Berea KY during the Coronavirus Shut Down

You know I have talked AT LENGTH about how much I love Berea Kentucky.  It is easily one of my favorite places around.  I went to college there, met my wife there, and I just love going there whenever I can.  Its a nice little town.

So, with all of the restrictions going on right now, we thought it might be nice to go to Berea and just walk around.

The college seems to stay the same a lot, but there is also a lot of change too.  Buildings are getting remodeled and rebuilt....  BUT, the overall vibe of the campus never changes.

During my time at Berea, I lived in three different men's dorms- Blue Ridge, Bingham and Danforth.  Blue Ridge was a freshmen dorm when I was there.  It was pretty much the dorm farthest away from all of the class buildings.  It was kind of the one dorm no one wanted to live in.  I have heard rumors, for years, that it was going to be taken down at some point.  Well, over the last several years, Blue Ridge has remained standing.  The other two dorms I lived in have been totally redone.  Technically they are still there, but they are not the same places I once lived in.


My wife spent most of her college years in Kettering Residence Hall.  Well....  see the photo of the empty area with the crane in the background?  Well, that is where Kettering used to be.  It was kind of sad seeing this.

The campus was dead.  All of the students were sent home, I think in March, so there weren't a lot of people around.  The landscape looked great though ,we were glad to see things are still being kept up.

We did see a lot of signs posted in campus buildings and at local businesses showing that places were closed for now.  The local church had a large sign out front talking about their Sunday services being online.

Oh, we did see some cool campus bikes around!  Not sure what the whole story is on that, but we saw a lot of these blue bikes everywhere!  I know when I was going to Berea, bikes got stolen a lot.  Hopefully these bikes are sticking around.

We did notice something else that was sad.  Warren A. May's dulcimer shop is gone!  That place had been there forever, and it was just sad seeing the store vacant!  There was a sign that Warren will still be making and selling his dulcimers online.

We were glad to see a sign up that said Papaleno's Pizza was doing carry out.  If you live in Lexington, or if you have never been to Berea, you should visit, because its a great town.  BUT, coming down to just get some pizza at Papaleno's justifies a trip.

I know Robie Books is closed right now, but they are doing some mail order.  They are great people, I am sure if you are looking for something special you can call or email them still.  I am looking forward to the day that I can go back in and browse though.  I always have great finds there.

Oh, as we drove to Berea, we did stop by one of my all time favorite coffee shops- Richmond's Purdy's.  Purdy's has great coffee, and the place is owned and ran by great people.  Their drive through at their newer location was open, so I got a great cup to sip on as we walked around Berea!