Southcentral Kentucky’s shared history

Editor’s Note: This is Part 2 of a series about Southcentral Kentucky’s country stores. Barren County Kentucky librarian and historian Nancy Richey, 66, remembers the creaking from the door and floor at Barren County’s Freedom Store. The smell lingers, too: Oil — and, more importantly, candy. As a 6-year-old, Richey would accompany her dad to pick up an R.C. Cola and Payday bar. “It was a special place,” Richey says. “Particularly for a kid with a quarter.” But there was also an exciting pull of the newer bigger commercial spots in more developed areas — an irony she finds striking in her reflections as one of many who miss those times. “We’re crazy people,” she says. “Can’t be satisfied.” Barren County’s historical role as Kentucky’s largest dairy producer made the rural populations particularly vulnerable to mechanized farming, according to Sam Terry, the county’s historian.

This excerpt comes from the named source. Read the original for the full reporting.