Since the advent of the Interstate highway system, two-lane American byways have become a place of nostalgia and wonder – a place to stumble upon unlikely attractions and quirky roadside gems.

These are the spots at the heart of Commonwealth Curiosities: An Ode to Kentucky’s Unique Attractions, a new documentary that features Kentucky’s best-loved roadside stops as well as a few hidden surprises. The film airs Sunday, June 28 at 10/9 pm on KET2.

The documentary shares the magic of roadside locales across every region of Kentucky, including stops at:

• Northeast Kentucky Museum in Olive Hill, where owner/operator Jim Plummer shares his family’s long-standing ties to the museum
• Kentucky Reptile Zoo in Slade, where curator Kristen Wylie offers a tour of the zoo — home to one of the world’s largest collections of venomous snakes
• Wild Things! of Kentucky in Slade, where shop owner and wood carver Lloyd Little treats guests to “wild nature” gifts, homemade candies and much more
• The Great American Dollhouse Museum in Danville, where curator Lori Kagen-Moore offers an up-close look at the museum’s more than 200 intricate dollhouses, miniatures building and room boxes
• Bible Mini-Golf in Lexington, where manager Dennis Hyde provides a tour of the uniquely themed course
• Akemon’s Barbershop and Music of Paris, where owner/barber/musician Joe Akemon explains his unique business model
• Vent Haven in Ft. Mitchell, where curator Lisa Sweasy showcases the expansive holdings of one of America’s few ventriloquist dummy museums
• Dinosaur World in Cave City, where manager Chris Randle offers a virtual trip back in time
• Apple Valley Hillbilly Gardens and Toy Land in Calvert City, where owner and curator Keith Holt showcases the site’s self-described “off-beat historic folk art attraction” plus operating toy museum
• Wooldridge Monuments of Mayfield, where historian Martha Babb details the significance of the 18 life-sized statues of humans and animals crammed atop Henry Wooldridge’s plot in the town’s Maplewood Cemetery

Working on the documentary enabled filmmaker Steven Owen Middleton of Morehead to “take in the full grandeur of our state and see areas that I had only read about,” Middleton said.

Middleton, an instructor of mass communication at Morehead State University, added, “I hope viewers will feel similarly inspired to hit the road and see these wonderful places right here in our home state – and to meet the amazing and interesting people who run them.”

Commonwealth Curiosities: An Ode to Kentucky’s Unique Attractions is an independent production, directed and produced by Steven Owen Middleton. The film was funded via a 2014 Kickstarter campaign and was discussed on the NPR Radio program Inside Appalachia last fall.

KET is Kentucky’s largest classroom, serving more than one million people each week via television, online and mobile. Learn more about Kentucky’s preeminent public media organization on Twitter @KET and facebook.com/KET and at KET.org.

Contact:

Todd Piccirilli
Senior Director, Marketing and Communications
859-258-7242
tpiccirilli@ket.org