GFWC Kentucky Barbourville Junior Woman's Study Club

06/17/2026

The GFWC Kentucky Barbourville Junior Woman's Study Club extends its congratulations to its members, who serve as both volunteers and respected professionals in the community, on being voted BEST pharmacist, BEST chiropractor, and BEST physical therapist by the readers of the Mountain Advocate. Volunteers are a work of heart!

06/14/2026

Happy Flag Day from the GFWC Kentucky Barbourville Junior Woman’s Study Club.
🇺🇸Fun Flag Day Facts🇺🇸
* The U.S. flag was officially adopted on June 14, 1777.
The first flag featured 13 stars & 13 stripes.
• The current flag has 50 stars & 13 stripes.
June 14 is also the U.S. Army's birthday.

06/13/2026

Thank you Barbourville and Knox County for your votes for The GFWC Kentucky Barbourville Junior Woman’s Study Club as the Best Civic Club of the Year. We are deeply grateful for this recognition and for the opportunity to serve such a wonderful community. We look forward to continuing our mission of giving back and making a difference together!

06/10/2026

The GFWC Kentucky Barbourville Junior Woman’s Study Club presented a $100 donation to the Barbourville Middle School Archery Team. They will be competing in the 3-D World Tournament in Daytona, FL from June 18th to 20th. This team is the first Archery Team in Barbourville City School’s history to make it to the World Championship and they are so excited. We wish them safe travels and the best of luck in their up coming competitions.
Photo caption: (L to R)
Kylie Merrill, Kyndal Merrill, Brady Mills, Parker Blevins, Anne Pedersen (2026-2028 President), Ada Miller, Landon Hensley, Coach Michael Merrill and Sherri Hammons (Parliamentarian).

06/08/2026

Got a bored kid at home? Want to doodle while you're at work? Want to possibly win a $100 Amazon gift card? Consider entering this art contest to design the new logo for "Heads Up Kentucky!"

06/06/2026

The GFWC Kentucky Barbourville Junior Woman’s Study Club is pleased to announce the three recipients of 2026 Matthew Wood Memorial Scholarship: Jazmily Blakely from KCHS, Laney Bunch (w Parliamentarian, Sherri Hammons) from Barbourville High School, and Lauren Partin of Lynn Camp High School.

When Steve and Rita Wood’s son, Matthew, was killed by an impaired and intoxicated driver on May 15, 2022, many facets of the community reached out to help. The Matthew Wood Memorial Scholarship fund was thus established to provide a $2500 scholarship to deserving students from the Knox County area.

Congratulations to Jazmily, Laney and Lauren! We wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

06/06/2026

Tri-County Mystery Meets is officially New York City bound in support of playwright Cat Rhoden Goguen and the incredible journey of The Sweet Life: Story of Ruth Hunt as this inspiring Kentucky story makes its way to the New York stage.
To help support this dream becoming a reality, the GFWC Kentucky Barbourville Junior Woman’s Study Club presented a $500 donation to several original cast members of The Sweet Life: Story of Ruth Hunt for this trip of a lifetime.
Photo Caption (L to R): Rebecca Doolin (Stage Mom), Sherri Hammons (Club Parliamentarian), Anne Pedersen (President 2026-2028 and Arts & Culture Chairman), William Carr (who portrayed William Hunt), Ellie Doolin (who performs The Sweet Life theme song), Teresa Brooks (who portrayed Mrs. Greene, the Bridge Lady), and Lisa Honeycutt (who portrayed Emily Tighlman Hunt Peck).

06/02/2026

So glad we can be a community partner in this worthwhile beautification project! We can’t wait to see the colorful native plants in bloom!

Thank you to the Barbourville Garden Club and the GFWC Kentucky Barbourville Junior Woman's Study Club. This past weekend they completed the planting component of a major native wildflower planting at Dr. Thomas Walker State Historic Site. Previously (in March) they had removed invasive bushes and constructed flower beds, this past weekend they removed a large number of weeds, and then planted the flowers depicted in the left hand picture. The picture on the rights was artificially generated and shows what some of the plants will look like. Sally Gap Farms selected these native plants. It will be a couple of months before we see the blooms, but it will be worth the wait. Thank you so much for your time and generosity in giving this to the park, you are amazing.

06/01/2026

The GFWC Kentucky Barbourville Junior Woman’s Study Club would like to say: “Happy Birthday, Kentucky!”🎉🎂

June 1, 1792 - 234 Years Ago Today - Kentucky became the 15th state admitted to the union of the United States of America.

On April 2, 1792, five delegates from each of Kentucky’s nine counties gathered in Danville for a constitutional convention after the United States finally accepted Kentucky’s petition for statehood following nine conventions held over seven years. The state’s first constitution created a structure for state government but it never mentioned taxation, education, or a means of adding amendments. Ironically, Kentucky’s 100,000 citizens never voted on the constitution.

As of 2026, the population of Kentucky is estimated to be approximately 4,629,682. The state's modest annual growth rate of about 0.5% is driven primarily by both international and domestic immigration, as deaths have recently begun to outpace births in the commonwealth. 🎉🎂

05/29/2026

Congratulations Keith on your very well deserved award! 🎉🎉🎉

Our park is a fantastic place to learn and grow! Just look at Keith Bowling, Superintendent at Kentucky’s Dr Thomas Walker State Historic Site in Barbourville. He started his career right here at Cumberland Gap in his early 20s.

Huge congrats to Keith who was recently honored by the Cumberland Gap Region Tourism Association with a distinguished Strong Award for his outstanding work in promoting Knox County, KY.

To build the next generation of leaders, the National Park Service (NPS) actively recruits energetic and hard working high school and college students for federal student programs.

These opportunities frequently launch successful, lifelong careers within the NPS and other federal agencies.

But sadly last year, many of these young, eager-to-learn individuals, much like Keith at that age, along with numerous incredible and dedicated mentors, were among at least 1000 NPS employees abruptly and unjustly dismissed by the Department of Government Efficiency with at that time, Elon Musk as its UNOFFICIAL senior advisor.

Yet while these dedicated civil servants lost their jobs, Musk's enterprises have continued to secure lucrative federal contracts, drawing billions in taxpayers' dollars.