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Priceless
jugs of yesteryear
By
DON WARD
Editor
PEWEE VALLEY, Ky. – James Chilton Barnett sits in the
back of his antique store, greeting visitors with a friendly,
“C’mon in and look around!”
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Photo
by Don Ward
J.C.
Barnett poses
in his Pewee Valley
antique store with
his collection
of prized possessions.
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The store is open only on Sundays, but Barnett
is there every day. He lives in the apartment in back, close
to his prized possessions – more than 440 antique stone
whiskey jugs that line the walls of his shop. They range in
size from miniatures to 5-gallon.
The jugs, some dating as far back as 1865, were used prior
to prohibition. Customers would buy a jug and refill it each
time they visited the general store or barrel house. Some
people used the jugs for holding vinegar, but most of them
contained whiskey.
Each of Barnett’s jugs is embossed with the names of
whiskey sellers across Kentucky. “Ninety-eight point
nine of them are from Kentucky,” he says proudly.
His favorite is an 1882-era Fible & Crabbs jug from Eminence’s
only distillery. He won’t even tell you what it’s
worth, perhaps because he wouldn’t take anything for
it.
“It took me two years to get it,” boasts Barnett,
who at 82 years old doesn’t seem the type to mark time.
“The woman I bought it from finally came around.”
But whiskey jugs and their pre-prohibition history are only
part of Barnett’s fascination with the past. A longtime
member and past president of the Oldham County Historical
Society, Barnett played a central role in the creation of
the Oldham County History Center, which opened Aug. 1 in downtown
La Grange, Ky.
“I can’t identify any other single person who had
more to do with its success,” said Oldham County attorney
Kim Snell, who also serves as the Historical Society’s
vice president. “He’s put in his time, effort and
money – he’s sort of the guru of it all.”
As the second-largest financial contributor of the project,
Chilton Barnett was not only recognized at the History Center’s
grand opening ceremony but celebrated his 82nd birthday on
the occasion.
Asked about the center’s significance for future generations,
Barnett says simply, “We wanted a museum that would pertain
to all the people of Oldham County – their ancestors,
tools, and the things they made when they came here. When
we started this project, we had no idea we be able to accomplish
what we’ve done. But with Louise Head Duncan’s family
trust money to support us, it has all come together.”
Barnett said he hopes others will donate memorabilia to build
an even larger repository of items.
Born in 1917, Barnett’s own ancestors on his mother’s
side date to the late 1700s in Oldham County. “That was
before it was a county,” he explains. “My people
lived around Sand Hill, what is now Prospect.”
His father’s family, meanwhile, settled in the Brownsboro
area. A farmer and dairyman, Barnett tended to milk cows as
a young man until his family’s barn burned in 1955. ‘We
sold the herd and I went to work for the railroad.”
In 1923, his father sold the family farm. It is now part of
a housing subdivision off Hwy. 22.
Barnett worked in the freight office of the L&N Railroad
Co. in Louisville for 18 years. During that period, he co-managed
a Pewee Valley amateur baseball team, which in 1949 won the
Louisville Amateur Baseball tournament.
He retired from L&N in 1973 and, a few years later, opened
his antique store. “At first, I was in a little store
in what is now Pewee Valley Auto Parts.”
He purchased his current building – a former doctor’s
office – in 1986. Besides antique whiskey jugs, he has
a general line of antiques and collectibles, including Kentucky
Derby glasses and various bottles, signs and glassware.
Because of his poor health, he doesn’t travel to auction
much anymore. “I’ve got enough stuff in storage
to keep me going for a long time, anyway,” he says.
The youngest of three children, Barnett has outlived his brother,
John, and sister, Louise. He underwent prostate cancer surgery
two years ago and in 1995 spent 45 days in the hospital for
a stomach block.
Regarding his health, Barnett says, “If I was an 8-cylinder
automobile, I’d be operating on about two cylinders today.
It’s just hit and miss.”
He was honored in 1995 as the grand marshal of the Oldham
County Day parade and is regarded as a key contributor to
the county’s historic preservation.
“He was among the early pioneers of the historical society,
back when they just started thinking about creating a place
such as the museum,” said Patricia Michael, the society’s
executive director. “Without his leadership and money,
this would not be possible. He believes in it and he wanted
it to happen.”
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