Bill Monroe Museum
The Bill Monroe Museum is a project of the Monroe Brothers Foundation to show the life of Bill Monroe and the early foundations of bluegrass music. The museum is in the house in Rosine, Kentucky, where Monroe grew up.
After Bill Monroe's death in 1996, bluegrass fan Dr. Campbell Mercer formed the foundation, dedicated to promoting and preserving the music, life and legacy of Bill Monroe and his brothers Birch and Charlie. Few forms of music can be traced to such a clear beginning as bluegrass, and so Mercer and the foundation planned to buy the 376-hectare (930-acre) Monroe family farm, known as Jerusalem Ridge, and build a museum and amphitheater in Rosine where bluegrass music can be played during annual spring and fall festivals.
Beginning in 2001, they restored the five-room wooden home to its 1917 appearance and filled it with Monroe family heirlooms and mementos. In the same year, they began the annual Jerusalem Ridge Bluegrass Celebration and Festival. The foundation plans to restore the entire Monroe farm, including the barn, fields, and Uncle Pen's cabin. They plan also a living history tour of the path the brothers took to their Uncle Pen's home as they met to go play square dances, allowing bluegrass pilgrims to retrace those steps through the woods.
