KENTUCKY Butcher Hollow beckons Lynn fans

A fan club president said many people over age 60 grew up much like the country star did.
VAN LEAR, Ky. (AP) -- For the die-hard fans of Loretta Lynn, just playing a well-worn video of "Coal Miner's Daughter" and taking an imaginary journey back to Butcher Hollow just isn't enough.
The true test of allegiance is taking the rugged pilgrimage along twisting mountain roads and steep ravines to the place where the country music queen's rags-to-riches story began, the real "cabin on a hill in Butcher Holler."
"It's absolutely wonderful," fan Carol Pearce of Columbus, Ohio, says as she strolls through the four-room shack, pausing at the spot where Lynn once listened to an ancient radio. "This is like going home."
Pearce leaned in to look at the family photos over the fireplace, ran her hand along the dining room table and chatted like an old friend with Lynn's brother, Herman Webb, who lives in a doublewide mobile home nearby.
Who's in charge
Webb is the curator of the Butcher Hollow homestead, providing guided tours of the little house to thousands of people each year. Bus tours have become common, but most of the visitors drive up in the family sedan.
Whether they come from as close as Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia or as far away as Japan, Germany and Scotland, all share a love for Lynn and her music.
Wallpaper in one room is covered with signatures and messages from fans, many of whom thank Lynn for inspiring them to reach higher.
Often, they share a common heritage or can relate to the hardships that families faced in the Appalachian region.
"Many of us who are over 60 probably grew up like that," says Jan Krumm, president of the Loretta Lynn and Friends Fan Club.
"Not everyone grew up in a two-story house with indoor plumbing. Most of us grew up in the country. We didn't have money. We didn't have TV. We didn't go to the city."
Still others simply come to pay homage to Lynn, the 67-year-old singer-songwriter whose prolific career includes such hits as "Don't Come Home A' Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)," "You Ain't Woman Enough," "Fist City," and "Coal Miner's Daughter," also the title of the autobiography that was made into the hit 1980 movie.
Lynn lived in the little house until she was 13. That's when she married Mooney Lynn and moved away.
What's different
There have been major changes since then around Butcher Hollow. The Van Lear coal mines where her daddy "shoveled coal to make a poor man's dollar" have played out and shut down.
The company stores where miners bought their food and supplies are long gone. And mobile homes have been pulled in to replace many of the aging houses.
Still, when autumn turns the mountains from green to bright orange and yellow, the queen's royal followers quicken their pace to the homestead, paying $5 each to walk through the little house, sit on the porch swing, maybe even hum some of Lynn's classic songs.
Many of the people who schedule day trips into eastern Kentucky to see the fall colors include visits to Lynn's birthplace, which is hugged on all sides by the heavily forested mountains.
An arrow painted on a rock points the way into Butcher Hollow. Hand-painted signs tacked to trees guide people onto the short lane into the yard.
A metal gate blocks access when Webb is not on duty.
"People will come in and take anything that's outside," Webb says. "If they think it belonged to Loretta, it's gone. They've even taken boards from the house."
Webb considers such occurrences testaments to his sister's popularity.
"I'm amazed at the number of people who come here to see this," he says. "I've seen 200 to 300 cars drive up this hollow on certain days."