Scenic Verona Lake Park was once one of the most popular venues for country music and family entertainment in Kentucky throughout the 1950s.
Situated nearly 5 miles outside of Verona — a rural town in southern Boone County — the 80-acre ranch hosted some of country music’s most prominent artists, including Jimmie Skinner, the Stanley Brothers and Johnny Cash. At its peak, the venue hosted over 25,000 people throughout the summer of 1956. Three years later, the ranch’s owner, Thurston Moore, sold the property, promptly ending its reign as the preeminent local country music venue. Its legacy now lives mostly as a fact in bar trivia nights.
But the memory of Verona Lake Park remains alive in the mind of Boone County historian Hillary Delaney. She’s committed her professional career to archiving, researching and presenting the history of Boone County to its residents.
“I just found that information through my work, and I think a lot of people just don’t know about it,” Delaney said.
Delaney, a Boone County native, serves as the lead researcher at the Borderlands Archive & History Center, which is part of the county’s library system. She’s also the president of the Boone County Historical Society.
At 54, Delaney is the youngest member of the historical society’s governing board. Many of the others are in their 70s. This isn’t uncommon. Memberships of other historic societies in Northern Kentucky, and around the state, are aging, Delaney said. Many of them, she said, don’t have adequate leadership succession plans in place.
Historical societies are facing a demographic time bomb, putting many of these organizations at risk of becoming extinct.
“I think most of them are,” Delaney told LINK nky when asked about the looming risk.
Historical societies play an important role in preserving, promoting and celebrating the history and heritage of communities. The organizations can serve as the bedrock for preserving an area’s identity for future generations. But in Delaney’s opinion, as organizations’ memberships age, they risk losing a trove of institutional knowledge once their members either stop participating as actively or pass on.
The absence of these local historical societies could lead to reduced community engagement and reduced institutional knowledge of that specific geographic area, she said.
In rural Northern Kentucky counties like Gallatin and Pendleton, the aging leadership issue is amplified. Due to these counties having smaller overall populations (Pendleton: 14,607, Gallatin: 8,763) and facing similar demographic hurdles, it can be tougher for their historical society governing boards to find interested people to begin constructing proper succession plans.
To overcome this, the Boone County Historical Society has shifted its focus to recruiting younger members – even teenagers or college-age residents. These younger members have the potential to be their community’s next generation of historic leaders. Addressing these issues requires adaptability and creativity, said Ashley Buzzanca, National History Day Kentucky coordinator at the Kentucky Historical Society.
“I definitely wholeheartedly believe that the earlier you can plant a seed, the stronger it’s going to grow,” Buzzanca said. “Whether that is, you know, parents bringing their children to museums for a couple of hours to check out what’s going on, or paying attention to your local museum or your local historical society’s events page.”
However, in the Boone County Historical Society’s case, the recruiting initiative has been a struggle, Delaney admits, leaving many board members who have devoted time to the organization concerned for its future.
“I think it’s difficult because they’re all concerned about, you know, what’s going to happen when they’re not there, because they’ve been very invested for decades,” Delaney said.
If the problem is not addressed, historical societies run the risk of becoming antiquated to younger audiences. In a time where numerous entities, both physical and digital, are battling for a fraction of people’s attention spans, it can be a challenge for these organizations to meet potential audiences where they’re at, especially if they’re not already utilizing existing technologies.
In many ways, Boone County is a much different place now than when most of the county’s historical society members were growing up. In 1950, Boone County had a population of just over 13,000 people, according to U.S. Census data. Today, it’s the fourth-most-populous county in Kentucky, with an estimated population of 139,000 as of 2022.
Rapid population growth through the late 20th century and into the 21st century has only exacerbated the Boone County Historical Society’s problems. As suburban expansion into the rural parts of the county continues, Delaney and the historical society have put an even greater effort into placing historical markers at significant locations throughout the county to teach incoming residents about Boone County’s history, while reminding longtime residents of their community’s past.
“I think because of the sprawl and the sort of people who tend to drive more than they walk, you don’t have as much connection with the community history because of those things,” Delaney said.
Luckily for Boone County, there are already young people committing time to learning their county’s rich history.
Samuel Sharits and Morgan Bray spend an hour every Monday helping Boone County residents trace their genealogy. They also spend time researching, archiving and digitizing historical records such as birth and death certificates, property deeds and marriage records.
Both students have their reasons for involving themselves in historical study. Bray enjoys local architectural history, while Sharits is fascinated by local sports and general county history. Both are Boone County natives; Sharits grew up in Florence, while Bray is from Burlington.
At 17, these seniors have an internship at the Boone County Public Library through their high school – the Ignite Institute in Erlanger – to work with the staff at the library’s Burlington branch throughout the year. They are the only two students who do so in Boone County.
“I’ve always been interested in learning the history of where I’ve grown up,” Sharits told LINK nky. “I think that this county is really rich in its history.”
For Bray, the opportunity to spend time digging through the library’s archives to study the county’s historic buildings — some of which are nearly 200 years old — was too great to pass up.
“It was more of a historical journalism aspect,” Bray said. “I’ve been researching a lot of newspaper articles, looking at the film and photos from them, analyzing them, and connecting them to different parts of the county’s history.”
While Sharits is personally interested in local history, he understands why many other young people do not place the same level of importance on it as he does. It can be easier for someone who is retired to spend time studying local history.
“A lot of it has to do with our age, especially later in high school,” Sharits said. “They’re looking more toward their futures and worrying about where they’re going to go, what they’re going to do.”
For Delaney and internship director Holly Hall, students like Sharits and Bray represent hope. While neither is planning to study history in college, the internship has planted the seeds for future involvement in the local history community.
Sharits and Bray have both worked with members of the Boone County Historical Society, which they described as a positive experience. There is a generational gap between the two groups in the way they intake and present information, but local history serves as a bridge between the two groups.
“I feel like we’re able to find a common ground easily, and we can match the terminology that we all use — kind of get a general idea,” Bray said.
Sharits echoed her sentiment, saying that they have been “welcomed with open arms” and can find common ground through their shared appreciation of Boone County history.
“There’s always, always going to be some generational gaps,” Sharits said. “There’s always going to be things that they wouldn’t understand, we wouldn’t say, things like that, but I would say that we still get along well, they still treat us well, we understand each other pretty well.”
The Boone County Public Library has hosted history tours for high school students throughout the county at different significant historical sites. Many of the students who have engaged in the tour seem interested, according to Delaney.
However, because this isn’t the usual way students learn history, Delaney has wondered if they are more interested in going on a field trip rather than the core intent behind it. Still, any exposure is good exposure for imprinting upon the next generation.
Besides students, Delaney has tried to recruit history teachers in the Boone County Schools system. This, too, can be a challenge due to the nature of their busy schedules.
To adapt to changing demographics, historical societies must leverage different technological media to plan events, share information and recruit new members. Many of the organization’s older leaders may be unfamiliar with digital platforms, which can hinder outreach efforts. Sharits and Bray said that there are younger people who work with them, albeit on the technical production side, rather than the research side.
“There’s still some younger people that work around us, but I’d say they’re more with the editing, marketing and computer side of things,” Sharits said.
As young people involved with the Boone County Library’s Historical Center, Sharits and Bray said they felt an obligation to give back to their community. Their internship allows them to leave their mark at a young age.
“I’ve grown up in this area my entire life,” Bray said. “I’ve seen the county change a lot, and I think what I’m doing, I definitely feel a sense of responsibility, especially with all of the documenting that I’m doing and talking about how buildings have changed over time. I think that will be helpful in the future, because those buildings will eventually change again. It’s nice being able to document those for the future.”
Sharits noted that as people in his generation get older and their lives become more structured, they might be more likely to get into local historical organizations.
“It’s just really interesting to me, and I feel like more younger people should be more willing to learn about that sort of stuff,” Sharits said. “I mean, there’s going to be somebody that needs to keep track of all these things. I think that eventually there will be people that come and try to learn more about these things.”
Delaney pointed out that just because many members are older, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t heavily involved, investing both time and money in preserving their community’s legacy. Their contributions shouldn’t be discounted. There will always be older people involved in historical societies, because many have accumulated a wealth of knowledge over time through research and lived experience. They’re able to inject wisdom into the organization that younger members can benefit from.
“They are definitely the heart of that organization,” she said.
Going forward, the Boone County Historical Society is planning more community outreach events to get a greater number of people involved. The organization’s membership is acutely aware of the challenges ahead. The more events they host, the more likely they are to persuade someone to join or donate, Delaney said. These activities include hosting speakers and presentations at the library, distributing in-house publications like the group’s bimonthly newsletter, and continuing to dedicate more historical markers throughout the county.
The Boone County Historical Society has also collaborated with other similar organizations throughout Northern Kentucky to share strategies. Boone County is a larger community with more resources, so smaller, more rural communities can also benefit from their ideas and vice versa.
Regardless of current circumstances, the mission remains the same. Delaney and the rest of the Boone County Historical Society are committed to preserving Boone County’s history for the betterment of the community.
“It’s better for the community for people to want to know more about where they live and the people who live here,” Delaney said.
