Welcome to Elliott County, Kentucky’s Diamond in the rough, a remote area
where the people are taking charge of their lives.
They’ve grown tired of hearing their home recognized as one of the poorest counties
in the Nation, having the highest unemployment rate and lowest percapita income in the
state.
In 1992 they created the Elliott County Tourism Development Council hoping to bring
visitors in to see the real Elliott County.
The request from the community was that this be made a priority project of the
Elliott County Extension Service.
Not knowing what to do, my co-worker and I turned to the University of Kentucky
Extension Specialists. They teamed with the Kentucky Economic Development Council
and did an inventory of Elliott County.
Those professionals agreed that Eco/Heritage tourism is the best-suited industry
for the county.
Through the process of visioning and asset mapping, the people evaluated the
community. They identified the county’s major limitations as being:
- Negative statistics,
- Inadequate infrastructure,
- Limited access,
- Hills too steep to farm,
- Two lane-winding roads,
- Lack of job opportunities,
- Outward migration,
- Negative attitude,
- Negative stereotypes
They recognized some of the assets as:
- Pristine natural areas,
- Internationally known folk artists,
- Many talented unknown artists and crafters,
- A strong and willing work force,
- Great location,
- An Intriguing history and culture,
- Low crime rate,
- Peaceful country atmosphere,
- Lots of green space
As the U.K. specialists continued to guide us through unknown territory we
developed a lasting relationship with:
- The Elliott County local and state elected officials
- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- The U.S. Forest Service
- The Kentucky Departments of Fish and Wildlife Resouces, Parks and Recreation, and Transportation
- And the Kentucky Division of Forestry
In 1994, Dr. Smith, Rick Bates, and Dr. Worms offered a tourism internship for
Extension Agents. Through this three year professional development program we
learned:
- Trail development
- Land Use management
- Brochure design
- Effective means of communication
- Market analysis and Marketing skills
- Entrepreneurship
- And we learned how to work with the media
Through hands-on workshops, these skills were passed on to people in the county.
Entrepreneurship became the emphasis of our first Small Business Development
seminar, which was attended by fifty-three people and resulted in two successful
businesses. One of them being Charlene’s Country Inn, Bed and Breakfast, the first overnight lodging in the county.
In 1999, we were told that in the spring of their fifth year, the
Department of Landscape Architecture
at the University of Kentucky adopted a community to help develop a formal plan
for it’s future. With out haste we invited the Department Chair, Horst Schach, to consider
Elliott County as their 2000 spring project.
Mountain Telephone donated $10,000.00
to pay the expenses for the students to complete their plan, and they accepted.
More than 150 Elliott County citizens worked with Horst, Steve Austin and their students.
The 2000 Heritage Plan for Elliott County has helped in securing funds in excess of
$600,000.00 --
- 300,000.00 TEA 21 funds for the construction of a Welcome Center
- 48,249.00 RTP funds for Trail development
- 75,000.00 from the Steele Reese Foundation
- 10,000.00 from the National Endowment for the Arts
- 10,000.00 gift from Larry Addington
- 10,000.00 ARC FLEX-E grant
- 3,000.00 gift from the Kentucky Arts Council
- 75,000.00 in house funds from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
The involvement of the Extension Agents in Community Development was influential in
obtaining a $100,000.00 contribution for the creation of the first 4-H agents position in
Elliott County.
This spring will see the grand opening of Laurel Gorge Lodge, designed and constructed
by a local family.
The Welcome Center and wheel chair accessible interpretive trail into a natural area will be
complete by fall.
At present, Extension Specialist,
Dr. Tom Barnes and
Appalachian Author, Garry Barker,
are collaborating on the contents of a coffee table book about Elliott County
Last year a group of leaders in the Isonville community acquired a fire damaged house
and have developed it into an Arts Center. Thanks to other volunteers “Our Heritage
Museum” was created, incorporated and designated a 501c3
Due to the involvement of the County Extension office staff, the county now has an
active Chamber of Commerce.
Ten Elliott County leaders are working with the
Foundation for the Tri-State Community
in the development of an Elliott County Endowment. The funds generated from the
endowment will insure a sustainable future for the Elliott County Tourism Development
Council.
Elliott county youth are being involved in collecting oral histories for the preservation of
our heritage, assisting in the relocation of an 1800’s log cabin, and through community
pride, and environmental education programs they are learning to understand the project
and the process.
Now it seems those hills that are too steep to farm offer brilliant shows of spring and
fall color, those two lane winding roads are being considered as Kentucky Scenic By-ways,
and that willing workforce has the opportunity to build restaurants, grocery stores, and
develop home based businesses.
A Diamond in the Rough, true, but the facets are being polished and someday Elliott County
will be the Jewel of the South.
