The year was 1980. He was 26. He'd always yearned to make things with his hands, and Berea was the first place he found where, as he said, "craftspeople could make a living with high-quality work."

Deciding he'd "rather be a woodworker than a horseman," Harvey apprenticed himself to a maker of musical instruments. Several years later, he opened his own shop, Simple Gifts, where the slim, genial craftsman creates primly elegant chairs and polished oval wooden pantry boxes, both designed more than 100 years ago by the Shakers, a unique American religious group.

Shaker furniture - so spare, so graceful, so timeless - first was designed according to the Shakers' religious beliefs. They didn't believe in artificial decoration. "There's nothing in a Shaker piece that doesn't belong there or serve a purpose," Harvey said. "The Shakers knew they weren't going to rely on ornamentation or molding and other things to achieve balance or grace in a piece. All the grace and balance in a Shaker chair comes from within the piece."

With a population of less than 9,000, Berea boasts about 50 crafts shops, studios and antique shops. The bucolic town bears witness to the vitality of the craft movement in Kentucky, a state where things made by the hands of its people are among its proudest products (not forgetting racehorses and bourbon). Berea's wealth of crafts - quilts and rugs, candles, tableware, stained glass, jewelry and more - has prompted the state Legislature to designate the town The Folk Arts and Crafts Capital of Kentucky. At Berea College, a small liberal arts school, students learn folk crafts and sell their wares at the Log House Sales Room on campus. Here you can buy a small, carved wooden toy for $2 or an elaborate, polished secretary for $12,000.

Whether it's Shaker furniture or pottery, quilts or cornshuck dolls, primitive figures carved in coal at the gift shop at Natural Bridge State Park or the wooden toys at My Old Kentucky Home State Park, there's much in Kentucky to attract anyone who cherishes handmade things.

To continue on the crafts trail from Berea, drive about 15 miles north on I-75, past a few of Kentucky's lush, rolling green hills, to Richmond. Go east about 10 miles on Ky. 52E to the tiny crossroads settlement of Waco, home of Bybee Pottery. There you'll discover a considerably older tradition of Kentucky craftsmanship and a clue to the vast diversity of craftsmanship in the Bluegrass State.

At Bybee Pottery, Buzz Cornelison represents the sixth generation of a family that's been making and selling pottery since 1809 (their sign says they've been in business merely since 1845, but that's because a state regulation requires actual sales records to substantiate such claims).

From the outside, the Bybee Pottery shop looks like a large, faded, ramshackle wooden hut. If you want to see what's inside - more important, if you want to shop - show up early on a Friday morning. Very early.

How does 2 in the morning sound? The doors open at 8. But among pottery fanciers, Bybee Pottery has attained the status of a Holy Grail - not to mention plates, pitchers, platters, coffee mugs and creamers.

So people really do line up as early as 2 a.m. on Fridays, the only day the shop is open to the public. At 8, tall, rangy, casual Cornelison swings open the doors, then retreats with his father and mother, Walter Lee and Dorothy, behind the counter while the frantic collectors sweep stacks of pottery from the unfinished wooden shelves.

The process takes about 15 minutes. That's it. The stock is gone, the shopping over for the day. All that remains is to tally up the purchases, which often run to several hundred dollars for each customer.

The rest of the week, the Cornelisons sell their wares to shop owners who, naturally, mark up the merchandise for retail sale. Friday is reserved for ordinary folks, and the prices are still wholesale-low.

On one recent Friday, Roger and Denise Scott, from Edwardsburg, Mich., arrived first (at 2 a.m., naturally), after having driven from South Bend, Ind., with four friends. They parked their van at the door, slept, talked, sipped coffee, and waited for sunrise.

"It took us six hours to drive, and then we wait around six hours so we can shop for five minutes, and it's over," Roger Scott said.

Why do they do it?

Their friend, Mary Jones, from Bremen, Ind., spoke up with the answer - giving the reason every collector loves specific pieces of pottery: "It's made by hand, individually."

Bybee Pottery has a primitive, eccentric charm. Cups may be slightly out of round, the finish may have a pockmark or two, and if you want a complete set of terra cotta or the famous pink with white flecks, well, you'll have to keep coming back until you assemble all the pieces.

The Cornelisons don't take orders, and they don't ship their wares. Store owners, like retail customers, have to show up at the shop to buy Bybee Pottery. The family has had chances to expand, but they've purposely kept their business small.

The greatest temptation to change their ways came in the early 1980s. As part of a nationwide promotion of Kentucky crafts, the Cornelisons placed Bybee Pottery in several boutiques in national department stores, including Bloomingdale's in Manhattan.

Bloomie's was so happy with the results that the giant retailer offered to keep buying everything the Cornelisons could produce. Bloomie's representatives said they would even send a truck to pick up the pottery.

The Cornelisons decided against it. As Cornelison recalled, "We just had to finally say, `Look, we would have to close our doors to supply you. And we're not going to do business that way.' "

In the past 20 years, crafts have mushroomed in popularity in the United States, said Gary Barker, marketing manager of the Berea College crafts program. In the past eight years, annual sales of student works from Berea College have grown from $600,000 to $2 million. Barker credits the growth to hard work, promotion and marketing, demographics, and the Interstate highway program. "The building of I-75 and I-40 probably did more for the crafts movement than anything," he said. "They opened the region up tremendously."

Today, folk crafts are taken as seriously as other forms of art. Quilts are bought to hang on the wall as often as to be spread on a bed.

Many of those same young people who in the 1960s read the Whole Earth Catalogue - who were for natural foods and against plastic (as a concept, if not the actual stuff) - now cotton to handmade goods. They also have reached the point where they can afford a set of six of Charlie Harvey's Shaker chairs at $325 apiece.

"It became possible for somebody like Charlie Harvey to make a living," Barker said. "The crafts world has grown to match the marketplace."

Park celebrates lofty bloodlines, racing legends
It's easy to get used to seeing horses at the Kentucky Horse Park. After all, they're everywhere.

But the joy of watching children interact with them could go on forever.

Most youngsters seem awed initially by the horses' size, but still approach them with little fear.

On a recent visit, one toddler inched her way sideways toward a police horse standing as still as a statue, while its uniformed rider gazed over the crowd. Her little arm slowly reached out until her hand barely touched the animal's leg.

The horse didn't move a muscle. After a moment or two, the child relaxed and casually leaned with her outstretched arm against the horse's leg.

Later, as other children approached, the toddler moved in even closer, to claim first-come rights to the immobile leg.

She held her ground until a tour group of older children approached and flooded around the horse. The animal paid little attention, but the officer was kept busy making sure none of the children slipped around behind the horse.

In the heart of bluegrass country just north of Lexington, the Kentucky Horse Park is the answer for people who want to see more than pretty barns, white fences and green fields.

Here, you can stroll into barns and watch horses being groomed in their stalls. Or let your children meet a variety of horses after watching riders put the animals through their paces.

Be aware of the signs that say "Horses may bite." They're posted for a good reason.

To set the stage for the Kentucky Horse Park, you're encouraged to stop at the nearby Man O'War burial site, a tribute to one of the all- time great Thoroughbreds. While there, you can compare your stride to Man O'War's 28-foot racing stride.

At the park, the first sights and sounds at the visitor center are those of TV broadcasts of past Kentucky Derby races and the singsong call of the announcers.

For the next four hours or so, you'll learn all about horses - past, present and future.

Horse-drawn wagon tours and carriage rides of the 1,032-acre working farm are available and help acquaint first-time visitors with the park. But it is the kind of place where you're best left to explore as you see fit.

One of the most popular exhibits is the walking farm tour, which includes a working blacksmith's shop where shoes are made for the park's horses, and a harness maker's shop, which fills saddlery needs.

The Breeds Barn houses representatives of more than 20 types of horses. You can see the animals in training and talk to their riders and trainers. The horses are privately owned and rotated occasionally.

At 2 p.m. daily, handlers and riders put some of the breeds through their paces and discuss the horses' history. You might learn, for example, that the Arabian developed its legendary stamina through generations of struggling through loose sand in a hot, dry environment.

The Big Barn, built in 1897, is one of the world's largest horse barns. Today it houses exhibits, but those who venture deeper into the building may find a number of mares with foals in the quiet stalls.

Nearby is the Hall of Champions. What was once the Walnut Hall Farm stud barn is now home to racing immortal John Henry, the all-time money- winning Thoroughbred whose prizes topped $6.5 million.

Other champions stabled here include Forego, Rossi's Gold, A Letter to Harry, and Rambling Willie, one of the greatest pacers of all time. Special presentations featuring the champions are held daily.

The American Saddle Horse Museum, a tribute to the American Saddlebred, Kentucky's only native breed, is on the grounds. Recognized as a separate breed in 1891, the American Saddlebred is known as a hardy, sure-footed and intelligent riding horse.

Gen. Robert E. Lee's famous horse, Traveller, was a Kentucky Saddler. So was Mr. Ed of television fame, and TV star Fury.

Tips for the trip
Information: Kentucky Horse Park, 4089 Iron Works Pike, Lexington, Ky. 40511 (606-233-4303).

Hours: Open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Oct. 31. It is closed Monday and Tuesday from Nov. 1 through mid-March, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Admission: Adults, $8.95 April through October, $6 Novmeber through March; children 7-12, $4.50 April through October, $4 November through March; children younger than 6, free.

Campground: Open year-round. Rates April through October range from $11 per night for primitive accommodations to $14.50 for one to four campers. Nightly rates November through March are $9 to $11.