Coming up on Kentucky Life... We visit Old Fort Harrod in Harrodsburg as it celebrates its 250th anniversary.

We go to the Monarch in Louisville, a collaboration space for musicians where they can create and learn.

We'll examine why grown-ups are rediscovering a popular toy from their youth.

And we'll visit a native dawn flute gathering here at Harrodsburg.

All that's next on Kentucky Life.

█ █ █ █ Hey, everybody, and welcome to Kentucky Life.

I'm your host, Chip Polston.

Now, as we continue to mark the 100th anniversary of our state park system, our show this week brings us here to Harrodsburg and Old Fort Harrod State Park, celebrating its 250th anniversary this year.

Fort Harrod was the first permanent American settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains.

Now it was here where it's said Captain James Harrod felled the first tree in the region that would later become Kentucky.

In 1927, a full-scale replica of the fort was built.

And in 1934, a crowd of more than 60,000 people came to Harrodsburg to see Franklin Roosevelt perform the dedication of a monument here.

Now, Old Fort Harrod hosts a multitude of events.

One of their more popular ones is the raid on Old Fort Harrod reenactment.

Locals and history fans travel and camp out to witness and participate in this exciting display of living history, except they do it like it's the 1770s.

█ █ █ █ There's not a lot of state parks in downtown cities.

We're a little bit unique on that, whereas we're commemorating a historic site.

That's where the fort was, so that's where the park was.

And the fort was there long before the town was.

We operate as a state park, but we really function as a community park.

Most of the reconstructed forts that you can go visit are someone's best guess as to what they might have looked like.

We have extremely accurate records of exactly how Fort Harrod was constructed.

There was a gentleman here in 1783, had a journal with him, and he wrote down very specifically how the fort was constructed.

He even drew a map with measurements on it.

And his journal's in the Smithsonian Institute.

This fort that we have built today is 200 feet one way and 260 the other way.

The original fort was 264 both directions.

Really the first bastion that we have in this area for a continuous European presence, so it speaks to a whole new age, both in the history of North America and the Kentucky Territory, but also in Kentucky's culture as a whole.

Anybody whose name you recognize was most likely at Fort Harrod at some point in time.

Daniel Boone was certainly here.

George Rogers Clark was definitely here.

Simon Kenton was here.

Fort Harrod was the jewel that everyone came to.

It was the biggest fort.

It was the most important fort.

This was the county seat of Kentucky County, Virginia.

This is where the land office was, this is where the militia mustered, and this is where court was held.

Our federal monument, it was dedicated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1934.

It is hand carved granite from the ground up.

So the center figure represents George Rogers Clark, who was an extremely important patriot for the Revolutionary Wartime period, lived at Fort Harrod.

The two figures on the left are a family.

It's a man and a woman holding a child.

And that's your young, desperate people looking for land and a new beginning out of the colonies.

And then the two on the right, if you're looking at it, are experienced woodsmen that would have been along the journey.

The Osage Orange Tree, which is the tallest and largest Osage orange tree in the nation.

It's disqualified from being the national champion because three quarters of it lies on the ground.

And it's really the biggest draw we have on the park.

And it's a Harrodsburg icon.

The tree itself is inspected annually.

So the tree is as healthy as ever.

We have historical interpreters in period dress that work throughout the fort, a blacksmith and a gunsmith.

We have another lady that's spinning wool into yarn, or [she] might be at the loom weaving rugs.

So they do it because they love it.

They love history.

They love talking with people.

This is an amazing, beautiful historical site, but to actually see people in it, breathing life into it, people you can talk to, where it becomes just more than a museum with artifacts behind glass.

Our living history events are really where we shine.

[gunfire] Every year we do this Fort Harrod Settlement and Raid, and we try our best to give a nod to the settlers that came way before us, 250 years ago, that founded the town and started Kentucky on the pathway to statehood.

We have folks that don't really wanna put up with the idea of the 13 colonies.

They wanna go out into the frontier and make a name for themselves.

And unfortunately, they're gonna break crown law and do it.

And then you have a clash of culture because you have local Native American tribes and they don't really want people coming into these sovereign territories, breaking treaties.

And basically, there's a fort that's illegally built and people are illegally squatting on native territory, and then history unfolds.

But when you come out here, you know, you can get a real multifaceted story from the native perspective.

You can get a multifaceted perspective from the settler experience.

[gunshot] If you are going to study history, living history is the way to do it.

Textbooks capture the important people.

Really, history is in the details.

History is in all the little people whose names that we do not remember, but they were the people who were like us.

So if you wanna learn about how everyday people were living, the things they talked about and the tasks that they did, living history is the way to go.

You'll never find it in a textbook.

Reenacting living history is an amazing hobby or for some people it's basically bordering on an addiction.

It's very expensive, but we all do our level best to make it as authentic and as sympathetic as possible.

The reenactor community is a wonderful community.

They are incredibly dedicated people.

I mean, not everybody is willing to spend what is looking to be a 90-degree weekend, camping in tents with no air conditioning and no fans.

Anytime there's extremity of the weather, either cold or hot, people are just amazed that you sleep in a tent on the ground.

And I'm like, well, people did it for thousands of years before they invented the house.

So I think I'll survive.

You don't just get a feel of how these people live, but you can really understand the hardships that they went through.

They are generous community.

They are incredibly giving.

And most of all, they're just passionate about what they do.

I come out because, one, it's my history.

My ancestors came here shortly after this period.

I'm a professional farrier and blacksmith.

I actually got my start here.

I learned under Jim Moore, and he taught me the basics of ornamental blacksmithing, how to channel my creativity into the steel.

And now, that is my profession.

That is how I make a living.

It came from right here.

You know, some of the best times I have are when we have a group of 30 school kids.

Almost every single day, we hear that this is the best school field trip ever.

It's a great sense of pride to know that I've been entrusted with the stewardship of the park that commemorates so much important in Kentucky history.

█ █ █ █ In the 1960s, Los Angeles' Laurel Canyon neighborhood was famous for being a place where the biggest musicians of the day lived, worked, and played together.

More than a half century later, a non-profit in Louisville wants to do the same, but for Kentucky artists.

The Monarch is a small building tucked off Bardstown Road, where musicians and artists of all kinds can hang out, collaborate, and perform in a place that feels like their own house.

And anyone who's gone to a show in the Monarch's listening room will agree, it's an experience unlike any you've seen before.

█ █ █ █ There's just a thing about sharing music in a place that feels like home.

It hits different.

Folks are there to connect.

When you're standing next to a stranger at a concert and you're nodding your head at the same time, and you're tapping your feet at the same time, you start to become better in sync with each other.

And that's one of the beauties of music.

█ █ █ █ The Monarch is a place for music, art, and community.

We're a co-working space, we're a creative hub, we're a resource center for a community of musicians and creatives of all sorts.

And we also operate the only listening room around.

Our mission is to encourage, promote, and support original music and the artists that make it, and spread music appreciation and education in our city.

But the goal is really - it's community.

Our mantra is that music brings us together, together we make a difference, and that's really what this place does.

[cheers and applause] So the Monarch is a place for music, art, and community.

I've been inspired by music since I can remember.

I worked at a recording studio 20 plus years ago, and music was what I always wanted to do.

Life had other plans and I did another thing here in Louisville for about 14 years.

And when that thing ended, I was particularly lost, and I wasn't sure what I was gonna do next.

And music came back into my life at a time that was really important for me.

I had a couple of friends that lived with me at that time.

We called it the Robert's Home for Wayward Musicians.

And through that experience, I had the opportunity to watch, and learn, and listen, and to better understand the importance of an artist's journey, and why it's so important, not just for them, but for all of us.

And I was really inspired by that.

And I started then hosting living room shows at my house.

It was potluck, and it was BYO, and it was donation-based, and it was familial.

And I really fell in love with the communities that I saw coming from those experiences.

That became the inspiration for this as a concept, to try to create a space in our city that can feel like home for artists that live in Louisville, in Kentucky, in this region, and for artists that are coming through.

[guitar playing] If you wanna have a contest as it relates to acoustics or lighting, you know, the Monarch might not win, but the Monarch is as real as it gets, and that's a lot.

It's a rare place that is welcoming.

There's no air to it at all.

It's comfortable.

It's thoughtful.

It's cozy.

It's relaxed.

Artists, they just don't have a place like this.

I mean, they can meet at a coffee shop.

Maybe they, you know, cross paths on tour, or they may record something at a similar studio.

But the thing about the Monarch is, it's that platform where they can really focus on what they wanna do.

And when you have places like that, in a community, it really shines.

When someone's on stage in here, you can typically hear a pin drop.

There's no Snapchat scrolling or TikToking.

Everyone's just here for the music.

I'm a pretty inward being, I think.

So I prefer to perform in intimate spaces.

When I'm on that stage, I'm more compelled to try new ideas and explore things that I may not necessarily be certain about, than when I'm in a bigger venue, on a taller stage, or on a louder system.

I don't know.

I almost feel like there's more pressure [laughs] when you're in front of a room of 60 to 80 people that are very intently just listening and focusing.

For local artists that are either just starting out or trying to broaden their connections with other musicians, I think collaborating with other musicians is an important thing.

This is a really cool space to be able to come to and meet other like-minded musicians at various stages of their careers.

Some are selling out venues, and some are just sort of starting.

I've met a lot of really fantastic local musicians here who we've had open up for us on the road, out in Chicago, in Columbus.

I just think it's a great place that brings a lot of cool, creative people together.

I'm a visual artist.

I'm a painter.

And for whatever reason, I haven't found an artist community where I really feel supported, you know?

In this space, in the Monarch, it's very heavily geared towards music.

However, I feel like I fit in.

There is no competition.

They're really supportive of everyone at all different levels of their journey with music and art, in general.

Being involved in this space has really opened up a lot of possibilities for me.

I think that being a part of this community and just experiencing the Monarch in and of itself has helped me as an artist, be more creative, more expansive, more confident.

█ █ █ █ What I hope we're doing is I hope that we're figuring out a recipe, because I hope to see places like this exist in lots of cities.

We're doing something new, and we are trying to find new solutions for artists to make the livings they deserve.

I know how important organizations like this can be, not just for the artists, but for listeners and for the community at large.

And I think we're figuring out a recipe here that can exist in a lot of places.

And I think when it does, I'll be most proud of the impact that we can have on a larger scale.

█ █ █ █ There are adults, okay, me included, who have rediscovered the enjoyment of building LEGO.

There's even a name for them, us, and it's AFOLS or Adult Fans of LEGO.

What is it about simple plastic pieces which connect that have drawn so many fans back to a toy they played with as a kid?

Let's take a look at the phenomenon behind the brick.

█ █ █ █ So let's get one thing out in the open right now.

My name is Chip, and I like to build LEGO.

It's the age-old story.

I built them when I was a kid, had kids of my own who liked to build, and when they grew out of it, well, I didn't.

So how far into this am I?

A few years ago, I traveled to the small town of Billund, Denmark, where I spent a day immersed in the world headquarter of LEGO, even getting to visit their super secure underground vault where they keep a copy of every set ever made.

I even have a room in my house dedicated just to the bricks.

And for this story, I wanted to find out, why are grown-ups like me getting back into building LEGO?

Our first stop was at a LEGO expo in Northern Kentucky, put on by the folks with the Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana LEGO Users Group or LUG.

Now, these folks are even more hardcore than I am, and they are far more talented.

The majority of what you see here aren't LEGO sets and are instead built freehand, much like a sculptor would create a work only with LEGO instead of clay.

Ken Osbon is one of the founders of the group.

He went to engineering school, got back into the hobby he'd enjoyed as a kid, and enjoys sharing his seascape creations and others at various shows.

He sees a lot of adults who followed the same path I did to get back into the hobby.

They've had kids, and they're trying to give their kids.

They get their old stuff out, rather it big tubs of just - where everything was sewed together, where they have four or five sets that they've kept, and now they're sitting down building with their kids and they're kind of getting back into it.

And LEGO has come to the point to where they make a lot of stuff for kids, but now they make a lot of stuff for adults.

And the reaction you get to all of this from both kids and grown-ups when it's show day, what is that like?

Oh, that's amazing.

The little kids wanna touch and play with it because they recognize it as a toy.

Believe it or not, teenagers see it for the creativity side and the adults see it as creativity side.

But when you get into the older generation, you start hearing, it's like, "Man, when we were as a kid, we just had Tinker toys and Erector sets.

Look at all the color and the parts."

According to the Wall Street Journal, since 2020, LEGO has doubled the number of sets created for grownups.

The bricks even have their own TV show now called LEGO Masters on the Fox network.

And one of the members of the Northern Kentucky group appeared on the show in 2023.

Paul Wellington and his sister, Nealita placed third in their season.

Paul sees a wide range of fans of the show translate into builders across generations.

It's for all ages.

It's now more acceptable for anyone, whether it's your kid, yourself, or your parents to play with it.

And I think it's great.

For me, I actually have a master's degree in architecture and did not pursue it, unfortunately, but that's my outlet now.

I built cities.

I built buildings.

I like architecture.

So that's my outlet and I've always enjoyed that.

Our next stop was The Brickery in Newport, Kentucky.

It bills itself as the first LEGO-themed cafe in the United States.

You rent LEGO sets to build while having a coffee or a snack and then turn them in when completed.

It's the brainchild of Daniel Johnson.

He thinks the concept works because it's a throwback to a simpler time.

It's an hour or two where you don't have a screen in front of you or you don't have a phone in your hand.

It really is one of the few times where I'm able to push out all of the very real adult things that I have to worry about day in and day out and just focus on creating something.

And so there's just so much power in that.

And I've had people even say, you know, it's like, instead of going to therapy, I just buy LEGOs.

It's expensive, but at least I have something at the end of it.

You have something cool you can show your friends.

Something physical at the end of it, right?

And there may be something to that theory.

This is Matt Southward, a research assistant professor in the University of Kentucky's psychology department.

He's also a LEGO builder.

Southward says building creates what psychologists refer to as a flow state.

A more common description of this is being in the zone.

It's where a person performing some activity is fully immersed.

This idea that the challenge of the task really matches our capacities.

So for people who are really good at making LEGO, they're our expert builders.

They're the people that can create a Millennium Falcon out of just random parts.

And they really enjoy that.

You can just give them a lot of different pieces and they can put that together.

For people more like me, more at the amateur level, I love to have step-by-step instructions as to how to put things together.

And that creates a flow state for me.

I can kind of match my capacities for building with the LEGO set that's in front of me.

My mind gets wound up through the day because I'm thinking about my customers, you know, dimensions, materials, and I need to get away from that, you know.

And that's how I wind down in the evening so I can lay down and my mind's not wound up on what I got to do the next day.

And this is your escape.

Yeah.

█ █ █ █ So, to recap, grown-ups like to build because it's a throwback to a simpler time in their lives.

And the immersion from building a set really can be a relaxing escape.

I definitely check both of those boxes and look forward to building for a long time.

As a kid once told me, "You love LEGO sets so much, you should be one.

But that'll never happen, right?"

█ █ █ █ Since 2022, Old Fort Harrod has hosted the Native Dawn Flute Gathering.

Beginning in 2010, this event brings together native tribes and performers from all over the country to educate and celebrate their heritage.

From the powwow drum to vibrant regalia, and of course the flute, this event invites everyone to experience native culture.

[flute playing] [flute playing] When I hear flute playing, it relaxes me.

It's like a salve for the soul.

My name is Fred Nez-Keams and I am from the Navajo Nation tribe out of Arizona.

I just want to introduce myself in my language.

Hello, my relatives and my people, I'm called Fred Nez-Keams from the Charcoal Streaked Division of the Red Running into the Water Clan and Water's Edge clan.

I am born of the One-walks-around clan.

I first heard the native flute when I was in the government boarding school, when I was very small.

And being in the government boarding school, there's nothing, there are no books, there's no music.

So when I first heard the flute, I don't know where I heard it from, but when I heard it, it stuck with me.

Flute playing I taught myself.

And playing the flute actually came from my heart.

When you close your eyes and you play the flute and your fingers will just start doing the walking, it just came very natural to me.

The Native Dawn Flute Gathering is an event where everyone is welcome to attend.

And it is to give people an opportunity to learn about culture that most people in Kentucky don't think is here anymore.

It was in 2010.

It was a one-day event, our first event.

We've had people come from all over the United States to be a part of our event.

We went from six flute players to our biggest line, where I think we had 21 or 22 flute players come.

So we added in a drum group.

We've added in dancers.

And we're a three-day event now.

And to be at a state park, you know, that is really a true blessing.

When groups like Native Dawn approached me, it was like, this is what we want to do.

Of course, this was a no-brainer.

It's native culture.

It brings people from all walks of life together, and it's just a great time.

[drums playing] Just to sit at the drum and feel the drum is amazing.

It's spiritual.

[singing] And traditionally, when you listen to the powwow drum that is your heartbeat.

So it's really important to have a drum involved with any type of ceremony or gathering that you do.

Some of the songs are intertribal songs, so they're like vowel songs.

And you would learn those songs because if I speak Choctaw and you speak Lakota, we may not be able to have the same language or speak the same language, but we can learn these songs together and take them back to our family so when we meet again, we can all still drum and dance together, to pray together To me, it's a connection to all my ancestors and my grandfather that walked on before me.

It's an honor to be able to share your culture with the public and for them to actually listen and to understand what we're explaining in the songs and what they mean.

Our Aztec group came from Nashville.

They actually have a school where they teach their traditional dance there.

[drums playing] So they had like three or four generations, which is beautiful, because you have your wisdom when you have your elder, and you have your next generation, your hope.

To blend together like that, to dance together, was absolutely beautiful.

I'd never seen the panther head before.

They were fierce when they danced.

[singing] The Pueblo of Acoma, White Buffalo Dancers is a generational group, as well.

We had a husband and wife, their daughter, and then the husband's brother and his son, and they were actually taught by their father.

And so they're carrying on.

So we got to see two generations there.

And that was beautiful because people don't know how many different natives there are and all the different dances and traditions.

You know, everybody has an idea that a native has long, black hair, and they're tall, and they've got the beautiful dark skin, and they live in tepees, and they wear their feathers every day.

And when I tell them that I am full-blooded and I speak the language, and they are very surprised and they start asking me all different questions like, you know, "How's your country?"

And they want to touch my skin.

What people need to realize is they look like you and me.

Kentucky has at least 90,000 individuals that claim Native American culture by showing and letting people participate.

We're planting seeds and I think that that's the best way to educate because if I make you curious about something, it might not be today or even next year, but eventually, if I sparked interest, you'll want to learn more.

This is not like in the movies you see, this is what we actually do.

And we actually sing our songs and do our prayers the way our elders and our medicine man has taught us.

That's one reason we do the Native Dawn is to let people realize that we are still here and we always have been and we always will be.

█ █ █ █ We've had a great time here in Harrodsburg and Old Fort Harrod, even made a new friend in joy.

We've seen everything from blacksmiths working as they did in the 1700s to the magnificent Osage orange tree.

It's yet another gem in the Kentucky State Park system and one you should absolutely check out.

Now, if you've enjoyed our show, be sure and like the Kentucky Life Facebook page or subscribe to the KET YouTube channel for more of what we like to call Kentucky Life Extras, where you'll have access to lots of other great videos.

Until next time, I'll leave you with this moment.

I'm Chip Polston, cherishing this Kentucky life.

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