History is Where the Heart is in the Bluegrass Region

Any place with as much history as the Bluegrass Region has tangible reminders of that history. Here, you will find historic homes and buildings whose stories are as fascinating as the buildings themselves.

In the early 19th century, when most of the country west of the Allegheny Mountains was frontier, Lexington in Fayette County - dubbed “the Athens of the West,” was home to sophisticated, cultured citizens. Two of those citizens were Mary Todd Lincoln and Henry Clay.

At first glance, the modest two-story brick building seems an inauspicious choice to become the first house museum in America to honor a First Lady. Yet, that’s what the girlhood home of Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of the 16th president, became in 1977.

Completed in 1806, the 14-room house was home to the Todd family from 1832 to 1849, and many historians believe that Mary, dogged by tragedy much of her life, spent her happiest years here.

After her marriage to her fellow Kentuckian, Mary brought Lincoln to visit, where he is said to have spent hours ensconced in the library reading about his “beau ideal” of a statesman, Henry Clay. Today, the house contains period furniture, portraits and furnishings from both the Todd and Lincoln families.

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The object of Lincoln’s admiration, Henry Clay, built Ashland in Lexington the same year the Todd home was completed, and lived there with his family until 1852. During that time, the 18-room Italianate mansion saw many of history’s greats pass through its doors, including James Monroe, Daniel Webster and the Marquis de Lafayette.

One of America’s great statesmen, Clay served as congressman, senator, Speaker of the House, Secretary of State, and three-time presidential candidate. He forged his destiny in the nation’s capital during the years leading up to the Civil War.

His beloved estate lined with sycamore trees, where he raised horses, cattle and tobacco, was a sharp contrast to the chaos of Washington, and served as a refuge from harsh political realities.

Today, visitors particularly admire the octagonal library and the beautiful grounds featuring a formal English-style garden.

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White Hall, an imposing red brick mansion just outside of Richmond in Madison County is known for its elegant Italianate architecture, impeccable interior design and for being a Kentucky Historic Site. But it’s best known for its famous resident.

Cassius Marcellus Clay wore many fashionable fedorasduring his long life (born in 1819, he lived to be 93) – firebrand Transylvania student; lawyer; politician; radical emancipationist; even more radical newspaper editor; dueler and brawler extraordinaire; foreign emissary; object of scandal; and friend of presidents and czars (during his time as Minister to Russia during Lincoln’s administration).

Most of these roles were played out with White Hall’s elegant parlors, dining rooms and boudoirs as the stage.

Clay was known as “the Lion of White Hall” with good reason. If the walls could talk what stories they would tell. About how Clay, age 33 and already a fierce opponent of slavery, was set upon by a hired assassin and shot in the chest. Though seriously wounded, he defended himself aggressively, using his Bowie knife (still on display in the house) to cut off the attacker’s nose.

Fast forward nearly a half century, and they would tell of how 89-year-old Cassius would engage in his last duel. Dressed in his nightshirt, he was reading in the library when three men broke in. Clay shot the first man, who died on the library floor, and stabbed the second, who made it as far as the icehouse before succumbing. The third man, exhibiting more brains than bravado, beat a hasty retreat.

When Clay was 84, he found himself in another kind of battle. Armed with a loaded cannon, he faced down a mob sent to rescue his second wife, (who was all of 15 at the time) believing she was being held against her will by White Hall’s Lion.

Cassius Clay was a Kentucky and American icon, and his remarkable story unfolds at White Hall.

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A different kind of icon, T.B. Ripy was a few years away from becoming the largest independent sour mash distiller in the world when he completed work on his five-story mansion on Lawrenceburg’s Main Street in Anderson County in 1888.

The up-and-coming whiskey baron needed a house that would reflect his standing. The 24-room QueenAnne/Victorian/Romanesque mansion did just that, becoming a fitting domicile for the man whose distillery in nearby Tyrone spawned the Wild Turkey brand.

The Ripy Mansion, which can be toured by appointment, features a mahogany staircase, ornate fireplaces, 13 stained glass windows, and decorative touches carrying out a planetary theme.

Visitors can’t leave without strolling through the formal boxwood gardens modelled after those at Longwood in Pennsylvania. The gardens are abloom with roses in the summer, and with tiger lilies, irises, hydrangeas, phlox and magnolias at other times of the year.

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Perhaps no house in Kentucky has more history than Franklin County’s Liberty Hall. The house on Wilkinson Street in Frankfort’s Historic District plays a significantrole in both a newly-minted Kentucky and a fledgling America in the latter part of the 18th century.

Its original owner John Brown (not the John Brown whose body lies a-moldering in the grave, as the song lyrics go) was a native of Virginia and a member of that state’s legislature. Nevertheless, he lobbied for a slice of Virginia’s western frontier to be created as a separate state.

His efforts were rewarded in 1792 when Kentucky became the nation’s 15th state, and Brown its first U.S. senator.

One of the most influential men of his day, Brown counted among his friends George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis deLafayette.

On one occasion in 1819, he hosted a breakfast at Liberty Hall attended by a past president (James Madison); a current president (JamesMonroe) and two future presidents (Andrew Jackson and Zachary Taylor). The fine china and crystal they used are still on display today.

Although referred to as “the Father of Kentucky,” Brown often plays second fiddle to a ghost in his own house. The ghost is that of the “Gray Lady,” who is frequently spotted at the window of a second-floor bedroom.

Not to worry – the tall, willowy woman veiled in gray is a benevolent ghost – that of a relative who died there while on a visit in 1817.

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The unassuming one-and-a-half-story Federal style house in Versailles in Woodford County belies the important role its owner played in the commonwealth.  The Jack Jouett House built in 1797, was home to its namesake, a hero of the American Revolution who became known as the Paul Revere of the South.

In June, 1781, Jouett took a break from drinking at the Cuckoo Tavern in rural Virginia to ride 40 miles to both Monticello and Charlottesville. His mission was to warn Governor Thomas Jefferson and the General Assembly that they were in peril from British troops who were en route to capture them.

Following service in both the Virginia and Kentucky general assemblies, Jouett settled in Woodford County and became a countrysquire.

He was no idle dilettante however, but a multi-tasker of epic proportions. As one of the first to recognize the new state’s agricultural potential, he imported blooded horses and cattle to improve the quality of both in the state.

In addition, he was one of the first to raise hemp, and in his spare time, operated a distillery on his property alongside Craig’s Creek several miles from the Kentucky River.

Along with the house, the historic site includes a 1780’s frontier stone cabin used as a kitchen.

Fun fact:  One of Jouett’s 12 children was noted portrait artist Matthew Jouett.

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Ward Hall in Scott County is one of the Bluegrass Region’s most beautiful historic homes. Junius Richard Ward’s Greek Revival villa is the embodiment of antebellum splendor.

If you are wondering just who Junius Richard Ward was, he was one of the region’s earliest Thoroughbred owners, most notably of the incomparable racehorse Lexington, who won six of his seven starts, and was voted the leading sire in North America a record 16 times.

Constructed at a cost of $50,000 – in gold, no less – Ward Hall was completed in 1857. Among its most outstanding features are the spiral staircase, parlor mantles of Carraramarble, silver chandeliers, and limestone walls embedded with coral and trilobite fossils.

It was a residence worthy of Kentucky’s very own Scarlett O’Hara. Sally Ward, niece of Junius, had both the indomitable spirit and the fashionable style of Margaret Mitchell’s heroine (although it is doubtful Sally ever had to create an ensemble out of the house’s velvet drapes).

Ward Hall is open for tours, as well as for special events such as Christmas candlelight tours.

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Duncan Tavern in Paris has quite a story to tell. Built in the last decade of the18th century, this Bourbon County landmark has been a private home, inn, tavern, boarding house, tenement housing, and its current incarnation as headquarters of the Kentucky Society Daughters of the American Revolution.

Revolutionary Warveteran Major Joseph Duncan originally built it as an inn. Known as The Goddess of Liberty, the inn provided shelter and a congenial meeting place for many of Kentucky’s early settlers, including Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton and Jack Jouett.

The exterior of native Kentucky limestone is complemented inside with early frontier touches such as cherry and yellow poplar woodwork, blue ash floors and limestone fireplaces and chimneys.

Duncan Tavern contains a museum and genealogical and research library open to the public.

The William Whitley House in Lincoln County was built as a fortress against Indian attacks in the late 18th century by pioneer William Whitley and his wife Esther, one of the first white women to cross the Cumberland Mountains.

But unlike most early fortresses which were constructed of logs, the Whitley House was built of brick, thus becoming the first such dwelling in Kentucky.

Although used as a home, it provided a safe haven against frequent Indian attacks, as seen in the hidden staircase and a false ceiling which provided a hiding place.

Referred to as “the Guardian of the Wilderness Road,” the house saw many notable visitors – among them Daniel Boone and George Rogers Clark. Today, it serves as the focal point of the William Whitley House Historical Park, which also includes Sportsman’s Hill, the first horseracing track in Kentucky.

While in Lincoln County, check out Logan’s Station which, like the better-known Fort Boonesborough, provided a refuge for settlers making their way into Kentucky. Also known as Fort Logan, it was the site in 1777 (a year that became known as the year of the Bloody Sevens) of an attack by Indians supported by British troops.

While the fort has been partially reconstructed, the battlefield has been preserved, and every May is the site of a re-enactment ofthe battle.

In Clark County, the Clark Mansion – also known as Holly Rood – dates back to 1814 when the Federal-style mansion was built for Kentucky’s 13th governor, James Clark. One of its most outstanding features is the large second-floor Palladian window. The house is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Fun fact: Among Holly Rood’s other residents was a family named Wheeler whose sixteen-year-old daughter was a Civil War-era Anne Frank, keeping a journal of her experiences during the conflict, and later, one Floyd Day, known as “the timber king of Kentucky.”

As befits its status as Kentucky’s oldest settlement, Harrodsburg in Mercer County has several buildings that are the oldest of their kind in the commonwealth.

One of these is Morgan Row, credited with being the oldestrow house in Kentucky. Considered one of the most elegant buildings of its day, it was used as a hotel, gambling parlor, tavern and stagecoach stop for wealthy patrons.

Morgan Row has been completely restored and today serves as home to Harrodsburg’s Historical Society.

Not all of the Bluegrass Region’s historic buildings were formerly homes. Some, like the courthouse in Carlisle, had other functions. A Nicholas County landmark since the late 1800s, the imposing three-story red brick and stone building dominates the landscaped grounds of Court Square.

While the beauty of the courthouse, with its stone arch and portico supported by four columns, is undeniable, the real attraction is the electronic flag emblem on the top of the cupola. It is one of only three flags in the United States powered by electricity.

Cynthiana in Harrison County gained a prominent position in pop culture when “The Walking Dead” premiered in 2010. Robert Kirkland, co-creator of the series, made his hometown a central part of the zombie-filled action thriller.

Visitors looking to commune with their favorite celluloid characters make a beeline to Rohs Opera House to see the world’s largest Walking Dead mural painted on an exterior wall.

But before zombie apocalypses became all the rage, popular culture was a bit more genteel. In 1871, the building became the oldest continuously running theater in Kentucky and was known as the Aeolian Hall Music Association.

Two years later it was renamed the Rohs Opera House, and began staging elaborate operas, operettas and music hall performances. One of its early patrons was such a fan that she reputedly never left.

The Lady in White, clad in a long Victorian gown, has been spotted roaming the theater’s corridors over the years, but she is just one of many ghosts.

The Rohs Opera House is allegedly one of the most haunted places in Kentucky, with Friday and Saturday nights set aside for ghost hunters who converge on it from around the world.

From an opera house to a country store is a bit of a culture jump, but the Bluegrass Region is eclectic in its offerings.

In 1918, World War I was drawing to a close when young entrepreneur R.A. Dodd opened his eponymous Dodd’s Corner market in downtown Nicholasville in Jessamine County. It quickly became the hub of the then-agricultural community.

Customers would roll their wagons up to the side window to get their farm supplies, produce for their families and grain and hay for their horses. If they didn’t have to rush back to their chores, they would come inside to catch up on the latest gossip.

So popular was Dodd’s Corner that it even had its own column in the Jessamine Journal.

Fast forward more than a century and descendants of R. A. Dodd still own and operate the community market. Today’s shoppers are more likely to find gourmet pizzas fired in the onsite oven and a selection of bakery products than farm seeds and oats for their livestock, but the spirit of its founder remains.

What do a fiery Prohibition advocate and a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee have in common?

They were both born in Garrard County, and if you drivealong the county’s hilly back roads, you will find historical markers denoting their birthplaces.

Carry Nation roused some rabble during her years as a crusader against the “evils” of alcohol.

Visitors can see where her story began at Historical Marker # 1733, four miles from the house where she was born in 1846. The innocent babe grew (…and grew…and grew) to become a six-foot tall hatchet-wielding destroyer of saloons and barrooms across Kansas.

Though demon rum earned most of her ire, Carry’s other pet peeves included tobacco, imported foods and corsets.

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Meanwhile, Historical Marker # 2026 commemorates folksinger Bradley Kincaid. Born in 1895, he was a prolific composer of folk and country songs, and a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Known as “the Kentucky Mountain Boy,” Kincaid recorded more than 200 songs and published 13 songbooks during his lifetime. Take that, Taylor Swift.

It’s rare that an entire town can be considered an American icon: Williamsburg, Virginia has its colonial history and Salem, Massachusetts was known as a hotbed of witches. Deadwood, South Dakota would be dead without the myths surrounding its two most famous citizens, Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. But what about a town whose most historic buildings make up an entire college campus?

Berea in Madison County, which despite having an international reputation for its folk arts and crafts, derives its historical significance from a unique college.

The beautiful tree-shaded campus of Berea College, with its impressive Greek Revival and Federal-style buildings, began as a one-room schoolhouse where the Reverend John Fee had a Utopian vision of an oasis of learning for men and women of all races.

While this may not sound revolutionary today, in 1855 witha brutal war that would divide the country looming on the horizon, the idea of serious education for women was scoffed at, and teaching blacks was against the law.

Fee, however, was undeterred, and with assistance from abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay who donated a 10-acre parcel of land at the edge of the Cumberland Mountains, Berea College was born.

Fee recruited his teachers from the notoriously liberal Oberlin College in Ohio, and Berea College soon became known as the “Oberlin of the South.”

It remains highly regarded, internationally recognized for providing a quality liberal arts education, free of charge to deserving students, regardless of race, gender or economic situation.

Visitors may take campus tours led by students who subsidize their education by working, in lieu of tuition.

Who says you can’t sleep where history was made? Visitors can make one of the Bluegrass Region’s most historic homes their home-away-from-home.

The Bottom House Bed and Breakfast in Boyle County is just a short drive from the Perryville Battlefield, site of one of the most strategic battles during the War Between the States.

In 1820, shortly after being built by Samuel Bottom, the property served as a stagecoach stop. In 1862, however, the Federal-style frame house was converted into a hospital to care for those injured in the bloodiest battle fought in the commonwealth.

Today, two of the Bottom House’s three rooms are named for the commanding generals at Perryville – the Union’s Don Carlos Buell and the Confederacy’s Braxton Bragg – and artifacts from the battle can be found in the rooms and in a small second-floor gallery. Some guests have reported ghostly encounters – no doubt with soldiers who died here.

Fun fact:  The B&B’s owners, Alan and Lisa Bottom, are direct descendants of Samuel Bottom.

As fascinating as all of these places are, they are just a sampling of the historic properties across the Bluegrass Region.

●  Many of the historic buildings featured in this section were built entirely by, or with the help of enslaved people. While much of their history remains undocumented, we would like to acknowledge their contributions to the Bluegrass Region you see today.

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