Dave Zuchowski, CNHI News Service
ROSINE, Ky. -- I regretted not having “Blue Moon of Kentucky” as the soundtrack of my latest journey.
It would have been a fitting introduction as I drove along the wood-lined country road to the top of Jerusalem Ridge to the boyhood home of Bill Monroe, the musician known by many as “the father of bluegrass.”
The youngest of eight children, Monroe was born Sept. 13, 1911, in a two-room log cabin on the 930-acre family farm near Rosine, Ky. When Monroe turned 5, the cabin burned leaving only the stone chimney and two fireplaces.
Almost immediately, the Monroe family with help from kin and friends set about building another house around the stone remnants, using hand-hewn logs and virgin timber harvested on the property.
The Monroes were farmers, but they also operated two sawmills and a coal mine. Somehow, they also found time for music, led by mother Malissa, who played fiddle, banjo, harmonica and accordion, and her brother, Uncle Pen, a renowned fiddle player. Because Bill’s elder brothers, Birch and Charlie, had already taken up fiddle and guitar respectively, it left the youngest Monroe son the less desirable mandolin, the instrument that subsequently propelled him to fame over a career that spanned seven decades.
Unfortunately, Monroe’s mother passed away when he was still a young and tender 10 year old, and his father died six years later. Even though Monroe left Kentucky to find work in Indiana in 1929, his early years on the family homestead left lasting impressions that became the inspiration for his music and his fame as the major force behind bluegrass, a word coined from his band, the Bluegrass Boys.
Sadly, the homestead passed out of family ownership in the mid-1960s, and Monroe had to settle for occasional visits to his boyhood home from then until his passing Sept. 9, 1996. The musical giant who’s been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and performed for presidents Reagan, Carter, Clinton and Bush is buried in a family plot in the nearby Rosine Cemetery.
In 2001, an organization known as the Jerusalem Ridge Bluegrass Music Foundation set about buying the property and restoring the five-room wooden homestead to its 1918 look. After a period of four intense months, a workforce of 12 completely restored the house, salvaging an estimated 75 percent to 80 percent of the original wood.
Today, guided tours of the house are offered daily by members of the foundation, often by those who either knew Monroe or members of his family. For fans, the house holds many cherished family heirlooms and mementos such as family photographs, Monroe’s rocker, his parents’ bed and trunk, his father’s walnut tool chest and the family’s kitchen table. One section of the house holds a modest gift shop that offers for sale CDs of Monroe’s music and themed merchandise.
Each autumn, the four-day Jerusalem Ridge Bluegrass Festival brings in as many as 44 bands and slews of fans to the homestead in a tribute to the Monroe family’s musical and cultural legacy. The 2010 Festival will take place from Sept. 30 through Oct. 3.
During the centennial of Monroe’s birthday in 2011, a series of special events are planned, starting on his birthday, Sept. 13, 2010. Funds are currently being raised to construct a proposed Monroe museum and amphitheater in nearby Rosine.
IF YOU’RE GOING ...
• Bill Monroe’s Homestead is located two miles west of Rosine, Ky., at 6210 Highway 62 East.
• For more information, phone (270) 274-9181.
• For information on other area attractions, phone (270) 274-1090 or www.visitohiocountyky.org.
• For a place to stay, contact the Bed and Breakfast Association of Kentucky at (888) 281-8188 or www.kentuckybb.com.
