Our short ride awaited us on Day 2. After breakfast at the "Waffle House" (sadly, not to be mistaken for the iconic Waffle Huas) we headed down to the Kentucky river.
Alas, what goes down, must go back up (and at 20% you did not fail to see the "up"...grrr), but not until after we stopped at Fort Boonesboro. On the one hand, the reconstructed fort with internal structures was informative by putting a size and perspective on a frontier settlement. On the other hand, the overview video presentation was disturbing. Here was a modern video that presented the settlers as perfect, upstanding human beings and the native americans and "their allies" as stupid and evil. No attempt was made to present a balanced view of history. Most disturbing were the 80 school kids that were indoctrinated at the "museum" the day we were there. Thankfully this was the exception and not the rule in the museums and historical sites we would visit, but I can't help but wonder about which side of Boonesboro the kids would remember -- the reconstructed fort, the cabins and the workshops or the one-sided video?
For the other side of Kentucky, we arrived in Berea with enough time to visit the town and the college. Berea college was founded before the civil ware as a interracial, coeducational campus. No tuition has been or is charged to the students. Instead all students are required to participate in work study. A liberal arts college, Appalachian arts and crafts are a focus and a stroll through the town artists and student exhibits filled out the afternoon.