I live in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I was born here and have lived here all 27 (creepin' up on 28) of my years. I'm pretty proud of my little town. I love it so. I'll probably be living here until the day I die, and I'm totally okay with that. My family's roots have been firmly planted in Bowling Green for generations. I'm a pretty lucky girl in that all of my immediate and most of my extended family is in Bowling Green or in the surrounding communities.
Bowling Green has plenty to offer while still managing to maintain a small-town quality to it. It's a great place to raise a family. I-65 rolls right through us and we're just an hour north of Nashville if we need a big city fix. The city of Bowling Green has a population around 58,000 and our county's population is at almost 109,000. We're the 3rd largest city in Kentucky behind Lexington and Louisville.
What We're Known For
Bowling Green, BG for short, is the home of the Corvette. That's our claim to fame. Corvettes are made right here in the GM assembly plant. The public can schedule a tour of the plant, or if you've got some cash you want to spend, come buy a Corvette and you can take a special buyers tour. 
The BG plant also used to make the Cadillac XLR's, but these are no longer in production.
You can also check out the National Corvette Museum. There's a lot to see and it's pretty neat seeing the history and evolution of the car. After you've worked up an appetite looking at Vettes, you can get some good eats at the Corvette Cafe diner.
The world headquarters of the clothing and underwear makers, Fruit of the Loom is in BG also. GM and Fruit are two big employers here.
The Lay of the Land
We are a very karst region. We're full of sinkholes, valleys, and caves. I've been working on a blog post about our caves and sinkholes, so more information on all that business will come in the future. I'm sure you'll be getting excited about that.
Besides the Corvette Plant and Museum, one of our other big tourist attractions is Lost River Cave and Valley. I seriously live a stone's throw from this cave. This is why I have so much fun wildlife frequent my backyard. If any of my blog friends ever come tour Lost River Cave, let me know and I'll walk across the road to meet ya. ;) For the bargain price of $15, you can take a 20 minute guided history walking tour and a 25 minute cave boat tour. You can also explore a Butterfly Habitat and Blue Hole trails. Lost River Cave is unique in the fact that there's not a lot of the cave to explore by foot. You have to take the boat tour to venture inside the cave.
Now, this cave isn't as impressive as Mammoth Cave of course, which is about 30 minutes up the interstate from us. However, Lost River Cave is worth checking out. Especially if you've never experienced a cave. I've been dozens of times and it's always a neat experience. My high school Prom's were held in this cave. I bet there aren't many of you that can say you had Prom down in a cave. Well, this girl did. The cave is available to be rented out for special events and wedding receptions as well. Our high school reunion planning committee tried to book it for our upcoming 10 year reunion, but it was already booked up for the next year. Bummer.
The Town and The Folk
Bowling Green has definitely built up a lot since I was little. We've added tons of new neighborhoods and developments. I can remember when one of our now busy main roads was basically farmland. Things sure have changed a lot. If you drove out in the county, you would see a lot of wide open spaces. Farms, cows, some horses, tobacco fields. All of the things that are typical sights in the country.
Bowling Green is a good mix. We've got things to do, many places to eat, shopping, and then we've got rolling hills and countryside. You can have your pick based on where you want to live within the county.
I went to a high school that was very normal in every way, but FFA (Future Farmers of America) was the most popular club and we had Drive Your Tractor to School Day and Muddy Truck Day. The best of both worlds. We've all got some country in us down deep. You've just gotta embrace it.
There are some pretty great and friendly people that live here. I mean, I'm here. That should be a good example of the greatness.
Famous BG Folk
My man, Mr. Duncan Hines was a Bowling Green man. Duncan sure knew his brownie and cake mix.
Each year there is a Duncan Hines festival here.
Horror movie director and producer, John Carpenter (famous for the movie Halloween) grew up here. No movie scenes were ever shot here, but if you watch any of his films, nearly all of the street names, community and facility names that he uses in his movies are taken from this area. For example, Michael Myers escaped from the Warren County-Smiths Grove Sanitarium.
You can take a driving tour where you can drive around to find the streets and locations that he mentions in his movies as well as see his childhood home.
WWF wrestler Hillbilly Jim resides in BG. I used to work with his daughter. Nice family.
Do we have any Nappy Roots fans in the blog house? Does anyone even know Nappy Roots? AwwNaw? Hell Naw?
Well, if you don't know them, they're a southern rap quintet that originated here in BG. Country style rap. Pretty fantastic.
Also, on the rise Cage the Elephant is from BG. I went to high school with these boys. I love that they always play on my favorite Pandora channel. That's pretty special stuff.
Oh yeah, Bowling Green was also well known for a famous brothel back in the day called Pauline's. It was in operation for nearly 40 years. The lady who ran the joint, Pauline, authored a book and appeared on the Johnny Carson show, I'm assuming to tell her tales about gettin' some tail. Scandal goin' on in the streets of BG.
Get Schooled
My alma mater, Western Kentucky University sits on top of a big 'ol hill in Bowling Green. We're the WKU Hilltoppers. See. Makes sense, doesn't it. Below are a couple of pictures that I took showing a view from The Hill.
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I think Western's campus is beautiful. We may not have an abundance of parking lots, but we sure do have a lot of pretty buildings, nice landscaping, strange sculptures that our tuition has helped pay for, and even fun albino squirrel friends. |
We also have a charming little downtown with some shops, businesses, restaurants, and a few night spots so you can get your drink on.
I could write about Bowling Green all the live long day. There's so much more to share, but, I'll leave the rest for you to discover when you come to visit me. I'll be your personal tour guide, eating companion, and shopping buddy. Hope you enjoyed learning a little more about where I live!
Later, buddies.
