This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the August 7, 2008 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            The Holiday family reunion was held in the Hall Community Center Saturday and Seldon Holiday came over to the Pioneer Village afterwards.  Several members of his family followed him so I assigned Seldon the job of official tour guide.  As more and more members of the reunion came over, I just sat back and listened to Seldon.  If anyone can brag more on what we have on display than Ol’ Todd, it’s Seldon!  After all, he has given us a large number of the items we have in the cabins.

            The Green Onion Jail Cell was a big attraction to Seldon’s twin great-grandsons.  It was suggested by some that Seldon build those youngins a jail play house!

            When Seldon retires, I suggest he come back to Roanne Branch or even closer so he could become the Pioneer Village official tour guide.

            We hope we can keep our cabins in the Pioneer Village open more through Founder’s Days.  We have been installing half-doors so people can see in but not actually go into the buildings in the event there are not enough tour guides available.  Toddie and I are working on this, all the while hoping that perhaps we can find enough people to play host to visitors in the cabins.  We are always happy to have Alma Holliday and her sisters to come and take care of the school house cabin.  They always do such a good job of meeting and greeting.  People look forward to seeing them each year.

            Now that Founder’s Days are only a couple of weeks away, I ask you, did you get your Fletcher family material (your family genealogy and pictures) in?  We are grateful to Morris Fletcher for the great outline of the family from “Old” George Fletcher down to George’s grandchildren but we need your help to bring the family down to the present. 

            Founder’s Day plans are proceeding with some new helpers this year.  We appreciate everyone’s help.  We ask that everyone bring lawn chairs when you attend our evening events but ask that you not tie them together as that hinders the clean-up of the grounds.  We ask everyone’s help also in disposing of the trash properly as that is always a problem at events. 

            We hope you will come out and meet and greet our local visitors as well as our visitors from out of state.  We are sure you will meet many kinsmen and even make new friends.

            We had visitors from Denmark recently which, to say the least, isn’t an everyday experience for our little town. I think this may be a first for us as a tour group for the Pioneer Village.  Cristina Ferpersun of Fredericksburg, Denmark left some nice remarks in our guest book.  She had heard about the Pioneer Village in the Kentucky Tourism Guide and was interested in seeking general information about pioneer history.  She said, “Coming from Denmark, which contributed only a few pioneers, is an indescribable experience to find such a rich collection as you have here!”

            Folks, this gave Ol’ Todd a boost as truthfully, I have been “down in the dumps” a little lately as I have been trying to get things in shape for our 30^th Annual Founder’s Days. 

            Another visitor who really boosted my ego recently was Mr. James Williams of Portsmouth, OH.  I received a nice note of thanks, “The world is a whole lot better place because of people like you who give real joy and pleasure by the nice things they do.  With your recent thoughtfulness still very much in mind, this is meant to bring a “Thank you” of the warmest kind.  Thank you so much for taking your time to make our day so pleasant and meaningful. It was a pleasure to spend the day with you.”

            I will have to let my cap “out” a notch or two!

            Now, in turn, I would like to thank all the people we talked to when Mr. Williams was here, especially the guy who quit his mechanic work to show us an abandoned cemetery at the head of Litteral and Mr. Paul Brown who gave us an overview of the Rockhouse-Pricy area.

             We will now get back to working in the Pioneer Village to get it in shape for Founder’s Days.  One of our new ideas is to have an animal petting booth on Friday when the youngsters bring in their pets to be judged.  I have spent two days cleaning up the log barn which had become a “catch-all” for what my son Toddie calls “junk”.

            With the help of Toddie, granddaughter Haley and Tyler Allen, we put the final additions on a fence so now all we need are some animals, hint, hint, Paul Bussy!  If we don’t come up with some goats or something, we may have to settle for Tyler’s banty chickens (smile).

            If anyone can help in this category, let us know.  We are also hoping for some new categories in the parade such as antique tractors, mules, oxen, horses pulling farm implements. 

            Founder’s Days begin on Tuesday, August 26^th.  We invite you to come and be with us at the opening ceremony on Tuesday beginning at 5 p.m. and take part in as many of the rest of the events that you can.