My Tribute to The Colonel
Who gets a Tribute anyway?
As I often have too much time on my hands, I started thinking about all the people that have received tributes on my blog. The list of honored individuals is as follows: Tina Turner, Len Dawson, Evel Knievel, Johnny Appleseed, Mr. Rogers, Lucille Ball, Annie Oakley, and Cy Young
The randomness of that list is evidence of how little thought I put into these tributes. Typically, I either read something or see something in my travels that interests me…and boom…a tribute is born. So, in the spirit of this randomness, I travelled to Corbin, KY. Now, Corbin is not the birthplace of our honoree. However, Corbin is where this man…who never actually reached the military rank of colonel…started and built the Kentucky Fried Chicken empire.
It Didn’t Start with Chicken
So, let’s back it up a bit. The Colonel did not start as a fried chicken entrepreneur.
In 1927, Harland Sanders opened his first service station in Nicholasville, KY. It was at this service station where Harland was credited with his first marketing genius. He was the first service station to advertise “Free Air” for his customers. Eventually, Harland relocated his service station to a larger building in Corbin, KY. In his new Shell service station, there was a small front room where Harland and his first wife, Josephine, served chicken dishes and other meals to travelers. Through good food, great service and free air, Harland and Josephine’s service station successfully grew into the Sander’s Court and Café…the finest hotel, restaurant and service station in all of Corbin, Kentucky.
Fast Forwarding History
Fast forwarding…In 1935 Harland was named honorary Colonel by the KY Governor for his culinary achievements. In 1940, the Colonel finalized his Kentucky Fried Chicken secret recipe. In 1952, the Colonel started franchising the KFC secret recipe. Soon thereafter, he dumped his first wife and hooked up with Claudia. The KFC franchise expanded wildly. The Colonel got old, famous and rich. In 1964, the Colonel sold his KFC operations to the corporate sharks. The white bearded, white suited Colonel stayed on with KFC as the face of the franchise. A couple decades later, the folks of Corbin restored his original café into a museum honoring the Colonel and the history of KFC. PugsleyTonks and his friend, Goosebuster, enjoyed a meal and visit to the museum…
Thankfully, our itinerary placed us at KFC at lunch time. Furthermore, my wife, Carol, is an anti-KFC militant and never let’s us eat at KFC. So, it should come as no surprise that I took this rare opportunity to enjoy a hearty lunch at KFC with Goosebuster before heading out for more Colonel Sanders highlights.
Now…the rest of the story
I wanted to share one story that we learned in our adventures that day. So, the Colonel basically gave up operational control of KFC when he sold out in the 60s. Naturally, being the evil corporate thugs that they were, the new owners began “tweaking” the Colonel’s secret recipe for fried chicken. The Colonel did not take this well. The Colonel started publicly bad mouthing the current KFC franchise. Consequently, the new KFC sued to the Colonel…and the Colonel sued KFC. To make a long legal battle short, the parties settled. The Colonel got $2 million dollars to shut his mouth. In return, KFC agreed not to alter the recipe while the Colonel was alive. The Colonel died in 1980 at the ripe old age of 89
The real point to this story is that while the Colonel was bad mouthing KFC, he also opened an independent a country restaurant in Shelbyville, KY. The restaurant was called Claudia Sanders’ Dinner House. As I said, since the Colonel’s death in 1980, KFC has been tweaking the original KFC recipe. However, Claudia Sanders’ Dinner house always remained true to the cause. Therefore, this is the only restaurant (still open) in the country where you can get the original KFC secret recipe. Naturally, Goosebuster and I made a stop there as well.
He had a good run
To bring this full circle, the Colonel died in 1980. He is buried in the Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, KY. He is there with his second wife, Claudia. Sadly, his first wife, Josephine, did not make the cut. There are headstones for other family members, including some that are not yet dead. I am not really a fan of that much preplanning. Anyway, the Cave Hill Cemetery and Arboretum in Louisville is a very nicely done cemetery. If you happen to check it out, be sure to stop by and pay your respects to Muhammad Ali as well.
Wrap It Up
I hope you have enjoyed my tribute to Colonel Harland Sanders. As always, I wanted to thank my Kentucky native guide, Goosebuster, for handling local translations, navigation, designated driving, and security on the trip. Have a wonderful day. PT
I have you have enjoyed reading “My Tribute to the Colonel” on Traveling with PugsleyTonks.
Here was one of my favorite road trips and tributes from the past https://travelingwithpt.com/jamestown-loves-lucy/
If you want to visit the museum and have a meal, here you go http://www.sanderscafe.com/
