Kentucky
One earring or a bracelet went missing on the grass at an outdoor event in Kentucky
Waterfront Park, Keeneland, Jacobson Park and the state resort park lakes
The larger, northern half of the TurfMutt Great Lawn at Waterfront Park in Louisville sits at the bank of the Ohio River, a green space used for concerts and festivals. A bracelet that slips off there, an earring gone from one ear, or a lost ring, is a small thing on a lot of ground. Start with where you stood or sat.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewelry recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone in Kentucky with a metal detectorist who can search there. Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the place, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
What decides most cases of a lost earring is how much ground there is to cover, so the first job is to shrink it. The service is the same for engagement rings, Oura rings, necklaces, chains, Apple Watches, phones, key fobs, glasses and hearing aids.
Tie the spot to something that will still be there next week
A stage, a row of tents or a fence is gone once the event is over, so do not measure from those. On the Big Four Lawn, use the bridge ramp, which spirals around the grass, and the concrete steps at the end that look over the river. Elsewhere, a light pole, a path edge or a shelter will do. Pace the distance from two of them and take one wide photo showing both.
Ask the people you were with for their pictures as well as going through your own. Any photo that shows your ears or your wrist carries a time, and that time splits the day into before and after. Send Bartek the venue, the day, the photos and a map pin on WhatsApp.
Areas and towns we cover in Kentucky
- Louisville
- Waterfront Park
- Cherokee Park
- Iroquois Park
- Lexington
- Jacobson Park
- Keeneland
- Ashland
- Lake Cumberland State Resort Park
- Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park
- Kenlake State Resort Park on Kentucky Lake
- Lake Barkley State Resort Park
- Land Between the Lakes
- Mammoth Cave National Park
Kentucky's event lawns, city parks and lake resort parks
Lawn names, shelters, docks and trails you can use to say where you were.
Waterfront Park's lawns on the Ohio River in Louisville
The TurfMutt Great Lawn is the centrepiece of Waterfront Park. The Big Four Lawn, next to the Big Four Bridge, is home to the WFPK Waterfront Wednesday concerts. The Orange and Purple Upland Meadows are hillsides behind large tree hedges, suggested by the park for weddings and family reunions. The Harbor Lawn, immediately east of the Great Lawn, is triangular and sloping. Start with the name of the lawn, and add how far you were from the path, the steps or the river.
Cherokee Park in East Louisville and Iroquois Park in the south
Cherokee Park is a setting of rolling hills, open meadows and woodlands in the Beargrass Creek valley, with multi-use fields, shelters and playgrounds. Iroquois Park has an old growth forest, the North Overlook and an amphitheater. Name the field, the shelter or the overlook.
Jacobson Park in east Lexington and The Hill at Keeneland
Jacobson Park, in east Lexington, has a reservoir, open playfields, shelters, volleyball courts and a fishing dock. The Hill is Keeneland's official tailgating area. It lies next to the Keene Barn and Entertainment Center, with parking, a jumbo TV screen, food trucks and shuttles during the race meet. Tell us roughly where you parked and what you walked past on the way in.
Lake Cumberland and Dale Hollow Lake state resort parks
Lake Cumberland has 1,225 miles (about 1,970 km) of shoreline, so the name of a dock or a cove matters a great deal. Lake Cumberland State Resort Park has a campground and a marina with slips and rental houseboats. Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park is on Kentucky's southern border. Its lodge sits on a bluff above a lake of inlets and islands, and the park has a marina, a concrete launching ramp and a campground.
Kenlake on Kentucky Lake and the beach at Lake Barkley
Kenlake State Resort Park is on the midwest shore of Kentucky Lake. It has a marina with a launching ramp, picnic pavilions, an amphitheater and lake view spots that the park offers for outdoor weddings. Lake Barkley State Resort Park has a beach in season. The Cedar Grove Trail links the lodge to the beach, and a trail from the campground comes out at the back of the beach parking lot.
Land Between the Lakes and Mammoth Cave
Land Between the Lakes is the peninsula between Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley: 170,000 acres with 300 miles (about 480 km) of undeveloped shoreline, and swimming areas at the Hillman Ferry and Piney campgrounds. At Mammoth Cave National Park, cave tours set off from the visitor center, and the Green River Ferry crosses the river.
Central Park in Ashland and places not named above
Central Park in Ashland is a setting for picnics and strolls, with an accessible playground. For a loss there, or on a fairground, a campus lawn or a farm field used for a reception anywhere else in the state, we start from the name of the place, a pin and two photos of the ground.
Bartek, your photos and one briefed detectorist
Bartek is the person you are writing to
Your WhatsApp message reaches Bartek, not a form or a call centre. He asks the questions, looks for a metal detectorist and lets you know how it ended.
What the detectorist has seen before setting out
A picture of the matching earring beside a coin, or an older photo that shows the bracelet, goes to the detectorist with your pin and your event photos. They know what they are looking for, and on which lawn, before they leave home.
A frank read of your case
An earring is small and a lawn is not. If you can name the lawn and the patch you sat on, that is a fair case. If it could be anywhere between the parking area and your seat, we say so, and the decision stays with you.
Tier, pathway or slip
On the grass tiers of the Brown-Forman Amphitheater we ask which tier and how far along it. On the Harbor Lawn, where there are no trees to go by, it is your distance from the concrete pathway. At a resort park marina it is the slip.
No surprise about money
We explain the costs before any search is booked.
Trodden grass, hard surfaces and lake water
Grass after a crowd
On a lawn where chairs, tent legs and feet have been all day, an earring could be pressed down between the grass blades and out of sight. Mark the patch with something that will stay put, and tell us whether the lawn has been mown since.
Surfaces that are not grass
Not all of Waterfront Park is lawn. The Brown-Forman Amphitheater is a concrete apron with stone and grass tiers, the Wharf is concrete, and the Great Lawn has a paved area under the expressway. Say which surface you were on when you last had the item.
Dock, ramp or beach at the resort parks
At a marina, the slip number and the side of the boat place the loss. On a launching ramp, it is how far down the concrete you stood. On the beach at Lake Barkley, tell us whether it was up on the beach, at the water's edge or further in.
If the day ended one earring, one bracelet or one set of keys short
One of my earrings came out during a Waterfront Wednesday concert on the Big Four Lawn. We sat on one blanket all evening. What should I do tonight?
Tonight, fix where the blanket was. Stand on the spot, drop a map pin, and photograph it with the bridge ramp or the concrete steps behind. Send us that with a picture of the other earring.
My tennis bracelet was on my wrist when we parked on The Hill at Keeneland and gone when we got on the shuttle. Is that too vague to work with?
It is vague for now, and two details change that. Tell us roughly where the car stood, using the Keene Barn and Entertainment Center or the jumbo screen as a guide, and the line you walked to the shuttle.
My husband's wedding band came off while we took down a party tent in our back yard in Lexington this morning. He says a metal detector rental would sort it out in an hour. Is he right?
He may be. A rented machine can cope with a lost ring that came off this morning on a lawn, in a patch no bigger than the tent, and with dry sand too. Where we would bring in a detectorist is wet sand or water, a wide area, or something as small as an earring.
I lost a gold chain on the beach at Lake Barkley State Resort Park. My search history is now metal detecting Kentucky and not much else. Who actually goes out and looks?
A metal detectorist, briefed by us with everything you can say about the spot. Tell us which end of the beach it was, whether the chain went on the beach or in the water, and whether you came in by the Cedar Grove Trail or from the parking lot.
My Apple Watch came off beside our slip at the Lake Cumberland State Resort Park marina as we loaded the houseboat. We are out until Sunday. Can it wait?
It can wait until Sunday, as long as you note two things before you cast off. Write down the slip number and which side of the boat you were on, and take a photo from the dock looking back to shore.
My son's car keys fell out of his pocket on the open playfields at Jacobson Park while he played football with friends. It is nearly dark. What now?
Call it a night, and mark the field before you leave. Have him stand where the game was, photograph it towards a shelter or the volleyball courts, and drop a pin. Send us both with the day.
My engagement ring came off somewhere on the grass tiers of the Brown-Forman Amphitheater. I have been over them twice on my hands and knees. What would a detectorist do differently?
A detectorist would take one tier at a time, beginning with yours. So work out which tier you sat on and how far along, pacing from one end, and take a photo from the concrete apron looking up at your seat.
Kentucky
Your best guess at the spot is worth sending
Add the venue, the day and any photos from the event.
Say what is missing and where, whether that is an earring on the Big Four Lawn, a bracelet at Keeneland or a lost ring at a lake dock. Bartek replies on WhatsApp with what to photograph next.