A History of Pewee Valley: The Eden East of Louisville - Paperback

by David and Donna Russell Trust (Author), Alan Axelrod (Author)

A Hidden Gem in Kentucky.

Eighteen miles outside Louisville lies the picturesque town of Pewee Valley. The town was originally founded on a land grant around 1800 and later named after the Eastern Wood Pewee, which, according to an elaborate legend, exuberantly proclaimed the creation of an Eden east of Louisville. Residents of and visitors to this fairy-tale suburb have included tycoons, politicians, painters, photographers, poets and novelists. Among them was Annie Fellows Johnston, who used Pewee Valley as the setting for her famed "Little Colonel" books, which Shirley Temple brought to the big screen in 1935. A preserve of rural manors and picturesque cottages, Pewee survived Civil War, the Depression and developers' bulldozers. David Russell reveals this storied history.

Author Biography

David Russell is a longtime resident of Pewee Valley. He graduated from the University of Kentucky's School of Business in 1976. David built a career as a financial advisor and is executive vice-president and head of the Russell Group. His wife, Donna, a journalist and marketer, dreamed of writing a historical book about Pewee Valley. Her life was cut short in 2019, but she left behind writing and research, which professional writer Alan Axelrod help transform into A History of Pewee Valley. Alan Axelrod, PhD, is the author of more than 150 books. After receiving his PhD in English, Axelrod taught early American literature and culture at Lake Forest College and at Furman University. He then entered scholarly publishing in 1982 and has been an acquiring editor for several major publishers. In 1997, he founded the Ian Samuel Group Inc., a consulting, creative services, editing and online content provider in Atlanta.