For the last seventy years, the arrival of spring has been highlighted by a section of U.S. 641 near the 4-mile marker in Lyon County. For around two weeks each year, the half-mile section of the road is lined with bright yellow jonquils.
The flowers were originally planted by Charles Brockmeyer Jr. with help from his friend and farmhand Kell Moore of Princeton, back in 1949. The flowers first popped up in the spring of 1950, making this year the 71st year they have brightened the roadside.
Brockmeyer's daughter, Sandy Brockmeyer Button, says her father would be proud the flowers are still providing a splash of color along the roadway.
"My father fought in the Netherlands in World War II. He was so impressed by all the flowers he saw there that he wanted to bring something back,” Button said, “He decided to plant jonquils along the highway in front of our farm in Lyon County. At one time they extended for almost a mile on both sides of the highway."
Although Button now lives in Vermont, she still gets a great deal of joy on the rare occasion she returns to western Kentucky to visit her daughter while the flowers are in bloom. She continues her fathers legacy by planting rows of flowers along the roadways near her home in Vermont.
Area residents have grown accustomed to the flower display that typically appears mid-march. Due to the length of time they've been blooming along the roadway, the jonquils are considered a protected heritage site. Digging bulbs or otherwise disturbing the flowers is prohibited.
The flowers will likely continue blooming for another week along U.S. 641, approximately one mile south of the Lyon-Caldwell county line between Eddyville and Fredonia.
