Why serious hikers and art collectors are both driving to this small Kentucky town off I-75

Berea’s got soul in every stitch

Forty miles south of Lexington, right off I-75, a small town in the Appalachian foothills has been doing things by hand for over a century.

The Kentucky State Legislature named Berea the Folk Arts and Crafts Capital of Kentucky, and Southern Living called it a Favorite Southern Small Town.

Hundreds of working artists keep studios and galleries running here year-round.

But the handmade goods are only part of the draw, because the trail just outside town might be the real reason to come.

A college that started in a one-room schoolhouse

In 1853, abolitionist minister Rev. John Gregg Fee took a piece of land from Cassius Marcellus Clay and built a community he named Berea, after the biblical town.

Two years later, he founded Berea College, the first interracial and coeducational college in the South. It started as a single room that doubled as a church on Sundays.

Today, every student gets a tuition promise scholarship, so nobody pays tuition.

About 75 percent of each incoming class comes from the Appalachian region, and the college still shapes everything about this town.

Watch glassblowing in Old Town’s artisan studios

Locals call it Old Town. The rest of the world knows it as the Artisan Village, and it sits at the center of Berea’s creative life.

You can walk the whole district and pop into studios where artists blow glass, shape pottery, and carve wood right in front of you. Handmade jewelry shops and fabric stores line the streets.

Over on Chestnut Street, the Fee Sculpture Park holds metal sculptures and plaques about the town’s arts heritage.

Over 900 Kentucky makers fill this free center

The Kentucky Artisan Center sits just off I-75 at Exit 77, and you can walk in without paying a dime. Since 2003, the center has accepted over 900 Kentucky makers into its juried artisan program.

Pottery, glass art, handmade dulcimers, traditional furniture, paintings, jewelry, and specialty foods pack the shelves.

The staff runs regular demonstrations, musical performances, and educational events seven days a week. If you only have one stop in Berea, this one covers a lot of ground.

Kentucky’s oldest craft gallery supports tuition-free education

The Log House Craft Gallery has been running longer than any other craft gallery in Kentucky.

The building itself dates to 1917, a 68-by-40-foot structure built to honor the revival of colonial arts in the Southern Mountains.

Inside, you’ll find handmade work from over 470 artists across the Appalachian region and beyond. It also serves as the main showplace for Berea College’s Student Craft program.

Every dollar you spend here goes back to the college to help keep education tuition-free.

Students hand-make 5,000 brooms a year here

Berea College has been teaching students to make things by hand since 1893. About 100 students a year learn one of four crafts: broom making, ceramics, weaving, or woodcraft.

The broom craft studio is the longest continually operating one in the country, and it turns out about 5,000 brooms a year.

Students design and build every piece as part of the college’s work-learning-service program, and you can buy what they make at the Log House Craft Gallery and campus shops.

The hike Outside magazine called Kentucky’s best

The Pinnacles trail in the Berea College Forest earned the title of best hike in Kentucky from Outside magazine in April 2019.

You climb about 500 feet over roughly a mile and a half through one of the oldest managed private forests in the country.

Several routes branch off to six overlooks, including East Pinnacle, West Pinnacle, and Indian Fort Lookout. The crowds are thinner than Red River Gorge, but the views hold up.

Trails are open dawn to dusk, every day, and dogs are welcome on a leash.

Hand-carved signs mark the trees in a 9,000-acre forest

Berea College owns and manages more than 9,000 acres of forest, and it sits right where central Kentucky’s rolling hills start pushing up into the mountains to the east.

At the base of the Pinnacles, the Forestry Outreach Center opened in 2018 with information on plants, wildlife, and geology. A college ecologist estimated the trails draw about 5,000 visitors a month.

Hand-carved wooden signs by a local artist identify over 10 species of trees along the way.

Pedal, paddle, or tee off around town

Berea holds its own as a Kentucky Trail Town. Family-friendly cycling paths run through Berea City Park, the 3-mile Mayde Beebe White Trail, and the 1-mile John B. Stephenson Memorial Trail.

The town is also a stop on the TransAmerica Trail, a cross-country cycling route that stretches more than 4,225 miles.

Owsley Fork Reservoir gives you calm water for kayaking and paddleboarding with no motorboats allowed. Local outfitters near campus rent bikes, kayaks, and paddleboards if you’re traveling light.

Spoonbread served at every meal since 1909

The Historic Boone Tavern Hotel opened in 1909 after the college president’s wife hosted over 300 guests in a single summer and decided something had to give.

Named for Daniel Boone, the Colonial Revival building was designed by architect J.C. Cady and sits on the National Register of Historic Places.

Guest rooms hold handmade furniture crafted by Berea College students.

The restaurant, now called Crafted at Boone Tavern, pulls ingredients from the college’s 500-acre farm and has served its spoonbread, a warm cornbread souffle, at every meal for over 75 years.

A railroad depot that’s the last of its kind

The Berea Welcome Center sits inside a restored 1917 L&N Railroad Depot, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975. When it went up, it was the only brick depot between Lexington and Knoxville.

Today, it’s the only remaining brick depot between Cincinnati and Knoxville. The city bought the building in the 1970s and reopened it as a welcome center in 1987.

Inside, you’ll find railroad history exhibits, a model train display, and information on local attractions. Parking and admission are free.

A free festival draws 50,000 for cornbread and hot air balloons

Every September, the Spoonbread Festival takes over Berea for three days.

The event started in 1997 and now draws over 50,000 people for craft and food vendors, live entertainment, carnival rides, a car show, and a hot air balloon glow. Admission and parking cost nothing.

Beyond the festival, Berea keeps a full calendar with craft fairs, traditional mountain music jam sessions, and live theater at the Spotlight Playhouse.

The town is also a stop on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, thanks to Berea College’s role in interracial education.

Explore Berea’s craft trail in Kentucky’s foothills

You can reach Berea by taking I-75 to exits 76 or 77, about 40 miles south of Lexington. Once you’re here, everything sits close together.

The artisan shops, hiking trails, historic sites, and restaurants are all within a short distance of each other, so you can cover a lot on foot.

Check the official website before you go for seasonal hours and event schedules, and give yourself at least a full day to do the town right.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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