Overnighting in Berea, KY was a last-minute addition to a hastily pulled together plan to drive the van to Lewis RV in Dayton, Ohio. Alaska was hard on the van and by the time we returned home, several things were either broken or hanging by a thread. Time was ticking on Lewis’s agreeability to do the repairs under a warranty that had expired in September, so, just two weeks after returning home from a 53-day, 12,000-mile journey, we were back on the road for an 11-hour drive. Honestly, neither of us were up for it but the overnight in Berea was a bright spot.
If you are not familiar with Berea, Ky, Berea is home to a lively arts and crafts community, but more important, the home of Berea College. A top ranked liberal arts school, Berea College was the first integrated, co-educational college in the south. Berea charges NO tuition. The institution has been tuition free since its inception in 1855 with tuition is funded through endowments, investments and federal and state grants. The student body is made up of top ranked students, national and international, mostly with financial need. As part of the free tuition, students are required to work 10 hours a week toward the upkeep of the school. I am proud to say that several of my mother’s siblings attended Berea College, including two sisters and a favorite uncle who met my favorite aunt, his future wife, at Berea. She was a post WWII international student from Greece, he a country boy from the Shannondoah Valley.
Boone Tavern Inn hails back to 1909, when construction began on a hotel built to accommodate guests visiting Berea College. The hotel began with 25 guest rooms and, though the years, has expanded to 63. Owned and operated by Berea College, the Inn is one of many community and college opportunities for students to work to earn money for books, room and board. This was our third stay at Boone Tavern, the first, on our honeymoon about 13-1/2 years ago.
While there is no dress code, the dining room at the hotel has a bit of a formal feel with its crystal chandeliers and signature blue and gold decor. I did make an effort to change out of shorts but after a long day on the road with a couple of major, interstate traffic jams, I was too tired to dress smartly. Luckily, I was not alone in the room with my very casual attire. Reservations are suggested but not necessarily required and, on this Thursday night in early October, reservations were not needed.
We studied the menu, cocktails in hand, well, mocktail for me, as we listened to soft piano music drifting in from the lobby. The Tavern menu is southern seasonal with items such as fried green tomatoes, deep fried deviled eggs, Boone Tavern Hot Brown and Chicken Flakes in a Bird’s Nest. If you are from the south, you know these names. While I passed on I some of my southern favorites and selected with what I convinced myself was light fare, it was anything but.
Iceberg lettuce has no nutritional value, and many prefer a mix of leafy greens, but I happen to enjoy the texture and crunch of iceberg. Maybe it’s my middle-class upbringing, or those little side salads my mother use to make in the 1950’s-1960’s but I just can’t shake my love of iceberg. These days, at home, I usually temper it with a mix of leafy greens.
After dinner, we drifted across the street from the hotel and settled on a wooden swing on the grounds of one of Berea College’s resident halls. The evening was cool but not uncomfortable. We sat in the seat, swinging back and forth enjoying the night air and having nothing else in particular to do.
In the morning we were back on the road for what should have been a short two-hour drive home. Unfortunately, the construction related traffic jams extended the drive by another one- and one-half hours. So, while the idea of stopping at the Inn again in a week or so when on our way to pick up the van is tempting, I expect we will try another detoured route to avoid some of the traffic issues.
Below is a picture with several pages from my sketchbook. These pages highlight several signs from our visit to Berea. I have been drawing signs of recent. I enjoy the concentration and attention to detail that is required to do so, I also particularly enjoy lettering. Like my handwriting, the lettering trails upward and I think, going forward, I will develop a ruled framework to provide my eye with a guideline to follow.
The signs are drawn with soft leaded pencil, Fineliner marker (of which I am currently obsessed), Caran d’ Ache Neocolor II crayons and water. Two of the original signs I copied, are at the bottom of the right-hand page. The Berea College logo is on the bottom, left page and contains a bible verse, Acts 17:26, “God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth.” While Berea College does not claim a religious affiliation, it does focus on Christian values of old.
We have been home from Berea long enough now to take our flu and updated Covid shots, have a reaction and mostly recover. John and I seem to alternate having a reaction to this shot combination. This was John’s turn for a bad reaction, last fall was my go at it.
Since I made such a big deal of it in the last post, yes, I am still running and feeling pretty good about myself. I haven’t cobbled together multiple miles at this point, but several miles sprinkled with bouts of walking.
That’s it for now. I am looking forward to the upcoming seasonal temperatures forecast for the weekend, it has been a little too warm around here for my taste. Maybe the cool weather coupled with a little predicted rain will bring on the fall leaf peeping!
Beverly
