The trip through the Barrens starts at the Paleo Exhibit (12,000 BC - 7,500 BC) showing the path of the first Native Americans to this area. Featured in this exhibit are stone and bone tools, such as knives, flint ax and projectile points. Other items shown include the chert ball and hammer stones.

The trip continues through the Achaic, Early Cave Explorers, Woodland, Mississippian and Historic Periods with a life size rock shelter showing two early Native Americans making tools and preparing meals. Visitors can turn on lights and sound to simulate life during these years.

Life in the 1800's is shown through many exhibits including this early sewing machine, manufactured in 1854 in Connecticut and bought on February 15, 1856 for Mrs. Elizabeth Holman Edmunds, a seamstress. She was the grandmother of the late Mrs. Mattie Elizabeth Siddens, the donor.

The Frontier Household is shown here along with a quilt of 20 different patterns which would have been used in the 1800's. Notice the wooden washboard, lye soap and yoke. The quilt was made and graciously donated to the Cultural Center by the Quilting Friends, a group meeting monthly here at the Center.

The barnyard tells the story of the hard work done by the early settlers. The farm wagon was used for planting and harvesting as well as a mode of transportation for the family. The hogshead, grain cutter and the grist mill give visitors a chance to see how things used to be done.

Enter the log cabin and appreciate life in the early 1800's. Note the cooking utensils, cradle, churn, candle molds and Betty lamp.

This cabin was originally built in Edmonson County and owned by the Meredith Family who lived there until 1949.

Step outside to the garden and corn field to find two friendly raccoons looking for a tasty meal.

Then onto the outbuilding or smoke house where food for the winter was stored including pumpkins, beans, onions, herbs and cured meat. Oral interviews with local folk tell visitors how to make kraut, dried fruit, hominy and Johnny cakes.

As you leave the first floor, you will continue to the second floor where the Civil War exhibit begins an extensive military collection. See the sword used by Colonel Joseph H. Lewis and newspaper accounts of the war in Glasgow as printed in the Philadelphia newspaper.

The Military exhibit continues through later wars all the way up to the Desert Storm Era. Women from Barren County who served in World War II are displayed here along with the Medal of Honor Wall featuring Richard Bush.

Kay Harbison, Vice President of the Foundation and Exhibit Committee Chairman, is shown in the Victorian Parlor, Study and Bedroom exhibit which is currently under construction while awaiting Victorian wallpaper.

A wonderful collection of dolls is displayed on the second floor.

The second floor is also some of the town square, featuring stores and establishments of the early 20th century, including a post office from Tracy, KY, a bank teller cage from Peoples Bank in Cave City, a doctor's office, telephone switchboard, funeral parlor and other stores including a dry goods shop, a millinery shop, a curio shop. This exhibit is not complete but still has lots of interesting things to be seen.

Also currently on display at the Cultural Center is a collection of pictures taken by local high school students under the guidance of Lynne Ferguson and Sam Terry. The students took photographs of interesting and unusual tombstones at the Glasgow Municipal Cemetery.

Visitors from all over the United States visit the Cultural Center's Genealogical Research Room. Vertical files by surnames are available, along with family history books, information from the South Central counties of Kentucky, such as census records, cemetery books, marriage records, funeral home records and books by local historians including Cecil Goode, Sandi Gorin, L E Calhoun, Martha Jackson, Barbara Wright, the Metcalfe County Historical Society, the South Central Kentucky Historical Society, the Horse Cave Heritage Council and Dayton Birdwell.

And for the avid researcher, the third floor of the Cultural Center houses approximately 80 years worth of newspapers from the South Central Counties of Kentucky. Shown here is Wayne Davis, board member of the Cultural Center, looking for information from obituaries in the early 1930's.