My title is how our tour guide described her age. Jenemarie is the granddaughter of John Walter; he and his son were the last Lock Masters at Lock #10 on the Kentucky River with John Jr. retiring in 1975. Jenemarie delights in telling family stories. It’s her therapy, she says. She recited a lengthy family poem (“Do You Remember” written by her sister, Tour Guide Rick’s mom) told at reunions to remember their lives on the river. The houses that the lock-master and assistant lock-master lived in are preserved on site at Ft. Boonesborough State Park. Jenemarie and her sister-in-law were instrumental in getting these two houses preserved for future generations to see a way of life that no longer exists. These are the last lock houses standing in Kentucky, and her grandfather kept very detailed diaries during his years in charge. She remembers family get-togethers and breakfast picnics on the beach that turned into all day affairs. This stretch of the Kentucky River happens to still have a beach, though smaller than in its heyday when it had a resort hotel, cottages, a dancehall and a hand-pulled ferry. The Walters family was a cosmopolitan family compared to other lock master families that lived in isolated areas. They knew famous people and bands that visited the resort, and this was a large family (9 daughters and 1 son) that enjoyed each other’s company and support. Being lock-master was a nice, steady job during the war years and the great depression.

The lock used to sit on the side of the river and was almost level with the water. The workers looked down into it as they opened and closed gates by hand. Early last century, a huge ice storm and some lumber logs upstream created quite a mess of the riverbank after they were dynamited loose. The lock had to be revised with a row of wide concrete columns forcing the water over the low-head dam or inside the lock.

https://www.fortboonesboroughlivinghistory.org/html/river_museum.html The River Museum is open on some days, so call first to plan your visit to see Jenemarie and her nephew. What a rare treat to hear from family members themselves and the personal diaries of the family patriarch about the property as they remember it. Primary source history at its best!