through Mammoth Caves. So I've heard that number, maybe wrong. I think

Jim B: 10:02

that's in the Lincoln Museum, uh, Iris LaRue and Rob Thurman. Iris is the director and she's been a big part of, of kind of. know, helping to make Hodgenville a destination. And so is Rob Thurman. they tracked, they have visitors yearly from, uh, or annually from all 50 states, but I think, uh, in 2024, they counted 35, uh, visitors from 35 foreign countries

Howard: 10:28

Oh, wow.

Jim B: 10:28

the Lincoln Museum. So

Howard: 10:31

very cool. That's

Jim B: 10:33

And then right downtown, Jimmy mentioned Leigh Hayes. the Lincoln Museum is right downtown. It used to be a square, and it was a pretty typical, uh, square of Kentucky, the small towns in Kentucky that were the, the courthouse was the center of the town. It was on the square. Our courthouse actually burned down, if I'm not mistaken, twice. But, so we, when we were kids, uh, the courthouse was not there. It was already gone, but right down in the center of town was the Abraham Lincoln statue. that's similar to the statue at the Lincoln Memorial in D. C. And, uh, they have now turned that into a circle. Squircle. Call it a squircle now. A squircle. Yeah. So the Lincoln Museum's right downtown and you've got the Sweet Shop, which is kind of a nationally famous, uh, fudge and ice cream place. Uh, and then of course, Leigh Hayes. We're going to keep talking about Leigh Hayes. It's been around forever and it's the world's greatest cheeseburger.

Howard: 11:26

come for a visit, I want to go, I'm definitely going to go to Leje. I'm a cheeseburger guy. I love my cheeseburger.

Jim B: 11:32

a good one. So right downtown, if a visitor, they're. Two and a half, three miles away from the birthplace. They usually come into town and, uh, hit the sweet shop, hit lay Hayes and hit the Lincoln museum.

Jimmy Shaw: 11:43

Vibe coffee. Vibe coffee. It's there now. And we got a couple of little boutique places that you can do some shopping and just, there's been a. There's been an effort to, to draw people into downtown. Um, we've had a couple, we've got a, we've got a restaurant called the 16th. that, that is not, it, it's, it's downtown as well. And we've really tried to mix the, the group of, you've got people coming in Howard, and they want something to do. And people want to eat, they want to shop, and they want to, they want a destination to come to. And so we, we've got a little bit of all of that.

Jim B: 12:15

And so, kind of a quick history note too. You know, right downtown, this was before Jimmy and I. It had a bowling alley. It had two car dealerships. we had a motel where the, uh, heard lots of stories about, I think my great grandfather was involved to playing cards a little too late at the motel on the square. But, uh, We lost a lot of that in the sixties after the, uh, development of the interstate systems, interstate 65. So as Jimmy said, Hodgenville centrally located and you can get about anywhere. So it's kind of a hub. Uh, 31 was the main road that came through before the interstate system, so it was kind of a boom town. And of course then the, the interstate system was built and we lost a lot of that. Uh, we lost a lot of those stores traffic. A lot of the, a lot of the traffic coming through, so. Since probably the nineties, late nineties, maybe early nineties, they've, people even before us have really worked hard to revitalize. The downtown feel and I think we're headed in the right direction. Absolutely.

Howard: 13:23

it. It sounds fantastic. And, in a lot of the interviews that I've had, whether it's off route 66, some of the destinations, like 29 palms, uh, Which is the Joshua Tree National Park here in Las Vegas where I live Boulder City and we do a pod we help them produce their podcast the best damn podcast but when that interstate went up Boulder City was just like cut off and they recognized like you guys have been recognizing the the importance of history and tourism and And finding reasons to come into this destination and I love what you have done and and I'm going back to that map I saw on the Visit Hodgenville site, within three hours, two and a half hours, you can come in, have a great day, or even stay over in some of the boutique bed and breakfast or the Airbnbs and then. Go back home. So you got a great weekend, long weekend destination. I love that. When did the, the idea of this conservancy around this land that the city had and MacDougall Lake, because that, that takes a lot of foresight there. Is this because. People want to get outside. They want to be in nature. And, I'm very interested in the idea of mental health in nature. And so the idea that I can go out of my downtown area and go walk in a park on a trail, that's exciting. And how did, uh, how did the, the conservancy begin to come about? Which one do you want to tee that one up?

Jimmy Shaw: 15:04

this is all Jim B. So, yeah,

Jim B: 15:06

let me get long winded here. But, uh, so, like I said, my, my dad became mayor in, uh, 2019, I think was his first year and, uh, he was just digging through some files and saw McDougal Lake. So McDougal Lake was popular. It was a popular fishing destination here in, uh, Hodgkinville. But I don't know that people realize how much land Surrounded Lake is about 400 acres, including the 100 acre lake. So you had about 300 acres of land. A little bit of that's kind of floodplain unusable. So, long story short, we, uh, my dad sent me a screenshot of the map and I was like, man, we could do something with this because, Jimmy's hiking trail running. I like to trail run, hike, mountain bike. Other members of our board. the same that you're outdoor enthusiast, even some of them are, nature lovers observing wildlife and plants trees. So, I reached out to 2 fellow Hajim billions, uh, Damon Barnes and Ben Brian, who both had, uh, some significant experience with green space, which is a, uh, Conservation organization in Hardin County, Kentucky, about 2020 minutes north of us. So I reached out to them and said, Hey, guys, we got an opportunity here. What do you think? And so those two guys, Damon and Ben and myself met with my dad on, uh, we were January of 2020 and we kind of started the ball like, Hey, can we develop this? And so, uh, actually, I think that was January of 2019. Cause we, we broke ground on the trail in January of 2020. So I just got that wrong. We met my dad in January of 19 and a year later, we started breaking ground on building the trail, uh, at McDougal and in the meantime.

Howard: 17:03

new.

Jim B: 17:04

Oh yeah. Brand new.

Howard: 17:05

brand new. Wow.

Jim B: 17:06

And, uh, we had no money, uh, just some shovels, sweat, sweat, equity, just a couple of shovels. And some, we bought a couple of, what do they call that? One of the rogue hoes, the rogue hoes. And we, uh, and we, uh, just. had all the support from the city and just tore into it. Uh, and in the meantime, uh, we formed the board, Damon, myself and Ben, and then, uh, Matt Fortier, Gary Kanner, DJ Kanner, Jessica Kassanier, uh, Caleb Kanner, Gabe Fortier, Tom Claycomb, Eric Hughes, Eric Allen, uh, probably missing somebody. There's 12 12 of us, and we banded together and created a 501c3 nonprofit organization. we kind of rely on, we do all the, the trail maintenance, uh, we funded all the signage, uh, we have a membership drive every spring where people become a member of the Knob Creek Conservancy and it's fairly low cost and that's kind of the money that the supporters and members are how we fund maintaining the trails, uh, updating the trails, building new trails. And so we, uh, we worked at the McDougal Lake, got it. Got the first side done and in late spring of 2020. And then in, uh, 21, we started on the. Another section and wound up with about 10 miles of trail.

Howard: 18:40

Wow.

Jim B: 18:41

uh, we even, uh, we went out to the Hodgman elementary school to a small wooded location beside 1 of our elementary schools and worked with the school system and built a little 0. 3 mile nature trail there. And, uh, we, we've always had a, a, uh, environmental. Uh, education research center, uh, that fiscal court owned called, we all call it pyramid forest, but it's the LaRue County environmental, uh, uh, education and research center. It's kind of a mouthful to say, but. It's one of the true highly mature old growth forest. It's about 200 acres. I think the forest is about 80 acres that sits on the preserve and they developed that in 2000 and when we formed the Conservancy, we formed a partnership to go out there and revise or revitalize some of the primitive trails that had kind of been lost. We put up some new signage, some trail maps. So we're just trying to, you know, keep these areas. Green, if you will just advocate for green spaces. And like you said, uh, people don't have to travel out of town now to get outdoor air. they can get it here.

Howard: 19:53

That is really fascinating and it's again it's not lost on this happened literally in the last five years and so Jimmy when you wake up in the morning, are you going out for a trail run?

Jimmy Shaw: 20:09

we, we, Jim B and Tom probably use the trail more than I use it, but yeah, we, we, you all could look us up on Strava. We've run it way too many times. We're actually planning. I'm the crazy idea guy. Jim B's a worker. I'm the crazy idea guy and some other, he's got crazy ideas too, but we're talking about a group of us right now doing, you've heard of David Goggins, I'm sure. Have you heard of Goggins? Yeah, so there's a 4x4x48 challenge and I just casually asked a group of, of us, there's about 10 or 12 of us on like, hey, who's, who's dumb enough to want to try to do the 4x4x48 challenge? And, We got about 50 percent response back. A couple of them are like, well, if he does, I will. And, but we, we use it quite frequently and, uh, it's, it's so nice to have it. I, I was more hiking until a couple of years ago. And then Jim B's one of these guys that just, he'll suck you in if he wants you to do trail running with him. And he's, he's been a trail runner for 20 plus years. Well, probably I shouldn't say you've run for 20 plus years, did cross country. I never ran competitively. I was a wrestler and did other athletics and baseball and Jim B did too, but he, he also ran and you, you could ask anybody in Hodgeville. He's, they, if they see somebody running, Jim B has been that guy running on the streets of Hodgeville for 20 plus years. And my journey is about year three Howard, but we use it frequently. I was more of a hiker, but I've come to love running and using the trail and becoming a trail runner. I guess I can classify myself as that. My, my little friend group makes fun of me as trail running Jimmy. Cause I've ran a trail once and told somebody in a plane, I was a trail runner. And so I got the nickname. I'm like, well, technically I've done it once. So therefore I am, but now, now I definitely am. I've done it a bunch and, uh, it's mountain bike. I hadn't gotten into mountain biking as much, but. You could hike it, you can camp on it, you can trail run it, you can hybrid trials run and walk, which I got a friend that likes to do that, or you can mountain bike it. So it's pretty phenomenal. Jim B's too modest, Howard, but self taught. Gary Cantor's another. He's an interesting, Gary was a teacher at the school, longtime wrestling coach. Gary lived in Alaska for a year and he's, he's always been kind of an outdoorsman, and just love the outdoors. And I think that's what you get on the board. It's just people that love our community and love the outdoors, but. Between Gary and Eric Hugh, I'm going to miss somebody, but there's a select group of the, the group of four or five, Matt Fortier, Damon, Jim B's been the head of it. They self taught how to build trails and they've done a phenomenal job with it. And there's work that people pay thousands of dollars to get this done. And we've, we've just, we've rolled our sleeves up and sweat equity. Again, I can't claim any of the work on it. I bought the air blower that blows the leaves off and I donate to the signs. That's my contribution with all the things I got going on in my life. But

Howard: 23:02

you did your part.

Jimmy Shaw: 23:03

effort of the group. Yeah. And all of them do it. Howard, it's pretty cool because we all have the same passage and everybody

Jim B: 23:07

in the group kind of has their own little niche. Niche. Like Jerry's the, the bi, the plant biologist Damon is the, uh, he, he's the nature, the amphibians. Yeah. Uh, I'm more of the recreation and education, but everybody has their own little piece that they add to the

Jimmy Shaw: 23:23

group. Good group of people. Just a good group of human beings. Yeah.

Howard: 23:25

That's very cool. Now I've got two quick questions and I would love, I'm going to share the website, the Knob Creek Conservancy website. Just take us for a quick tour of it. But two quick questions. Dark skies. When it, when the sun goes down, middle of the night, clear skies, it's always clear skies in Kentucky, I'd imagine that. How are the stars out in that, in the Conservancy area?

Jim B: 23:50

It's dark out there. So it's a good place to view the stars. It really is. We, uh, we got a good group that does night mountain biking when the weather is good every Thursday. And, we've seen the, I can't think of the name of the comet, you know, back in October, it was hanging around this part of the world. You could see the comet and the trails. You could see, uh, Starlink. Starlink has been seen out there.

Howard: 24:13

Oh, yeah.

Jim B: 24:14

you get out there at night, you really get to see some, some neat stuff.

Howard: 24:18

That's very cool. The,

Jimmy Shaw: 24:20

It's not Zion Howard or Joshua Tree, darn, but it's, it's pretty darn, it's pretty, pretty impressive,

Howard: 24:26

pretty, it, it, that's close. If you can see, the, uh, some of the stars, the, the, the, the comet, that's pretty good. I'm a star, star guy. I'm not a, Hey. an astronomer. I love my dark sky photography, so I'll go sit and I'll let the camera click away for a couple hours while I just sit and just zen out, because that's what I like to do. I, I do need some more trail running or biking in me. I sit too much. So maybe I can solve that problem and come out for a visit. What has been the reaction from the locals? and perhaps the, some of the visitors of coming in, what's been their aha moment? What have you, what are you hearing from them, the locals and maybe some of the visitors you may have crossed paths with?

Jimmy Shaw: 25:12

You can take the first portion.

Jim B: 25:15

I think, uh, I think we get lots of compliments and we get lots of support from the people that use it in the community. I think when we first, organized the conservancy, it was kind of, uh, you know, seen as maybe just like a little nature club or something.

Howard: 25:32

What are you guys up to?

Jim B: 25:34

when we got, our nonprofit status and, and, uh, then we just started, you know, producing quality trails or quality experiences, I guess, maybe not quality trails, but just quality experiences for folks. And, I've, I was fortunate. My dad, took me hiking all the time. So I was outdoors early and, uh, we can go to, we're, we're. An hour's drive from Eastern Kentucky from the foothills of the Appalachians, and we get to see the rock outcroppings and overlooks. You can travel an hour West and you're on kind of a flatter terrain, uh, and we're kind of unique because we're set within the, uh, the rolling hills. And, the rolling hills, deciduous forest, you've got the seasonal changes of the trees. You know, we probably don't appreciate it as much here because we can go to the foothills of the Appalachians and see the rock formations or we can go out west and see the, the Rockies and see the, the treeless landscape with the, the, the mountains, but you talk to people. We've had a couple of people that have come move through into this area. They're from, uh, for military purposes. That have kind of come and started using the trails and they might have been, uh, out in California and I assume they probably take their outcroppings in the rocks of California. Like, we kind of take the deciduous forest and rolling hills, but they get here and see the seasonal changes and can't believe it. Um, and I think in all of this, that's probably 1 of my takeaways is that it's forced me to slow down and kind of look at nature and respect what we have. And I think, you know, some people have talked about how pretty or how appreciative they are of us doing this because they get to experience those things. And so it's kind of, we always want something we don't have. And sometimes we don't think about what we do have and and we take that for granted. So I think people now it gives them a chance to get out in the woods and just see the the changes of the season that, you know, all through the year,

Howard: 27:36

I hear that. And we do take it for granted where we live and we really don't realize a mile away, an hour away, there's, there's splendor to be enjoyed and experienced. I'm gonna go ahead and just share my screen, the miracle of technology here, and I'm gonna bring up the website. And just give a good shout out for you guys. Let me center it up here. So this is the Knob Creek Conservancy website. which one of you wants to take us on a little tour?

Jimmy Shaw: 28:09

we just kind of tag team at Howard. So just go through it. What you're looking at here is you're you're looking at an overhead view of that is MacDougall Lake. So it's a man made lake. It was made for, uh, For for water, right? It's a watershed that was made. When was it made?

Jim B: 28:25

was it in the

Jimmy Shaw: 28:27

80s? Yeah, I think in 86.

Jim B: 28:29

It started in 86.

Jimmy Shaw: 28:31

I told Howard earlier that it's, I look back at my lineage and my lineage goes back to MacDougall as well. So there's MacDougall Creek. That flows into this, but it was a, it was a watershed that was built in the 80s. However, but it's that's part of the trail. They're the 2nd phase of it. You see the little outcropping of the trees right there. That's the lakeside portion of the trail that we talk about. And if you. If you look really close under the promote right there, you can even see the trail. How close it you see, like, a little smiley face between promote and education. Move your mouse up

Howard: 29:04

okay,

Jimmy Shaw: 29:05

right? There is the trail. You can see that little line right there. That's how close it gets to the water side. So

Howard: 29:11

Oh, very good.

Jimmy Shaw: 29:12

there's a damn you go across and then you got up in the big, we call it the big woods. is that right? Big Woods. And then there's the lakeside trail and we've got it, we've got it broken up to where you can get some extra mileage in and take some shortcuts, whether you're running, whether you're biking, if you want to get more in or more or less. But that's a, that's the 400 acres that Jim B talked about. And then you go down, as you go down, it just goes into our story of how we got

Jim B: 29:37

started. That's kind of tells the story of the, the how it all came to fruition.

Jimmy Shaw: 29:42

Yep.

Howard: 29:43

very good. You got the Pyramid Forest. You got the elementary school that little the little Experiential trail that I love it. There's your there's all the guys who give a shout out to the current board members. I love it And so if we go back up here We can

Jimmy Shaw: 30:03

You can become a member. So we've got it. If anybody sees this, I mean, our memberships very, uh, we, we, we are, we're probably a hidden a little hidden treasure. Really? We don't push the membership drive really hard. We've got some local businesses that the community supported. We've always had what we need. The leaders of the community. there's too many to call out. I've always been very helpful with it. And, uh, we, if you want to be part of it, like have you, one of these things is like, how can you support us? Well, one, just come visit us. We love visitors or want to become a member. It's, it's cheap. We'd love it, and I'd go to trails next if you want. and just trails, we've got a list of the trail system that if you go, if you, you look through here, you can see how, what we call the Valley Trail, the Lakeside Loop, Slab Ford. the big woods. That's just a description

Jim B: 30:51

of all the

Jimmy Shaw: 30:51

trails of them, right? And

Jim B: 30:52

there's a, on all the trails page, there's going to be all the trails that we kind of have. If you go

Jimmy Shaw: 30:57

down, keep going down real quick, Howard. I think we've got kind of a map.

Howard: 31:00

Yeah, Oh, there you go.

Jimmy Shaw: 31:01

there you go. There's a map of it. And, and then we've got, do we got one too? Do we got the, the, the PDF on here of the trails within the area of all of it? It's on the homepage. It's on the homepage.

Howard: 31:12

So that photo we were looking at the photo We were looking at with the picture that was like right here.

Jimmy Shaw: 31:18

Yeah, right there. Right there. Yes, sir.

Howard: 31:20

so Jim B. Where did you want to take us?

Jim B: 31:24

No, I was just saying on all the trails page. There's just a kind of a description of the trails and then a, uh, a, uh, a map.

Howard: 31:33

is that this link right here?

Jimmy Shaw: 31:35

Howard, if you go back to the home page, there's one that shows all if you go down, that's the community, right? So if you click on that link, you can, you can see, I don't know if this is gonna work. We'll see. It's gonna pull up Pull it up in Adobe, but this is an overview of La Ru County, so the silhouette of the county, and then we've got a a star system with links and directions to where all the different trails. It's probably too big. You, yeah, you might have to zoom it out. We can't, we can't see it as, there you go. Whoop. There we

Howard: 32:08

on. Hang on. I got it. There we

Jim B: 32:11

click on the green things, it'll, it just takes you to a Google map. Click on the one, it'll,

Jimmy Shaw: 32:14

it'll take you straight to a, a, the drop of the link, and it'll give you

Jim B: 32:18

directions. It'll

Jimmy Shaw: 32:19

give you directions, GPS coordinates to get you there.

Howard: 32:22

Oh

Jimmy Shaw: 32:22

And, uh, so we created that, but if you go back, there's five or six that Jim B. Go back to the Adobe file, please.

Howard: 32:29

All right. You're asking a lot here, Jim.

Jimmy Shaw: 32:32

Yeah, I know. I'm checking your navigation skills. It's right to the left of that tab. There it is. So you can see like we got McDougall Lake. We've got the the Hodgeville Elementary Educational if the

Howard: 32:45

Oh, yeah, I can see it.

Jimmy Shaw: 32:46

educational trails. Number two, Abraham Lincoln's birthplace has a trail system. Pyramid Forest has a trail system. And then Knob Creek even has a trail system. So we're right there where the big star is, Howard. That's where we're sitting. And you see the proximity of how close everything is.

Howard: 33:02

I love it. This is, this is like It's funny here in Vegas I'm right near Lake Mead, Red Rock Conservation, Uh, a couple desert wildlife refuge, and I don't get out enough. I mean, I love on the weekend I'll get out, but you literally can walk out your door, walk, bike, drive for less than a mile, and you're right on a trail system. I love that.

Jimmy Shaw and Jim B: 33:28

that's right. Yep.

Howard: 33:29

love that. Alright, let's try to head back. There we go.

Jimmy Shaw and Jim B: 33:34

I think that's it. If you go

Jim B: 33:35

back one more time.

Jimmy Shaw and Jim B: 33:36

Yeah.

Jim B: 33:39

And then, uh, the, uh, the other thing up there, the education, uh, if you click on the education and you don't have to click on these necessarily, but, uh, so we partnered with the school system. And so two of our, two of our biology classes, did research and created, uh, Yeah. So the one there on the right is the nature trail and they create a website and we have signs built on the trail for the kids on amphibians, vernal pond, ecosystem, wetland, ecosystem, native and versus non native species. And then a pyramid forest. We highlighted 25 specific tree species that each kid did research on. They designed the sign placard. I know that's not a great picture. But, uh, but if you, the blue boxes down at the bottom both take you to the website that was created by our high school students.

Howard: 34:31

Oh,

Jim B: 34:32

so they correspond to signs that we put out on the nature trail and at pyramid forest.

Howard: 34:37

Oh, wow.

Jim B: 34:38

So we try to, we try to really do things too, to involve the school system and, just a way for us to kind of help the show the kids, uh, how to give back to the community. yeah, each kid got their picture taken. We took the old sign off and, and my nephew did one of these, put the new sign on,

Howard: 34:59

I love it. Well,

Jim B: 35:00

we just try to, To really bring the community involved. And I think that's one of the big, our, our overall goal of the Knob Creek Conservancy deals with conservation, education and recreation. And those 3 things we just try to promote as, as much as possible.

Howard: 35:19

Very nice. Very nice. Well, I'm gonna stop sharing. Thank You for taking on, taking us on this tour. And I

Jimmy Shaw: 35:28

had to visit Hodgenville page too, Howard, that you, we won't have time probably to go through it, but. I'd like to hit a few more things that I left out in the front whenever you get to that before we wrap up, there's a couple more places of interest that

Howard: 35:41

so where,

Jimmy Shaw: 35:42

and around we'll go, we'll, I'll knock them off.

Howard: 35:45

Where would You like me to go then? Okay.

Jimmy Shaw: 35:47

You don't have to, you can just maybe just show the Visit Hodgenville webpage and we don't have to go into it, but there's, there's a webpage that's been developed. If you're wanting to research a little bit more what you do here, but we talked about the, a lot of the big stuff. Yeah, there's, there's a page on here. If you just things to do at Hodgenville and just, you can just probably stay kind of on, on that. But a few places I didn't mention is we got to Lincoln Jamboree, which is, think of an old, I shouldn't say old. It's like a, it's a, it's a, I don't want to call it a homestead, but it's an opera

Jim B: 36:19

land.

Jimmy Shaw: 36:21

It's like the grand old Opry version and it's been like 60 plus years and it's, it's pretty, pretty amazing. We've got, uh, we've got some made in Kentucky shops. We've got a bunch of little small gas station and memorabilia type places. We've obviously got Abe Lincoln. The birthplace, we've got the Knob Creek, or that part of the National Park System, the downtown, we, we, I feel like we hit on a lot of that stuff, and

Jim B: 36:46

we've got Crawford Farms, Hinton's Orchard, kind of fall

Howard: 36:51

Oh, there's the hamburger.

Jimmy Shaw: 36:53

Yeah, there's a hamburger. We've got a creep front. It's right next. It's just a one of those things you take for granted where we have first Fridays we celebrate as a community. We have one of the months it's it's they do a car show. And so there's just 4th of July celebration. You think about things that you take for granted. It's like small town community life. And it's just it's a there's something for a little bit of everybody. If you if you like Bardstown's right next door. Bardstown's got a a great place to be. It was voted Reader's Digest best small town city and in America at some point in the last 10 to 15 years, Fort Knox and General Patton's Museum and the Fort Knox, the gold vaults, 15 20 miles up the road. There's just a wealth of Jim B said it best of centrally located of what we have around town. There's Kayla's Kayla's is a newer restaurant, but she's, she's one best burger in the community. And we, uh, we're just kind of a throwback in time. And, uh, if, if people route 66 is a good, good. is is a good comparison to some. I've been all up and down Route 66, taking my kids all up and down. And like, it's just it's it's a place from the past. It's what small America town America used to be pre walmart pre interstate systems. And we still got a lot of that here in that field in Hodgkin Bill. If people are looking for that. So

Jim B: 38:18

we also

Howard: 38:18

I love

Jim B: 38:19

largest Festivals in Kentucky, Lincoln Days in October to honor a two day festival to honor, uh, Lincoln, it's a, so it's,

Jimmy Shaw: 38:32

we'll keep talking, Howard, you're going to have to shut us off.

Howard: 38:34

Yeah, well, I tell you what this there's just a lot here and I'm loving it I'm gonna stop sharing just in the interest

Jimmy Shaw: 38:41

big, another big thing we probably ought is we've got a bike route. more about this, but like there's a national bike. What, what is it? Yeah.

Jim B: 38:48

So real quick, the, uh, the transcontinental bike route that goes from, uh, East coast to West coast. So in May, um, In May, we have the folks coming in from, uh, let me get this right. Those would be the, the folks come and stay. our local parks and recreation allows them to come in and shower. It's probably one of the best places, uh, according to the people that travel on it, that when they come through, it's one of the most hospitable places because we give them a place to sleep with a roof over their head, air conditioned, and they have showers. So the people start stopping in, in, uh, May. Those are the folks coming from the East coast heading West. And then, uh, May, June, July, all the way up into September, you'll have people stopping in those are the people coming from the West coast. The West coast folks, I think, have to start a little later to let the mountains clear of the snow. And then we got us bike route 23, which comes from Tennessee and actually ends at Abraham Lincoln birthplace. So we get a lot of visitors on the bicycles too.

Howard: 39:51

Excellent. No, I I like I need to get on a plane Or drive, whatever's best, and stay and just enjoy everything you guys have to offer. It's exciting. and I,

Jimmy Shaw: 40:05

Howard. We'll put you up. We'll feed you a cheeseburger. You can come visit the office is right downtown's literally 100 ft. Walk right over here.

Howard: 40:16

I love, see, I like the fact that you can probably walk out the door and go get a good cup of coffee and a cheeseburger, and it's like, this is excellent. Hey guys, I really appreciate you taking the time to, uh, Join us and share your story and this beautiful destination with our listeners and really taking part of this outdoor adventure series adventure and you guys have a wonderful destination and I again Jimmy, Jim B I appreciate you both taking the time to, to join us. Jimmy, if, now we've got the backlinks to the, the websites, the NobCreeConservancy. org, that link. We've got, and we'll also have the backlinks to your Facebook and Instagram pages on our show notes. We'll have the backlink to the Visit Hodgenville website as well. Any other places you'd like us, and we'll, we'll do some shout outs and back links to some of the businesses that you shared as well. Any, anything else that you'd like to share with us before we sign off today?

Jimmy Shaw: 41:18

I think we've done a we've we've probably scatter shot as much as we could everything that we can think of. So, if we missed anybody or missed anything, it wasn't intentional. And I would just say. One of the things we're known for is just hospitality. So, you can put our, I can't speak for Jim B, but I think you'd be okay with this. It's like, I'll put my email out, he can put his out. Like if somebody's coming into town, we, we, we, we're glad to host. We're glad to help. We're glad to answer questions. You'll find we're still small town friendly. And, So the communities, we haven't said this hour, but there's about probably 4, 000 people in downtown and Hodgenville, and there's probably 12 to 14, 000 in the whole community in terms of the size of our, our, our county. And, um, my kids are here for a reason. I like the people I live next to and my neighbors and I want them raised in this with this heritage. And so

Howard: 42:10

You, you literally have, you literally have thousands of what I call brand ambassadors. Because this is your brand and you've got the whole community. It's as you are describing very welcoming And you guys have done a phenomenal job. I just can't believe this is you know The the Conservancy's only been around for five years or so and just was an idea of your dad Jim B, but I think it's phenomenal and I will take you up at some point because I want to come visit because I'm always looking for my next place to live, by the way, I didn't, I usually share that on my episodes, uh, before we head out, Jim B, how does this feel to be on your first podcast? This was easy, wasn't it.

Jim B: 42:51

he did. Yeah, I guess I got a long winded, but yeah, just, we appreciate you. Reaching out to us. I'm glad it all worked out.

Jimmy Shaw: 43:00

Howard. You've had a bunch of people. How's he done on his first podcast?

Howard: 43:03

I think you did

Jimmy Shaw: 43:04

A, B, or C.

Howard: 43:06

I I, I'd, I'd give you a five stars. I give you. five

Jimmy Shaw: 43:09

you go.

Howard: 43:10

So,

Jimmy Shaw: 43:10

had to warm him up a little bit. We had to ramp him up, but he's smiling. He's loose. Now he's ready to talk. He's ready for part two.

Howard: 43:17

yeah, and, and Jimmy, if you need somebody to back you up on one of your episodes, I can't do it, well, Jim Beal, take, take over the, uh, the mic.

Jimmy Shaw: 43:25

he's, he's got the check Mark now. So he's, I told him it would be easy. I said, it's just talking. That's all it is. And.

Howard: 43:31

It's a piece of cake. Hey guys, I really appreciate it. Again, we're gonna hopefully get some photos for the website on our show notes. We'll have all those backlinks and really, I'm excited for my listeners to hear about this little area of heaven in Kentucky and It's been great. Great to get to know you guys. So thank you for taking time today.

Jimmy Shaw and Jim B: 43:55

Yeah. Thank you. Really appreciate it.

Howard: 43:57

All right, listen, stay in the line. We're going to do a real quick close and Three of us can have a final chat.

Jimmy Shaw and Jim B: 44:03

Sounds

Howard: 44:03

All right, folks. You've just been listening to another episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series podcast. We had the pleasure of meeting Jim B. Phelps, Jim B., and Jimmy Shaw, who Our literally have history back to the 1800s with the, with the county and with the, the, the, really this community and the wonderful work and passion that they have, uh, introduced with their. Friends and colleagues and really in making this a stellar destination, uh, for your outdoor adventure. So, you know, you can visit, uh, Hodgenville, it's right in this, cup, two, three hours from some Big cities, Louisville, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, uh, it's, it's right there for you for a nice, uh, day trip or even a long weekend just to enjoy a little history, a little nature, some good food and entertainment. Now do make sure you go out, uh, to the websites. Now we're going to provide the back links to, uh, the Nava Creek Conservancy and we'll have, uh, also their Facebook and Instagram, uh, sites as well. And we're going to have a backlink to visit Hodgenville, uh, so that you can learn all about the events that are taking place in this community. As for us, our episode is available on our website, OutdoorAdventureSeries. com. We're also on LinkedIn and Facebook on our Outdoor Adventure Series pages. The video of this episode where we took a tour. of the Conservancy, as well as visit Hodgenville, will be up on our YouTube channel. And of course you can listen to this podcast wherever you get your podcast from. I can't think of a better way to listen to podcasts than go for a hike, a bike, a trail run. Just have it on your smartphone, download it, and you can listen to this wonderful episode. And if you are in the community of Hodgenville, Do let, uh, Jim B. and Jimmy know what you thought of their performance today. By the way, five star performance, remember. Okay, folks, wherever you are,

Jimmy Shaw: 46:08

Oh, only if you liked it, let

Howard: 46:10

only if you liked it.

Jimmy Shaw: 46:11

keep it to yourself.

Howard: 46:12

Keep it to yourself. I love that. All right, folks, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, go out there, have a phenomenal day. And we look forward to having you join us on a future episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series podcast. Take care now.