Coming up on the season finale of Kentucky Life... a tool library in Louisville lets you check out items, and maybe learn a few things along the way.

We'll introduce you to Lily May Ledford, who is the driving force behind the Coon Creek Girls, a group from Powell County that formed almost 100 years ago, and went on to become Kentucky music legends.

We'll visit McConnell Springs, where Lexington got its name.

And we'll take you to Morehead to visit the Home for Wayward Babydolls.

All that's next on Kentucky Life.

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

I'm your host, Chip Polston.

Our show this week brings us to McConnell Springs here in Lexington.

Now, this really is a neat park.

Its 26 acres are right in the middle of an industrial area, but it doesn't feel like that, and it really is a great place to enjoy nature.

Back in 1775, the McConnell Brothers from Pennsylvania staked a claim to this land, which was technically in Virginia at the time, and named it Lexington.

We'll tell you more about what happened here and the history involved a little later in our show.

But first, it's happened to all of us, you think of a home renovation or a craft project that'll really improve your space, but then you realize you don't have the right tools for the job.

Instead of paying for a tool, you maybe will only use once or twice, an organization in Louisville has a different solution, a library of tools that you can check out as you need them.

Members of the library can expect to save money and reduce their consumption, but what they might not expect is the community they'll find along the way.

It's such a special space and there's just so much going on.

I mean, it's not just tools, right?

There's a well-documented problem in this country, where we just belong to fewer things than we used to, and to have a place like this, that expects very little financial aid from its members, but provides so much in terms of opportunities to socialize, opportunities to learn, opportunities to in a very casual way make new connections, the value of that is enormous.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ We are, I mean, first and foremost, we got started with tools, but we're really a library of things.

So, basically the idea is that you can come in and check out tools, or kitchen equipment, or camping equipment, or yard equipment, the same way you check out a book at the library.

I would describe it as a big community shed.

I've even heard some people say that it's kind of like, bringing their stuff here, so they don't have to store it at home.

But then, also it's actually living out its purpose way more than it would if it's just sitting in the back of your garage, and you use it once a year maybe.

As soon as you become a member, you're free to check out anything in the space.

We've got chainsaws, weed eaters, rakes, shovels.

Automotive, plumbing, camping, gardening, crafts, cursive typewriter, I don't know where that guy fits in.

We have that, yeah.

Weird stuff too.

We got a concrete mixer right over our shoulder There's three food dehydrators, so many, and if you need to make like 400 paninis at once, we got you covered, because we got a whole bunch of Foreman grills.

One of the big things that we really try to focus on is those tools that you might ever use once in your life, that you don't want to go spend $1,000, $1500 on something, come in here and check it out, and use it for whatever you need it, and then bring it back.

I mean, of course, access is huge.

The amount of money that you can save by being a member of the Tool Library is enormous and that's probably the primary impetus why people come in.

But also just knowledge, there's a ton of stuff that you can learn here, not only do we have a big collection of like how-to books and car repair books and cookbooks, that kind of stuff, but also we've got volunteers and members here that are more than happy to share their knowledge base.

If you have a problem, and it doesn't necessarily have to be, my plumbing doesn't work, but it could be, I don't know what kind of glue I want to use to get these two pieces of fabric to stick together.

There's probably somebody here that you can talk to, that will help you figure it out.

I think of it as a community space, that for one brings a lot of people together, it hugely enriches our community.

This is a place where everybody is welcome, and everyone feels safe.

Whenever you have a space, that's like, it's about a Tool Library, but people come in just to say hi.

That's a big deal.

Why does it slope downwards?

It is a [inaudible].

We use a screw [inaudible] for these wheels.

Chopsticks for the axles, pipes to hold the axles.

You can get all of this stuff from this place, the Tool Library, and build whatever you want to.

[inaudible] it downwards.

There's something for everybody here.

For me, it started out just having some tools that I needed, and then, it's just blossomed from there.

And so, just a little bit more than that.

For a while, it was this junk bin over here, there's electronic waste and stuff that they recycle, and people just drop stuff off.

And before BB got into rockets, he was really into fans.

So, there's always some old computer fans and things like that, so we can pick up a fan every couple of weekends, and build some fun project out of it.

And there's just pretty much something every weekend that we come here, and not to actually come here for some purpose, just to come and hang out, and be part of the community.

We are the most borrowing members -- They told us.

-- of the Tool Library.

We love that.

And we also love coming in here just to say hi.

I think, at first, we were coming for tools, and now we come for community, because we want to see our friends who are here and tell them what's going on, and they know you and -- And they know your projects you're working on.

We've been members of the Tool Library, I would say, since the beginning.

We were considering buying a house at that time.

Yeah, because of our budget, and the houses that we could afford, they all did work, and we do not have tools, and we were like, well, we don't have the money to buy a house and buy a whole garage full of tools.

So, we heard about the Tool Library, I'm like, oh my gosh, we can absolutely get a house that needs to be renovated, because we have access to this resource.

And we've been in here every weekend ever since.

They all know about the house.

Post us all going inside for COVID, it's really helped, I know, helped me make those social connections again, and meet people and just get out of the house to go places.

And so, many times we're here, and we get inspired and we go somewhere else, and we talk to someone else, and like, I think, it's just sort of created a life in the community just as a resource.

There's been a ton inside of the space that's been fantastic.

We've got support groups, we've got classes, we've got movie nights, just a ton of stuff that's really neat to see people, not only be able to interact with each other, and be able to hang out in a space, where there's just not this encouragement to spend, spend, spend, but also, you meet new people, you meet new skills, you learn new hobbies.

It's been incredibly rewarding.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ The Coon Creek Girls, a string band from Powell County who formed in the 1930s, became one of the most popular and influential musical groups the state has ever produced.

Renfro Valley's Barn Dance radio show gave them a platform to reach and entertain thousands upon thousands of fans.

The band's driving creative force was none other than Lily May Ledford, a banjo and fiddle player, whose career spanned seven decades.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Lily May Ledford was born in March of 1917 in Powell County.

She was born in a little place called Pinch 'Em Tight Holler, and that was in the Red River Gorge region of that area.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ That's my mother.

She went by the stage name of Lily May Ledford.

Of course, she was Lily May Ledford Pennington.

Married my dad, Glen.

The two of them met here at Renfro Valley when they were both entertainers.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ My mom was a huge musical influence on me.

Her and her sisters had a band that played out of Renfro Valley, called the Coon Creek Girls, and they were quite famous syndicated radio, the Renfro Valley had a nationwide syndicated radio show, and they were known pretty much all over the US.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ The history that particular venue has is legendary.

Lily May's singing of this Red Rocking Chair is an interesting one.

That's really very insightful.

Every song she did, she saw through to it, how it was her song, she made it her song.

My dad was a little different.

Although he was a musician, and that's how he and my mom met actually was at Renfro Valley.

I guess, I had my mom on this shoulder, my dad on this shoulder, and it turns out, I gravitated toward what my mom, you know, what she wanted for me.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I was told by my mother that I used to sleep in her banjo case, while she was on stage.

I guess, I was just so young and small enough to fit into a banjo case.

But yeah, I'm proud to tell that story.

There's a real tradition of fiddle tunes that call up the sounds of chickens.

There's the Chicken Reel, there's Cluck Old Hen, and then there's Cackling Hen.

Okay, I'm gonna play Cackling Hen for you, hope you enjoy.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Didn't It Rain is -- I don't know how old that song is, but it's old.

It's an old gospel song.

And JP tells a story about this too about his mom, when he was very little, they would take him to Renfro Valley when they would perform down there her with the Coon Creek Girls, and he said, he would beg them to do that song, because he loved it so much.

# Oh, no, look down on the multitude # Said the man up in heaven, didn't plan for you # Cry went out, and shout was heard # Good God Almighty gonna flood the earth # Animals coming two-by-two, the elephant and the kangaroo # Noah cried out you made [inaudible] full of sin # But God's got the key, you can't come in in the East Lily May Ledford is known as a traditional musician, but she was really not a country musician, she wasn't really a folk musician, she wasn't really a blues musician, she wasn't really a gospel musician.

She was a musician.

And all music was something that she loved and could make her own.

She could take any song and make it Lily May Ledford song.

And that's what she did with Didn't it Rain?

# Tell me, didn't it rain, children?

# Didn't it rain?

# Oh my Lord, didn't I listen to the rain, listen to the rain?

# Didn't it pour, my Lord, down?

# Didn't it rain?

Didn't it rain?

That was one of the Coon Creek Girls' songs that I loved, didn't it rain?

Singing and playing an instrument are two different things.

One is coming out of your head and the other is coming out of your heart.

When the two are together, it's a really beautiful synergy that happens.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ # Who'll rock the cradle, who'll sing that song?

# Who'll rock that cradle when you're gone?

# I'll rock the cradle, I'll sing that song # I'll rock that cradle when you're gone She died in 1985 and she was 68 years old, not that old at all, but she'd been ill for a few years, and she saw the end coming.

And so, her singing of Red Rocking Chair, who'll rock the cradle when I'm gone?

It's one of those moments, where you think about who's going to visit your grave, who's going to remember you when you're gone.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ We're having a great time here today at McConnell Springs, really it's beautiful.

This is Steven Rogers.

He's the Recreation Manager Senior with Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government.

Steven, thank you so much for being here with us today.

We really appreciate it.

Thanks for having me, and thanks for coming to McConnell Springs.

So, this truly is the birthplace of Lexington.

Tell me how that all came about.

So, this is a special place.

It's been a special place for a long time, and it's really the access to the springs that makes this location so special.

In 1775, a group of surveyors were moving here, they were looking for new land to move, and explore, and bring their families.

They found the sinking springs here.

It's a constant source of water.

And that's really what drove them here, and started the first settlements in this area.

And the name Lexington, where did that come from that they wanted to name the area Lexington?

So, a group of men, led by William McConnell, who's our namesake, were camping along the Blue Hole spring that's on the property now.

And when they met an additional pioneer that had heard about the battle in Lexington, Massachusetts, that had happened earlier that year in April, they decided to name their camp Lexington in honor of that first movement in the revolutionary war.

So, it really was the springs here that drew him in.

That was the thing out of all the land here, they saw that, and said, hey, this is where we want to be.

Absolutely.

The two artesian springs that we have on the property are the main features that draw animals and people here for thousands of years.

It's a constant source of water.

If you have that on your property as a pioneer, then you're pretty much set up for a homestead.

You're set.

And now, when they established it here, and really for the first seven years of Lexington, which I thought was interesting, it wasn't Lexington, Kentucky, what was it?

It was actually part of the British colony in Virgia.

So, it's interesting when you look at the history of what was happening here, when William McConnell's group was moving here, they were moving to a British colony, and then, once the Revolutionary War was fought, and America gained its independence, Kentucky then eventually became its own state as part of the union.

And so, they were part of Virginia at that time.

And so, it's interesting how the history worked out.

And so, while they were here, and over history, the Indians raided the place, British raided the place, why was this a popular place to be raided?

Were they looking for something in particular?

Was it the water or was it something else?

It's mostly the water.

When you think about the features of the property, this was a pioneer encampment, this was a rugged landscape.

So, animals would have access to water, there would be plentiful food for animals here.

We had bison in this location.

At the time, we had an eastern elk species.

So, we had large game, large fauna that Native Americans and others would come here to hunt and seek out, and you had the constant water source that the animals would seek out as well.

So, the springs and the animals would really draw people in.

So, you not only had water, you had a food source as well as a pioneer?

Absolutely.

Wow, that's interesting.

So, another part of this that is fascinating, when you get out on the property, is there anything here that you can see that really ties back to those origins?

What are some of the older standing buildings here?

So, we don't have any buildings that are still standing, but we do have foundations for buildings that are still here.

There's a creamery foundation from around the 1800s, early 1800s, from when there was a dairy farm operating here.

You can still see stone walls in their original location that have been here since the 1800s.

And we have a barn foundation from when the Cahills operated a farm here for trotting horses and the cows.

So, you can see some of those structures today.

Well, it really is an oasis here in a very urban area of Lexington.

It's a great park, and we look forward to exploring even more today.

Steven, thanks so much for letting us be here today.

Thanks for being here.

Love to have you.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ What if I told you that near Morehead, Kentucky, set a wonderful plot of land with a well-kept house and a friendly couple who've lived there for decades, not too different from many other Kentucky farms, you probably think.

But what if I then told you that this particular farm is ground zero for a migration of discarded babydolls, misfit toys, paintings, bottle cap art, and all manner of tongue-in-cheek found object art that covers every inch of the farm from the front steps to the rolling hills beyond.

Would you believe that?

Well, get ready to, because this is the Home for Wayward Babydolls.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Play is a sacred word.

That's the first thing we do when we are becoming a human is to play.

It's a way to keep away the meanness.

We get so caught up in what I guess, people call the real world that we forget that to be happy.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ The Home for Wayward Babydolls is about 14 miles outside of Morehead, Kentucky.

This is probably the greatest orphanage for Wayward babydolls that I'm aware of in this county, or surrounding counties.

Possibly in Kentucky.

Could be.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ The house itself was built in the late-1940s by Cecil's family.

It was his grandmother's house, and we moved to it in about 1981 or 1982.

Okay.

Well, I was thinking that really we should go ahead and take care of this doll, because we got her all the way back in September.

This is the epicenter for at least, baby dolls that have been traumatized in one way or the other.

Right.

Does it say where she was found?

She was found on the corner of North Street and Third Street in Richmond, Kentucky.

The dolls really started coming home in the early 1990s, and we became known.

This is one of the earlier victims that I document in my career.

This is poor, pitiful pearl.

She was found in the Red River.

I was working for the government at a time on a secret mission in Eastern Kentucky.

So, I won't go into exactly whom I worked for.

But I did have a badge over here, and a name tag over here.

Cecil's right.

He began to find these baby dolls out in the woods, and then being given more, and his office area got fuller and fuller and fuller.

To be honestly, once I started once my office with the federal government became overrun with so many specimens, I had to do something.

And when Cecil retired in, I think it was 2003, 20 years ago, all the baby dolls came home, because for some reason, his government office didn't want to keep them anymore.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ At that point, we established the Home for Wayward Babydolls.

So, this is the upper curatorium.

And so, a lot of the dolls in boxes here are ones that we have their stories because people sent them.

I love the stories that people bring with them.

That is an early Horsman doll.

Is it?

Really?

New York.

People just enjoy creating those stories or bringing object here that's going to become part of that story.

Those who come to just be adopted, they can end up anywhere.

Some of them like to just dangle their feet in the creek till they get washed away with a great flood, but they re-emerged somewhere else.

Here's that one.

It's a Barbie, I can tell by the hair right off.

No other one has a head of hair like that.

But look at that.

That is truly a wonderful Barbie.

This was my first ever self portrait.

The art is... never exceeds a third-grade level.

- [inaudible] exceeds a third-grade level.

- So people can come here...

I think that it's really fun to create a place, and not just a single object.

Things just grow.

We've had our photograph included in the Library of Congress.

We've had storytellers, musicians, and others come here.

I think what's here is ephemeral.

I feel like, we try to preserve far too much what's in the past?

I think, people need to move on.

Maybe somebody else will come and they'll collect.

I'm hoping the Smithsonian will be interested.

Oh, are you?

Okay.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ One of the things I really enjoy about this place is seeing other people's reaction to it.

Sharing it with other people and seeing how much they enjoy it.

It makes people happy.

It does.

I'm not quite sure why.

No matter where, if you go to a place that makes you happy, happiness spreads.

It spreads like wildfire sometimes.

And so I'm glad to have it spread from here.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Well, I'm hoping that sooner or later, we can get an intern to input all this data into the international database, so that it will be much easier for other scientists to examine.

True.

Unfortunately, we'll have to start the international database in order to input it.

That's what the intern does.

Okay.

So, that does it for Season 29 of Kentucky Life.

We hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have.

Many, many thanks to everyone that you can't see behind the camera here who worked so hard to bring you this show that we're awfully proud of.

But no worries, we're literally on the road right now chasing down more great stories for Season 30 of our show that will kick off in just a few months.

And we are going to have some more terrific adventures to share.

Now, if you've liked our show, be sure to like the Kentucky Life Facebook page or subscribe to the KET YouTube channel for more of what we 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.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪