Kentucky Life

Host Dave Shuffett traces the route of the Green River through the McLean County towns of Livermore and Calhoun; visits Dinosaur World in Cave City; and introduces Bowling Green artist and muralist Andee Rudloff, who was commissioned to paint a pair of fiberglass catfish for a display of public art in Tennessee.

Ruby Pearl Felix from the Ohio County town of Hartford, who's still quilting at 100; Lexington's Irish import shop; and Smiths Grove woodworker Mark Whitley.

Host Dave Shuffett and Sadie tour the Nature Academy in Owen County with Rich Detzel and learn about some herbal remedies made from things most people consider weeds. In Logan County, John Christopher Knight shares his original songs about his family's simple life on a farm with no electricity, cars, or indoor plumbing.

Glier's in Covington is the largest producer of goetta (a German side dish often compared to breakfast sausage or scrapple) in the U.S. The University of Louisville Photographic Archives houses more than 1.2 million historical images. And in Bowling Green, an annual mini-Corvette race raises money for Junior Achievement.

Visits to the Old Crow Inn in Danville, the oldest stone house west of the Allegheny Mountains; Laurel County folk artists Lonnie and Twyla Money, whose work is included in the permanent collection of the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art; the Mini Mansions Dollhouse and Miniature Shoppe in Owensboro; and the Vernon-Douglas State Nature Preserve.

The Thomas Edison House, where the famed inventor lived, worked, and experimented while living in Louisville; Louisville's Extreme Skate Park; and Murray State University's Wrather West Kentucky Museum, which spotlights the social, cultural, and economic development of Western Kentucky and the Jackson Purchase.

Host Dave Shuffett hunts fossils in Southern Indiana and Hazard and tours Breckinridge County's Broadmoor Gardens Conservatory and Wildlife Sanctuary, which houses eight gardens, a tropical plant conservatory, and a wildlife rehabilitation center. Also, a chat with author Barbara Kingsolver, a Nicholas County native.

A World War II LST (Landing Ship, Tank) visiting Paducah; an Owen County ostrich ranch; an old jail in Taylorsville that's now an arts and craft cooperative; and the handmade whirligigs, thingamabobs, and other automata at Dan Torpey Toys in Louisville.

Host Dave Shuffett visits Shelbyville to look in on some saddlebred horses and meets Melvin Dickinson, founder and conductor of the Louisville Bach Society.

Tom Myers, a Lexington entomologist and award-winning photographer who has traveled around the world to take pictures of insects and other animals; Pleasant Retreat, the Lancaster house built by William Owsley, governor of Kentucky from 1844 to 1848; and Mullins Log Cabin Country Getaway, an 1850s log cabin that now hosts crafts classes.

Host Dave Shuffett visits Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, the oldest continuously operating distillery in America; talks with Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Tom Bennett about the new buffalo exhibit at the Salato Wildlife Education Center; and introduces Al Hartmann of Covington, who turns junk into miniature replicas of antique cars, World War II battleships, and more.

Greenbo Lake State Park and its lodge, named for local author Jesse Stuart; woodturner Paul Ferrell of Crofton and his wife and fellow artist, potter Patricia Ferrell; and the Kentucky Artisan Heritage Trails project, launched at Eastern Kentucky University to spotlight cultural heritage tourism opportunities in southeastern Kentucky.

Rudy Ayoroa, an artist from Bolivia who lived and worked in Danville for more than 20 years; the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum in Harrogate, TN; and scenery from Mammoth Cave National Park.

Chris, Erika, and Zoe Strecker and Zoe's husband, Mike Frasca-all artists from Mercer County; Ken Garman's Lincoln Trails Honey Farms in Hardin County; and photographer Raymond Klass, who "paints with light" inside Mammoth Cave.

Coach Leslaw Stawicki and the U.S. Paralympic wheelchair fencing team in action at the Louisville Fencing Center; the Kentucky Reptile Zoo, where one of the largest and most diverse collections of venomous snakes in the world is helping to save lives; and potter Mitchell Rickman of Bowling Green.

Photographer Bill Luster, who has worked for the Courier-Journal for 30 years, mounts an exhibit of his work in his hometown of Glasgow. In Auburn, Terry Blythe operates a bed-and-breakfast in an 1871 mansion. And Warren County upholsterer Laura Brewer recycles scraps into whimsical Christmas stockings.

At the Challenger Center at Hazard Community College, students are treated to an interactive space exploration experience. Danville dentist Jack Hankla and his son, John, have built one of the largest and most important private collections of dinosaur bones in America. And one of the last custom coffin makers in Kentucky carries on at Bert & Bud's Vintage Coffins in Murray.

The headquarters of the Garden Club of Kentucky in Nannine Clay Wallis' 1851 home in Paris; Colonial House, a family-run furniture workshop in Auburn that has been creating fine furniture since 1952; and stained-glass artist W.T. Stinson.

Video clips from the television show Extension Today: On the Air introduce the activities of the University of Kentucky's Cooperative Extension Service. The Kentuckians Chorus, a men's barbershop chorus from Lexington, rehearses for and then performs in a regional competition in Louisville.

The historic and scenic Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville combines an outdoor museum of 19th-century landscape architecture and a vast botanical garden with the graves of many prominent citizens, including Gen. George Rogers Clark and Col. Harland Sanders. The Cardome Centre in Georgetown, a former girls' school, now hosts meetings, classes, and other events.

Visits to eight labyrinths across the state, including one under construction in Danville, explore the resurgence of this ancient tool for meditation and spiritual seeking. In Bowling Green, businessman Jerry Baker leads a tour of one of the region's best-kept secrets: the Baker Arboretum.

A look at the creation and the offerings of the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea, plus a two-part report on volunteer efforts in the Land Between the Lakes region. In addition to restoring old cemeteries, a group called Between the Rivers has brought some long-overdue recognition to Civil War veteran Andrew Jackson Smith, an ex-slave and posthumous Medal of Honor winner.

A rare opportunity to journey to some of the few remaining places that look much as they did when the first European settlers began arriving in Kentucky. Inspired by the book Kentucky's Last Great Places, written and photographed by Thomas Barnes, host Dave Shuffett explores hidden areas in every corner of the Commonwealth.

The Garden Club of Kentucky's holiday boutique in Paris, a visit to the Bethlehem post office with stamp collector Linda Lawrence, antique toys on display at the Hunt-Morgan House in Lexington, and Christmas music by Angel Voices and Ars Nova.