For many in western Kentucky, their hearts will always be somewhere in a place they call Between the Rivers, now known as Land Between the Lakes. Though they can never truly go home again, former residents and their descendants continue to gather to share memories of the communities that once stood there.
Throughout the year, these gatherings, known as homecomings, take place in cemeteries or LBL pavilions close to former homeplaces. Similar to family reunions, guests are asked to bring a covered dish along with memories of the past to share.
LBL encompasses 177,000 acres of forest and wildlife, with 300 miles of shoreline along Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley.
“My family was here in Between the Rivers for about 200 years,” Mark Turner explained at the Golden Pond Homecoming held in Fenton on Oct. 4.
Turner is the son of a former resident of Golden Pond, Kentucky, who was forced to move out in 1966. Like other former residents, he refers to the peninsula as Between the Rivers, the name residents used before it became a National Recreation Area in the 1960s.
Theresa Howell came to the Golden Pond Homecoming from Alabama. Her mother, the late Patricia Allen Howell, was born and raised in Golden Pond. Howell is also a cousin to Turner, who displayed drawings and watercolor paintings Patricia made of her former home. The artwork depicts businesses and homes that once stood where there is now a four-lane highway or land completely returned to nature.
“Golden Pond was very special to her,” Howell explained. “This homecoming today, she would attend and try to get together with people from the community and talk about the past and how it can be remembered going forward.”
Howell said her mother loved to share memories and stories of her life in Between the Rivers at art shows and festivals.
“She wanted to let people know about the communities that existed before being forced out by eminent domain,” Howell said.
According to Howell and Turner, some residents were happy to take the money offered by the government and move out, while others were not. Stories of families who fought to stay were shared during the homecoming.
“I think everybody realized that they weren’t going to win and that going up against the government was just going to make it worse,” Turner said.
Another guest at the homecoming, Donnie Pogue, brought copies of his self-published book, “The Making of a Moonshiner in Between the Rivers.” The book covers the history of moonshine in the area from 1800 until residents were forced out in the mid-1960s.
“People had no choice,” he said. “It was this or starve.”
Pogue said his family lived in Between the Rivers from 1852 until residents were displaced in the 1960s. He left the area to join the military in 1962.
He enjoys telling stories about moonshine and growing up in Between the Rivers. The money from his book sales goes toward preserving his family's cemeteries within LBL.
“My folks are buried here, and I want to maintain that,” Pogue said.
At the homecoming, Pogue shared stories with Howell about her mother, including one about stealing apples from a tree in her yard. He said he and many other young men may have had crushes on Patricia and jokingly asked Howell not to tell her dad.
“I’ve been shot at, but I’ve never been hit,” Pogue said with a laugh. Howell smiled at the shared memory of her late mother.
Throughout the afternoon, guests came in and out of the homecoming, grazing on tables lined with dishes of home-cooked food. Pogue, Howell and Turner all commented on the fact that the homecomings are not the big events they once were.
“I can remember when you couldn’t get under this place,” Pogue said.
Turner explained that the Golden Pond Homecoming once had the biggest turnout of all the LBL homecomings, as many different communities in the area along Highway 68 shared the Golden Pond address.
“Unfortunately, we get smaller each year,” Turner said. “But there’s pictures where there’s hundreds upon hundreds here.”
Pogue said many of the people attending homecomings now are the sons, daughters and grandchildren of former residents.
“As we die out there’s just fewer and fewer,” he said.
Howell said she felt it was important to attend homecomings and visit the cemeteries, especially for the younger generations.
“It’s part of your heritage, and it meant so much to them,” Howell said, referring to former residents like her mother.
She spoke about visiting the cemeteries and how sometimes they are hard to get to, but visiting is important to her.
“People need to know that, that cemetery or that monument, it actually means something to people,” Howell said. “These are the cemeteries of my ancestors.”
“We’re just trying to keep the memory alive,” Howell added.
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