>> Hey everybody, and welcome to the premiere of the 28th season of Kentucky Life.

I'm your new host, Chip Polston, and I could not be more excited to join you on our show.

Cannot wait to bring you a remarkable collection of stories this season from all corners of the state.

Now, as for me, I've lived in Kentucky my entire life, I'm a Louisville native with deep family roots in Eastern and Central Kentucky, and I'm a proud graduate of Western Kentucky University.

The Bluegrass State has always been my home, and I'm so looking forward to exploring our great commonwealth together here on Kentucky Life.

>> So I'm here in the beautiful historic Bardstown area to take in some of these remarkable sites and visit a few of the unique locations the town has to offer.

But before we go too far, let's dive right in to our first story.

For more than seven decades, theater lovers and those simply looking for a wonderful evening under the stars have travelled to Danville to enjoy one of the jewels of the Bluegrass.

Begun by a Kentucky veteran returning to his hometown, the Pioneer Playhouse has attracted actors and plays from New York City.

Today, the founder's children are following in his footsteps, providing a unique outdoor experience that brings cheering patrons every summer.

>> 73 years ago, a Danville native returned from his service in World War II and began what has become a landmark tradition, not only in his hometown, but for all of Kentucky.

>> My father, Evan Henson, served in World War II; with the G.I.

Bill, he went to New York City to study acting.

And then his father here in Danville, Kentucky called him, and he had, had a heart attack, and he needed his son to come back and help with things.

So dad came back to Danville, Kentucky and he said, "If I can't be on Broadway, I'm going to bring Broadway to the Bluegrass."

>> Evan Henson went to work dreaming and designing a summer stage for theatergoers to enjoy plays under the stars.

>> My father was a force of nature.

We would watch him build a building, he never built anything with blueprints, he would just draw a design on a napkin and he would put up a board and he would start nailing.

All of this complex that you see around here >> is a complex that was created out of his passion for his dream.

>> In 1956, >> his dreams would get a tremendous boost.

He convinced MGM Studios to bring a major film production to the Bluegrass State.

>> He heard that they wanted to film a movie called Raintree County.

It was meant to be the next Gone with the Wind, it just was a huge film for the time and all of the stars of the day - Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift - >> they were here in Danville living for six weeks, so it was quite a big story.

>> Part of the film centered around a beautiful train station MGM would build and leave behind in Danville.

Henson would quickly see the value of this building as a centerpiece for his new theater.

>> He dug a hole in the ground, a huge hole to make an amphitheater, and the rest is history, the rest became this amazing Pioneer Playhouse.

>> But just as his father's health drew him back to Danville, Henson's failing health would call to his children.

Sister Holly would stay in Danville to help her father run the show.

Then, as their father approached the end of his life, she developed cancer and died.

Heather and Robby left their careers in New York and LA to continue Evan Henson's dream.

>> The show must go on is in our DNA, in the Henson DNA.

So we had a funeral a week later and we opened a show two weeks later, and that was it, we just went from there.

And Robby moved back full-time from LA, and Robby and I both then started, this became it, we're running the theater with my mother.

Our dad started >> this 73 years ago, we've been a family-run business since then.

And we think it's a special theater.

It's not Carnegie Hall, it's not the New York Center of Theater.

It is grassroots theater, it's Kentucky theater.

>> It's a wonderful tradition to watch sister and brother welcome the audience and remember their father.

Every summer, the Playhouse puts on a series of five plays with laughter and applause, filling the amphitheater.

Another tradition that has become a great attraction for play goers >> is the opportunity to enjoy dinner and to mingle before the play.

>> We have patrons who have been coming back for years and they're so happy to see us, they're like, "We just couldn't wait 'til the Playhouse opened again and we couldn't wait to see you."

>> The Playhouse has attracted actors from all around the country.

It's part of Henson's dream that he paid forward to fulfill the dreams of others.

>> There have been hundreds, if not thousands of actors who have come through these doors.

It's like John Travolta or Lee Majors or Bo Hopkins or Jim Varney.

But even as importantly, are many actors who have gone on to be teachers, who have gone on to be better communicators in their work.

Hundreds, if not thousands of these actors have come through these doors and I think that's the real magic of this place.

>> As the sun sets and the play begins, the dream begun 73 years ago >> comes to life, as the audience is enthralled and the night air fills with laughter and joy.

It's a wonderful evening and a wonderful tradition for all Kentuckians to enjoy.

>> A rich sports history is a big part of life in the Commonwealth.

In a small Floyd County town, a group is working to restore the old Wayland Gym into a museum honoring standout athletes from high schools across the mountains of Eastern Kentucky.

>> If anything brings a community together quicker or faster and deeper than sports, I don't know what it is.

We had this vision looking for those athletes that maybe didn't get the recognition that they richly deserved.

We are isolated, not so much today, but certainly in the '30s, '40s, '50s, even into the '60s.

A lot of these early athletes, there's not a lot of documentation even for them, you had to be so dominant in the game.

Kelly Coleman, for instance, is a junior and his stats are unbelievable.

It was not First Team All-State, it was his senior year.

Yeah, I think there's always been, I don't want to say it's a slight, it just wasn't here in terms of the coverage.

What brought that to our attention was Charlie Osberg, second-leading scorer in the state of Kentucky, 1956.

The only man in front of him in 1956 was King Kelly Coleman.

We got to looking down a list of players, and I noticed Charlie's name was on this list, assuming that he was in the High School Athletics Association Hall of Fame.

Turns out he's not.

And I'm thinking, from Flat Gap, Kentucky and he's not in the Hall of Fame.

I thought, well, how many other mountain athletes might there be that has not received the recognition that they might have received, had they been from Lexington or Bowling Green, Paducah, wherever.

>> There's so much pride in Eastern Kentucky about basketball in general, because that dates back over a century and around coal mining camps especially; people played basketball and if you were a good basketball player you had a status in the community.

If you were a great basketball player, I mean, you almost had carte blanche in many ways.

And when I was growing up in the '60s and '70s, it was basketball and coal, coal and basketball, you flip them as things to be proud of because there was a real sense of community pride.

And I think that's what they've done at Wayland is they've captured that.

>> We're blessed to be sitting today in a 1937 building.

You're sitting on an original floor from 1937, surrounded by seats and the bleachers that's been upgraded, we're now ADA compliant.

But it's been a privilege and an honor to be a part of this process knowing that we are providing a place to honor those other athletes.

And again, we're in a basketball gym, but we're all about sports in general.

We're about basketball, yes, and that's primarily why we're here, but there's football, there's baseball, there's soccer now, there's girls sports that we didn't have when I was in school, so we covered it all.

>> My father played for Garrett High School back in the '40s and he played in that gym.

In my brief and certainly uninspiring basketball career, I played in that gym in the early '70s, and later played Independent League and Church League games in that gym in the mid '70s, even when I'd gone off to college and come back a few times.

And it was fun to go back because there's so few places you can't go home again to, certainly not going back to the '40s and to the '70's.

And it's the same place.

And the Wayland Gym is the same place.

You go back to a different time.

And I think especially with the way that the flow of life is these days, sometimes there's something special about that nostalgia.

Some people still like to watch Hoosiers every time it pops on the TV screen, so this is your opportunity to see Hoosiers in Kentucky is to go in that Wayland Gym.

Because when you walk in there, it's like walking any place that's not even sports-related, but anything that you can feel a historic >> significance.

Something happened in that gym, there's been moments in that gym that you'd like to hear about and you can get a chance to re-create it, he'll roll a ball out for you, Jerry will, and you can take a couple of shots if you want.

>> I'd love to show the gym off and very proud of the work that we do as a group.

This is home for me and so it's easy for me to do the work.

It's really not work.

We're looking forward to building on what we have.

>> We continue our tour of downtown Bardstown here in the amazing Talbott Tavern built in 1779, and it's never stopped operating since.

The manager of the property, Chuck Wood, is here with us.

Chuck, thanks so much for being here.

Thank you for having me.

This amazing room we're in right now has connections to one of America's most famous outlaws.

What all has happened in this room?

Jesse James, there is a rumor that while he was drunk in the bar one day, downstairs is the world's oldest bourbon bar, he came up here to try to sleep off one of his famous massive hangovers.

And for whatever reason, he woke up and thought he saw birds flying around inside of the murals, so he started shooting at them.

And the bullet holes are still in the walls there?

Bullet holes are still in the walls.

That has to be an attraction for folks to come in and check out, isn't it?

We get hundreds of people a day, after their meals, before their meals, just coming to see.

And then of course on the weekends we have the historical ghost tours that come up here.

Right.

>> Now, you were telling us earlier about how these murals were covered with wallpaper and the story to me on how you all discovered them is pretty remarkable.

How did all that come about?

>> So we had the fire, there was a fire in 1998, which really burnt off all of the wallpaper, and as you can see, you can still see remnants of the wallpaper still there.

Right.

And then there's some charred areas here?

There is.

You can tell where that was?

Yes.

So when that got burned, was there this eureka moment where folks came in here and said, "Wait a minute, there's been something under this, this entire time"?

There's something a lot more than what we've been able to perceive.

And so we built this room right here to where this could be more of a museum, let everybody stay if they want to rent the Jesse James Room behind us.

And then people will walk in and out all day long, they'll take pictures, they'll just look at...

I mean, 1779, I'm sorry, 1790.

Right.

Which is remark... Now, it was built in 1779?

Built in 1779.

And when that happened, I was fascinated by this.

This was built in Virginia.

Yeah, we were known as Salem, Virginia.

But it's never moved?

Nope.

So it's always been here, but this was part of Virginia at the time?

Yeah, when we were first built, we were known as Salem, Virginia until we became Kentucky.

Right.

And some of the famous folks that have come through here, the list is long and very notable.

Who are some of those?

Jesse James, John Fitch, he invented the steamboat >> here.

He was buried out back in our cemetery, but now they've memorialized him in the square.

Right.

Daniel Boone, obviously Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, General Patton and General George Rogers Clark, just to name a few.

Now when you talk about Abe Lincoln, his connection to the property here, what was that?

Well, there was the famous land dispute when he was a kid, and then it was said that as an adult, as an attorney or a lawyer, which he was, he had depositions at the courthouse across the street.

Wow.

>> And he would come over here between depositions or afterward.

And the bar area, as you mentioned downstairs, there's a lot of history in that bar area as well?

Absolutely.

That is the >> all-original portion, undamaged by the fire as well, and it's in the portion of the building directly under us that is all original to 1779, except for the gas in the fireplace and the electricity.

Wow.

What's it like for you to work here amongst all this history?

That has to be something else?

Well, I'm very passionate about history, so I love when people want to learn about it and I love telling about it and I can talk about it all day, I'll really geek out.

And then it's really cool, the haunted aspect of it because everybody, all the staff, everybody sees something and everybody gets to have an experience at some point or another.

Chuck Wood, manager of the Talbott Tavern, thanks so much for being with us.

>> Well, who would've guessed the skeletons of a pair of 2000-year-old Roman martyrs would be laid to rest on the other side of the world right here in Kentucky?

Well, surprisingly, the two Saints, Magnus and Bonosa have been at rest at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Louisville for well over 100 years.

>> So 1901, so they've been here for 121 years now.

The pastor who was here at the time was obviously well-connected.

As far as we know, he wanted to have something to set his parish apart from many of the other parishes here >> in this part of downtown.

He wrote to Rome requesting relics and lo and behold, they sent him two Roman martyrs.

So quite unusual.

I actually was pretty impressed that Father Clutter was putting it all on the line.

>> I mean, are these real human remains?

What we were to do was to look at the remains and tell them as much as we could forensically about what they were, who they were.

>> And so you have the two Saints of Magnus and Bonosa who, legend has, lived during the fourth century, were martyred in Rome.

Magnus was a Roman centurion, a soldier.

Bonosa was a young Christian of the time and during one of the persecutions that occurred during those days that Magnus and Bonosa gave their life as a result of their faith.

>> We conducted metric observations on all of the remains, the cranium, and as a result, we were able to estimate the ages of the individuals.

We did not do absolute aging, we did not do carbon dating.

What had been related historically about them, she was purportedly a virgin and which obviously you cannot tell from skeletal remains, and she was a young female in her twenties.

We weren't expecting anything, we were basically doing it blind.

He, on the other hand, was either in his forties or his fifties, it's hard to remember.

Male individual with some African descent, I believe >> The first time I saw them, actually I was a teenager.

I came here to this church, as a 14, 15-year-old with my parents, and it's a shocking thing to see at first, especially as someone that age, it takes you by surprise.

>> Bonosa is in very good condition, quite honestly, a layperson probably couldn't tell her from a modern skeleton.

She's in very good condition.

St. Magnus on the other hand, the bones were quite eroded, the outer covering of the bone in places had flaked off.

And we found some interesting things when we were doing the analysis.

The cloth, as it turned out, was old altar cloths, and the reason apparently that they used them is that if something that's sacred is damaged or no longer usable for whatever reason, it either has to be burned or it has to be buried.

Kind of like what Americans do with a retired American flag.

So what they chose to do was take the retired altar cloths and wrap the remains with them.

>> Of course, you come here into the church at night and the lights are dim and the candles are flickering in the corner and you have two skeletons in the front of the church.

That's pretty amazing, and it's certainly something that people think of when you say this church, they say, "Oh, that's the church with the bones.

Yeah, the skeletons."

>> They may be here another 100 or another 200 years before somebody opens them up and looks at them again.

So if you look at Bonosa, she's laying with her hands on her abdomen, but her hands are her hands, her right hand is all the bones of her right hand, all the bones of her left hand that were there, there's a couple missing.

She was probably about 90% present.

St. Magnus was probably about 60% present.

>> It's a remarkable thing to think 1700 years ago, these two individuals were walking the face of the earth and now their remains are present because of their act of faith, are present in a part of the world that they didn't even know existed to people who come here in Kentucky.

>> When we were done - it's kind of giving me goosebumps even thinking about it now.

Imagine this place packed, they wanted to see them go back, they had been gone for several months.

How do I personally feel about it?

I'm amazed that they fit the criteria that we were not expecting, but they fit the criteria that one would expect when it comes to young female, older male, I mean, >> that's pretty good.

What we know of them is legend, it can't be confirmed, science can't confirm anything, but science can debunk, it can tell us that they aren't who they are or who we think that they are.

What was interesting from Dr. DiBlasi's >> study was that everything that he was able to determine >> from an unbiased perspective, a scientific perspective, is that everything that he was able to tell was consistent with what the legend is.

And so that was not confirmation of course, but it's >> heartening to know that the legend is intact in that way, I guess.

>> Throughout the Bluegrass, more and more plant-based restaurants are starting to pop up as plant-based options become more accessible.

The Social Vegan and Moody Mike's are two plant-based restaurants in Lexington who are challenging the notion that vegan and plant-based foods have to be bland and boring.

In fact, their meals are the exact opposite.

>> The word veganism is a lifestyle, a true vegan person, they don't have any animal products whatsoever, they don't have any leather, they don't have any products or cleaning products, makeup products or anything that's tested on animals.

Plant-based is a little bit different, we are vegan at home, but we consider ourselves more plant-based and we don't use any animal products on the truck.

>> Well, I think a lot of it is changing over from eating meat to a plant-based diet.

Some of the biggest challenge is you've got to find the right stuff to consume and it's also not only being a vegan is good for us internally, but it's also good for the planet.

You're not killing the animals, you're not getting rid of the other existing things that has life.

It is just focused on that plant-based diet, which is plentiful.

>> The plant-based market in Lexington is growing, if you go around to different restaurants, no matter whether it's a high-end restaurant or just, let's say, your burger spot, they're going to have something for plant-based people >> there.

Moody Mike's is a vegan food truck, we focus on making plant-based food that appeals to everyone, meat eaters included.

>> One of the biggest misconceptions that people have is, one, it's going to be gross.

Two, it's going to be a bland taste.

Three, people will say, "Oh, you're just eating grass.

Here's a plate of grass."

Stuff like that.

But one thing that really gets people when they really try it, it actually blows their mind at how similar plant-based food can be to just normal food that meat eaters are used to.

If we're out, let's say, at a brewery like Pivot, where we are normally located at, >> different people from all walks of life that are plant eaters and non plant-based ears, they're going to come up and at least try something, and that's going to pique their interest into what we are and what we're really about.

>> The Social Vegan is just a plant-based restaurant, the owner just wanted to bring something new and fresh to the city of Lexington.

The community is just so fun and I think it's just awesome, it's a step ahead of the world and where it's going.

So yeah, it's new.

>> We want to be the gateway to the vegan lifestyle, knowing once they become familiar, they decide to go farther into the vegan lifestyle.

They'll try other things, but we would just want to give them a healthy alternative in eating.

Personally, I've been vegan going on about four years, and my sister's been a vegan for over 28 years, and I see how she look very youthful, a lot of energy, a lot of activity, I see how does it play in her life and I want to incorporate the same in mine.

>> People here in Lexington seem to be opening up a lot more.

I think it's growing in popularity and almost becoming trendy to be vegan, so I think people's minds are getting more open to it.

>> Working in other kitchens where there are meat products, versus working somewhere where there's not, it's actually way easier to cook plant-based than other restaurants.

The thing about The Social Vegan is they're all about teaching us about food and healthier ways and healthier options; at other restaurants, it's just like, "Here's a menu and >> go forward, go at it."

Our chicken and waffle is actually, and we hate to say it, we've got to use the term chicken because people are familiar.

If I just said mushroom and waffle, people will never even try it, they're like, "Ugh."

So we address it on how they identify their food and what we try to imitate into what they're familiar with.

Good thing about it is recreating >> the plant-based food that tastes like the common items that we are accustomed to eating, such as shrimp, such as chicken, such as burgers, is I engaged and taste and all that before, so I know what it takes to make it taste like those items.

But one of the things we did was add flavor, plenty taste, flavor and choices that they can choose from, and they would know that vegan lifestyle is not just the vegetables and harsh eating.

>> With veganism, just give it a try because there's so much food that vegans eat that's just not salad or fruit or anything like that.

There's many options to veganism.

You can have your alkaline vegan food, your raw vegan food or you can just have your fun vegan food like chicken sandwiches, burgers and all that type of stuff.

So there's many different facets of it, I mean, you won't go wrong with any of it.

>> Folks, thank you so much for joining us for the season 28 premiere of our show.

As the new host for Kentucky Life, I cannot wait to join you on so many more adventures that we're going to have down the road.

But for now, I'll leave you with this moment.

I'm Chip Polston, cherishing this Kentucky Life.