Your tour actually begins as you enter the Barbourville Municipal Building. At the bottom of the stairwell is a photograph of the old courthouse and the bell that once rang from its uppermost reaches. Information signs and large photographs line the walls as visitors ascend to the second floor where the museum is located. The large lobby at the top of the stairs contains several of our favorite photos enlarged for your enjoyment, whether the museum proper is open or not.
The Museum's Reception Room features two large wooden beams that once helped support the eaves of the Barbourville Railroad Depot.
Just off the lobby is the Generations Room, which features a rope or corded bed that is covered with a Kentucky Bicentennial Quilt featuring Knox County's history.
The next display room is the Native American and Pioneer Room. The room houses an extensive collection of arrowheads, spear points, and other artifacts, all arranged by prehistoric periods. Pioneer artifacts include a split rail fence and tools, including a grain cradle, broad axe and froe, drawing knife, maul and more.
The Barbourville Room is next. This room features doctors' and dentists' displays.
The local hotels, banks and businesses represented here include old the Blackstone Hotel, the Knox Drive-In, the Mitchell, Magic and National Theaters, National Bank of John A. Black, among others.
Note the mining scrip, Barbourville Street Car wheels and track, and various street scenes dating from the late 1800's through the 1920's.
The Daniel Boone Room features memorabilia from the Daniel Boone Festival, which was established in Barbourville, Kentucky in 1948.
The Military Room is dedicated to Knox Countians who served their country in times of war. Although items from World War II are most numerous, visitors enjoy objects from the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, Korean War, and Iraqi War.
The Communities Hall features exhibits on coal mining, farming implements, Knox County schools, athletics, a moonshine still, and churches, including Lynn Prichard's extensive collection of church building pictures from 1985.
The Celebrities Room features items pertaining to Knox County's two Kentucky governors, James D. Black and Flem D. Sampson. Others featured include Silas Woodson who became a Missouri governor, Samuel F. Miller, who was appointed a Supreme Court Justice by Abraham Lincoln, and Eisenhower's Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Department, Kenneth Tuggle.