Story and photos by Bryce Towle
Under the early morning mist amid Kentucky’s rolling hills lies what Donnya Shryock says is a “secret place” called Tyrone.
What was once referred to as a “knife and gun club,” by Shryock, is now described by Jessica Stratton as “the best place in the world.”
Jessica Stratton, born and raised in Tyrone, said people tell their kids not to drive through the community.
“They focus on every bad thing that’s ever happened,” Stratton said.
With a former bar located “in the sticks,” of Tyrone known as The Bloody Bucket, some may find it hard to imagine a safe and caring community.
The sound of gunshots and revving engines comes from the elderly on their private gun range and children riding dirt bikes nearby.
“It’s the safest I’ve ever felt,” Stratton said. “All the people looking out for each other.”
One local known as “Corky” doesn’t have city water, so he gets his drinking water from someone else’s tap every morning using a gallon water jug. Stratton plans to install water hydrants to share with Corky.
Stratton had moved away when she was younger, but Tyrone drew her back home. Now she hopes to help the people of her community, including in her new career in drug treatment and recovery.
“Helping people makes me happy,” she said. “You turn into the person you needed as a child, and I can’t turn it off. I genuinely love broken people because they’re so honest and I like to help them. They’re us.”
At the end of Tyrone Main Street near the bank of the Kentucky River sits a two-story farmhouse, painted in red-and-white stripes because of what was once a neighborly feud.
With two pride flags waving at the entrance, the farmhouse’s land is home to miniature and full-size horses, goats, chickens, mules, and donkeys.
Owners and partners Kevin Cornett and John Ireland live atop a hill adjacent to the farmhouse. The couple share their love of the land with the locals of Tyrone.
Situated at the bottom of a holler, Tyrone has been looked down upon literally and figuratively. But locals take pride in calling themselves Tyronians.
“It is portrayed as a very unwelcoming place,” Stratton said, “and it’s the opposite.”