Back around 1995, I arrived around midnight at the beautiful Boone Tavern Hotel in Berea, Kentucky. There was a utility crew working next to the hotel, and when I walked into the lobby, I was surprised to find it lit only by a candelabra. The desk clerk checked me in, handed me a glass candlestick, and apologized for the elevator being off. The crew was replacing a large transformer and had scheduled the outage.

The Boone Tavern being an unrestored affair, they were still equipped to handle guests with or without electricity. It made for a quiet night.