“Brick by Brick”A Day of Mystery and New Beginnings with the Highlands Museum’s Big Reveal

“Brick by Brick”

A Day of Mystery and New Beginnings with the Highlands Museum’s Big Reveal

Gideon Thompson

The Ashland Beacon

The Highlands Museum of Ashland, KY, is set for the Big Reveal! This past Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025, at the conclusion of the Ashland Poage Landing Days event, the Highlands Museum of Ashland, KY, raffled off a painting depicting Tyler Childers, produced by local artist Elias Reynolds. The event started at 6 p.m., and the Highlands Museum also announced their new direction of operation and addition. A mystery had been built around the big reveal, as no one knew what was awaiting the announcement. The signed painting is unique, as the image is produced locally, and the signing occurred at a local festival in which Kentucky native Tyler Childers was a headline performer, making the piece a part of Kentucky history. The lucky winner was Karen Short.

Established in 1994 and located in the Parsons building of downtown Ashland, the Highlands Museum has contributed culture and history to the community for over 31 years. With time has come change, as the Highlands Museum has updated throughout their stay in the Parsons building. Having been updated with the addition of the Discovery Zone in 1997 and assumption of the Parsons building in 2013, the time has come for an exciting new addition and redirection of the historic community. The Highlands Museum of Ashland is excited to announce the revealing of their new campaign as they push into the future with a focus on development and innovation in mind. A strong motivation for serving the community is the driving factor in the new redirection of the museum, as there have been changes made with community dreams in mind.

Hiding behind a large stack of building blocks sits the unknown direction of the future for the Highlands Museum. Sitting at 7 ft tall and 7 ft wide, a mystery object had been placed behind a wall of building blocks that had been donated to the museum as part of their rebranding and new focus. The blocks are also a representation of the rebuilding of the museum’s operations, as the reconstruction of the museum is fixed on the blocks as a building point. “Brick by Brick” is a bold statement as the museum drives into the new directions geared towards child development and education, history, and local historic arts education. If you would like to help be a part of this event, you can head on over to the Highlands Museum and purchases a few bricks to help them reach their goal.

With the future in mind, the Highlands Museum is offering opportunity for supportive Ashland natives and historians alike to be a part of Ashland’s historic community shift. The raffle surrounding Elias’s portrait of Tyler Childers is a fitting tie to Poage Landing Days 2025 event and the new direction of the Highlands Museum in the shift towards community engagement. New actualized ideas made possible by the Highlands Museum have come from the management of the museum, with Kim Jenkins as their courageous leader.