News

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Coming soon: violin lessons!

The Olive Hill Center for Arts and Education will soon be offering one-on-one violin lessons.

Elaine Swinney with E Studio Violin will be offering private violin lessons at the Olive Hill Center for Arts and Education. Swinney has played with symphonies all up and down the east coast, as well as several nationally renowned groups, including Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Mannheim Steamroller!

With over 35 years of experience, she is now offering her talent to teach those interested — no prior experience necessary.

Those interested should contact her directly either by email at estudioviolin@yahoo.com or by phone at (614) 560-7075.

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Now collecting flood relief donations

In partnership with the Carter County Public Library, the Olive Hill Center for Arts & Education will be accepting donations for flood relief in southeast Kentucky.

Our gymnasium doors will be open 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 5-6, 2022. Donations can be placed on a table. They will be taken later by the Library to distribution facilities in southeast Kentucky.

Suggested donations include: can openers, bottled water, diapers, baby food, nonperishable food items, personal toiletries, and cleaning supplies.

Click here to find more ways to donate

For those who wish to donate money or cash, please click the button above to the find best avenue for monetary donations.

Olive Hill is no stranger to devastating floods, having experienced several in our long history and most recently in 2010. Others came to our aide during those times, now it’s our turn to help. Let’s help our fellow Kentuckians!

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Youth groups aid OHHS

A HUGE thank you to the Praying Pelicans tour group—these volunteers come from New Hope Church and Macedonia Christian Church in Virginia and North Carolina. They worked like crazy, cleaning and organizing at our center today. And thank you Renee Parsons with Central Job Bank for making this possible! We are beyond appreciative!!

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The Underwood War

Carter County Historical Society proud to announce their second public event! Come out and learn about the history of this bloody nineteenth-century feud rooted in Civil War allegiances.

August 25th at 7 p.m. at the Olive Hill Center for Arts and Education!

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Railroad returning to Olive Hill, in model form

A Chessie System GP-7 crests the grade at Mountain Top, the steepest on the Lexington Subdivision, at nearly 3% in both directions. This was between Olive Hill and Grahn. (C&OHS)

The Olive Hill Historical Society is taking up another historical initiative by forming a committee that will build an HO scale model railroad that will be based on the line that used to run through Carter, Rowan, Bath, Montgomery, Clark, and Fayette counties. It is the former Chesapeake & Ohio’s Lexington Subdivision.

The railroad left in 1985 after the decline of the firebrick industry. With little overhead traffic to justify keeping the line open, early CSX management considered the line financially unfeasible to keep open with steep grades and many water crossings.

However, the railroad’s importance in the history of both Olive Hill and Carter County cannot be overstated. Along with providing careers for many, it served many local businesses during its time, creating a prosperous economy in the early and mid-20th century.

The Olive Hill Historical Society hopes to preserve this history with a model railroad display with dioramas featuring several towns the railroad passed through on its way from Ashland to Lexington, including Olive Hill. The display will be in HO scale, or 1/87th the size of real railroad equipment. It offers the greatest selection of supplies, materials, locomotives, and rolling stock.

The society has dedicated a former classroom in the east wing of the historic Olive Hill High School for the project. With nearly 600 square feet of space, it is expected to be one the larger publicly accessible model railroad layouts in the region.

The committee will initially be headed by Cory Claxon, an avid local railroad historian. He has studied the line for several years after picking up an affinity for railroading and local history after graduating from East Carter High School in 2014.

The attraction is expected to be a regional draw for those that lived along the railroad’s corridor and will help further the mission of the Olive Hill Historical Society and the Olive Hill Center for Arts and Education.

A meeting has been set for April 16, 2022, at 5 p.m. at the historic Olive Hill High School. It is located at 120 Comet Drive, Olive Hill, Ky. 41164. Anyone interested in being involved with this is encouraged to attend. You will be able to enter from the east side of the building, through the library doors.

For more information, contact Claxon at (606) 225-5912 or by email at cory@coryclaxon.com.