What’s Inside?
You’re gonna love this!
Click on any feature listed below to reveal more information about that section of the magazine
Our readers write in each month with questions, interests, and wants. The content of their submissions are so broad, it is probably best to just share a couple examples of the letters we recieve, so here are a few: Looking for students who attended Hawses Fork School, Interested in contacting Col. James Smith descendants, Wants Greasy Bean Seeds, Response Surpassed Expectations, Explanation Clears Mystery, Wants Owsley/ Clay County Information.
Our readers are so kind, and many of them do help answer such questions and searches. For this, we are thankful. Write us soon! We enjoy hearing from all of our readers.
You never know what you find in our unique classified ad section!
Rare historical photos and the story behind them. Experience Kentucky’s grand story through captivating photographs. Be a witness to the events that changed and shaped our great state.
This section features a list and description of different reunions and gatherings taking place around our state each month.
Checkout our music section to learn more about the songs Kentuckians were singing 100 years ago right down to the note!
Our series of interviews taken from Dr. John J. Dickey’s famous diary. Dr. Dickey of Fleming County, Kentucky, founder of several schools and churches, traveled through Eastern and Central Kentucky over 100 years ago, interviewing older residents. Dr. Dickey often wrote down accounts of his daily events. In most cases, he wrote down their very words while compiling a diary of several thousand pages. Each month we include a few lines from this remarkable man’s diary, which he kept faithfully for over 50 years. These writings are written word for word as Dr. Dickey wrote them. Nothing has been changed.
In the same vein as putting a face with a name, our location maps allow readers to familiarize themselves with the places around Kentucky that the stories that they are reading have taken place!
Put your mind to work with our word puzzle, ponder on quotes from the Kentucky Philosopher and then be surprised by the strange facts unique to our state. All in each issue!
This section features gleanings from one of Kentucky’s most noted history books. Published in 1878, Collins’ Historical Sketches Of Kentucky contains a wealth of information on early Kentucky. In this column, we feature some lesser-known facts from that book.
That’s not all!
We’re 112 pages all about Kentucky
In addition to the running features listed above, the Explorer is jam-packed each month with stories as unique as Kentucky.
Click here to go to our sample section or simply pick a story below.
Frank And Jesse James Are The Focus Of Many Legends
November 1, 2016Martin B-26 Marauder War Plane Crashed In Leslie County In 1943
September 1, 2016Witnesses Describe First Fight Of Civil War In Kentucky
September 1, 2016Bloodstains From 1890 Are Still Visible On Stairway At U. S. Capitol
September 1, 2016There is still much to tell!
The Kentucky Explorer was founded by Charles Hayes in June of 1986 at 417 Court Street in Jackson, Kentucky. The magazine was the result of another little publication, The Kentucky Reader, a weekly magazine once used by students across Kentucky. The popularity of The Kentucky Reader with students and parents gave proof that such a magazine for adults was wanted here in Kentucky. For almost 30 years The Kentucky Explorer has strived to save the valuable story of Kentucky and her people. The magazine has succeeded in its goals and continues to grow at a healthy pace. Today, we have readers in every state and many foreign countries. Well over 50,000 people read The Kentucky Explorer each month.
Through the years readers with an interest in Kentucky have submitted hundreds of stories, photos, and other features to make The Kentucky Explorer the success it is. The pages of the magazine are filled with genealogy, history, and folklore, much contributed by readers. Since The Kentucky Explorer is an illustrated magazine, hundreds of old and new photos and artwork illustrate our issues throughout the year. Puzzles, maps, recipes, and many other little things of interest are found within. Readers of The Kentucky Explorer tell their friends about it. This is the main way it has been able to grow through the years. We encourage every reader to help our little magazine grow by telling their friends and relatives across the USA about us. We hope you help us in this way too.
The Kentucky Explorer presents all types of material on Kentucky each month. This material may be in the form of new, original work often sent in by our readers or it may be material which has already been published. In some cases edited and interesting passages from long-forgotten newspapers, books, and magazines are presented for our readers’ enjoyment. Also old engravings and sketches from the long ago are used. Thus, The Explorer acts as a distributor of certain rare, published materials many of which are all but impossible to find today. Many of these should be of great interest to the average Kentuckian.
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