Description
When Joseph Jefferson, the most famous actor in America, passed away on April 23, 1905, he bequeathed his “favorite Kentucky reel” to his friend and fishing companion Grover Cleveland, twice president of the United States. When news of his gift reached the press, it became front page news. Over a thousand newspaper articles extolling the friendship between the two and the quality of Kentucky reels were published in America and Canada, as well as a pair of famous poems. But for years, the reel itself — who made it and what model it was — remained a mystery.