Up Home

Up Home tells the stories of a Midway, Kentucky, house and its oldfangled family that built a legacy of love and laughter ... and endured a heartbreaking loss. 

Before it was Holly Hill Inn, the hefty house atop Cogartown Hill in Midway, Kentucky, was named Hermosa but called simply "up home" by three generations of the Parrish family. In Up Home: A Family, a Tragedy & the Holly Hill Inn," author and Parrish descendant Bob Rouse writes about the special people who called Hermosa home, including Honeywood, Nat, and Jim Parrish. Bob's poignant stories about this old Kentucky family-and a homage to Midway-are small-town magic: delightful, enchanting ... and a little bit heartbreaking. 

Bob Rouse, in his beautifully written stories about his family and their happy home, details why the Holly Hill Inn is so special. It was always about the people: his great-grandmother Desdemona, his grandmother Honeywood, his Aunt Nat, their brother, Jim, and his dad, Ike. So it is for me. I love the history of this place and all the amazing people who have lived here. 

-Ouita Michel, acclaimed chef, owner of Holly Hill Inn and associated restaurants

The Parrish family was for many decades the leading family in Midway. They owned several farms and many of the present residents are related by blood or otherwise to those Parrishes who settled there. Bob Rouse has done a wonderful job of recalling and producing a snapshot of what is such a rich history of the Midway area. I think readers will be fascinated with this....

-Ben Chandler III, US House of Representatives, Kentucky's Attorney General and State Auditor

Deep-dyed Kentuckian Bob Rouse listens with love for the "music" made by the groaning floorboards in his storied family home in Midway, Kentucky. Up Home invites us to share that music, with all the rich history and very human life that has moved through and around one of most-visited old homes in the Bluegrass. His story pours out like sweet tea in a tall glass, served cold with a lemon wedge on a warm summer's eve on the gracious front porch at Holly Hill. The mood is Southern-easy and relaxed but always with the chance that a roller-skating maverick might flash by in a flurry. 

-Kevin Lane Dearinger, Author of Bad Sex in Kentucky and Onstage with Bette Davis