thekaintuckeean – Page 59 – The Kaintuckeean

EV: Jim Varney (Lexington Cemetery, Part IV)

Jim Varney’s Grave – Lexington, Ky.

James Albert “Jim” Varney Jr. was born June 15, 1949 in Lexington, where he was raised before heading off to Murray State University, the Pioneer Playhouse in Danville and eventually stardom. Varney, who starred a multitude of movies and TV shows, is probably best remembered for his character Ernest P. Worrell, or his portrayal of Jed Clampett in the remake of The Beverly Hillbillies.

Ernest made his first appearance in an advertisement for Bowling Green’s Beech Bend Park in 1980. Ernest was just one of Varney’s many characters that usually found their way into Ernest movies or TV specials, of which there were more than a dozen. I absolutely LOVED Ernest movies as a kid, and while back I watched a couple of his movies again. I was shocked to discover that they’re still pretty funny as an adult.

Varney was also good friends with country music legends like Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristopherson, with whom he would appear on TV and variety shows in the 1970s and ’80s. He starred in movies up until his death, and kids today would probably best recognize Varney most as the original voice of the Slinky Dog in Toy Story and Toy Story 2.

A life-long smoker, Varney was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1998, and died February 10, 2000. He was only 50 years old. Curiously, Varney’s grave is covered in pennies. Anyone know what this is about?

EV: King Solomon (Lexington Cemetery, Part III)

The Grave of King Solomon – Lexington, Ky.

There are a ton of famous people whose final resting place can be found within the walls of the Lexington Cemetery. Confederate war generals, statesmen, basketball coaches, etc. We’ll get to those folks, but I wanted to cover a few of the less-known residents who are equally famous in their own right.

If you stray south upon entering the grounds, signs will direct you to the grave of King Solomon. William “King” Solomon was Lexington’s folk hero of sorts during the cholera outbreak of the 1830s. John Wright describes this outbreak in great detail in Lexington: Heart of the Bluegrass. Cholera, a disease originating in India, was brought to the U.S. through New York in 1832, and spread through shipping lines quickly. It made it to Maysville in 1833, and quickly spread to Lexington. In Lexington, it started along Water Street behind what became the Lafayette Hotel (roughly in the location of the current city parking garage). The town’s water supply was dependent on springs and wells and was therefore vulnerable to contamination from floods. A downpour on June 3, 1833 did just that. The overflowing Town Branch spread disease to High Street and then the rest of downtown. The whole town shut down – a third of the population fled the city, and bodies started piling up at the few organized cemeteries the town had in place. Cholera was a horrible affliction – extreme diarreah, vomiting and muscle cramps, which led to dehydration and eventually death. There were few gravediggers to handle the enormity of the job.

King Solomon (Source: Wilson

Family Photographic Collection)

Which is where King Solomon comes into the story. Solomon, a once-reputable member of the community, had been driven to drink and vagrancy by the circumstances of life. His services had been purchased at auction by a free black woman just prior the plague. Something seems to have clicked in Solomon during the crisis, and he worked day and night digging graves for the dead. He rarely drank water, which was said to have protected him from infection by the disease, and as stated by Wright “if any stray bacillus had entered his bloodstream it would have died immediately from the alcohol content.”

Following the plague of 1833, Solomon became a town hero. He sat for his portrait and was honored at a special ceremony at the courthouse. He was later memorialized by the short-story writer James Lane Allen. When he died in 1854, he was buried in Lexington Cemetery. The monument marking his grave pictured above was dedicated in 1908.

This is part 3 in NRK’s Lexington Cemetery series. Read Part I: Introduction and Part II: Flora & Fauna. Some of the above text quotes or paraphrases of Wright’s Lexington: Heart of the Bluegrass. Quotation marks have been omitted for the sake of readability.

NoD: Abraham Lincoln Seated in Eastern Kentucky

Law Offices of Eric C. Conn - Stanville, Ky.

Lincoln Memorial – Stanville, Ky.

The National Park Service has temporarily closed the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC following this week’s earthquake. But did you know that there is an exact replica of the seated 16th President in Stanville, Kentucky?

If you’ve driven to Pikeville, you have without a doubt seen billboards for attorney Eric C. Conn (aka “Mr. SSI”). The parking lot of his office, on U.S. 23 in Stanville, is the home of the world’s second largest seated Lincoln statue.

Installed on November 4, 2010 (the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s election), the 19 foot tall statue weighs over a ton. It was constructed in Thailand after being commissioned by Conn in October 2009. This “Lincoln Memorial” was paid for entirely by Mr. Conn through what must be an enormous marketing budget.

Conn, a U.S. Army veteran who served a one-year tour of duty in Iraq during the Desert War, had some ten years ago commissioned a replica of the Statue of Liberty (pictured, left).

At the unveiling, Conn “welcomed home” Mr. Lincoln, who was born in Hodgenville, Kentucky in 1809. Illinois, however, has stolen claim to Lincoln, but Conn reminded those present in 2010 of Lincoln’s famous quote: “I, too, am a Kentuckian.”

Bibliography: Floyd County Times, Kentucky Law Blog, Wikipedia, WKYT

kernel: CentrePointe is Now Leasing

Downtown Lexington can rejoice in the progress being made by Gang and gang with the empty block in its core. And now this:

Centrepointe Property for Lease – Prestonsburg, Ky.

OK. So this sign isn’t at Centrepasture — it is by the highway near Prestonsburg, Ky. But when I saw the sign, I couldn’t help but laugh (and pull over and take the picture). Hopefully, we’ll see a sign like this in Lexington soon!

NoD: Versailles Presbyterian Church

Versailles Presbyterian Church - Versailles, Ky.

Interior of the Versailles (Ky.) Presbyterian Church

On Versailles’ Main Street, the red bricks of the Gothic revival-style Presbyterian Church surround beautiful stain glass windows. Its stately belltower lies on the north end of the church’s gabled roof.

Inside, the square sanctuary features a beautiful pipe organ and two-and-one-half aisles (the third being central to the church, but only extending midway from the rear).

Versailles (Ky.) Presbyterian Church

The church’s origins are unclear, but the first Presbyterian pastor in the county was Reverend Adam Rankin who was called to the Glenn’s Creek Church, part of the Transylvania Presbytery, in 1786. In 1788, Woodford County was created from Virginia’s Fayette County. Fortunately, for this early church, Glenn’s Creek was not situated within Versailles as Virginia statute forbade a church from being situated within the limits of a county seat. These rules soon became moot, however, as Kentucky achieved statehood in 1792.

By 1794, not only was a Presbyterian Church operating in the county seat of Versailles — but it was holding services in the courthouse itself! Rev. John Poage Campbell, considered to be the first minister of Versailles Presbyterian Church, preached throughout the circuit and had certainly served in Versailles by the year 1811 when he also acted as chaplain of the state legislature.

The church, erected in 1854, preceded the existing structure on which ground was broken in 1877 with dedication Sunday following on July 28, 1878 by Reverend Gelon H. Rout. Once dedicated, the sanctuary was the largest room in the county and was utilized for a number of civic and community events.

The organ was from the Henry Pilcher & Sons Company of Louisville. Actually, the company originated in St. Louis in 1852, but located to Chicago during the Civil War. Surviving both the war and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the company returned south to Louisville in 1874. The organ, built in Louisville, was taken by train to Midway and from there to Versailles on horse cart. The walnut organ crates were even used in the construction of the church’s façade!

More pictures are available by clicking here.

Bibliography
“Henry Pilcher’s Sons Organ Company“
“Historical Sketches of Kentucky,” p. 135.
“John Poage Campbell“
Versailles Presbyterian Church, “Our History“

walkLEX: A Facelift for Historic Marker #3

Historic Marker #3 – Lexington, Ky.

In front of the Hunt-Morgan House, also known as Hopemont, at Lexington’s Gratz Park is a historic marker, number 3 in the Kentucky Historical Highway Marker Program, that reads:

Home of John Hunt Morgan, “Thunderbolt of the Confederacy.” Born Huntsville, Alabama, June 1, 1825. Killed Greeneville, Tennessee, September 4, 1864. Lieutenant, Kentucky Volunteers in Mexican War 1846-1847. Major General, C.S.A., 1861-1864.

Problem is, you can’t really read the Marker. Bronze Marker #3 is over fifty years old and, though its lettering has been repainted white more than once, it remains nearly illegible. The facts are a little misleading as well. While General Morgan certainly stayed at the house, calling it the “home of John Hunt Morgan” is a stretch. Further, the sign does nothing to recognize two other influential members of the family that called the Hunt-Morgan House home: John Wesley Hunt and Dr. Thomas Hunt Morgan.

So, the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation, the Morgan’s Men Association and several other groups and citizens are providing the $2,300 necessary to replace this sign with “updated text and an extended history.” The new sign is expected to be unveiled sometime in October. For more pictures of the historic marker and the Hunt Morgan House, click here.

Bibliography
BGT, email 8/9/2011
BGT, “Hunt Morgan House“
WUKY

walkLEX: Mount Hope

Mount Hope – Lexington, Ky.

Each of the residences in Gratz Park is beautiful and each has a terrific history. Mount Hope, a Federal two-story brick townhouse, was built in 1819 for General John McCalla, a hero of the War of 1812, who purchased the outlot on Mill Street from Thomas January. McCalla and his family would leave Lexington in 1832 for Washington, D.C. where McCalla had received a government appointment from President Polk.

General McCalla was an attorney who purchased and became the editor of The Kentucky Gazette (disputed to be the first newspaper west of the Alleghenies) in 1824. McCalla would also serve as the U.S. Marshal for Kentucky.

McCalla’s son, Dr. John Moore McCalla, Jr., was likely born at Mount Hope. He would go on to serve as the United States’ agent aboard the Star of the Union where he would ensure that the contract between the United States and the American Colonization Society was properly executed. The ACS sought to return slaves in America to Africa, the ultimate effect being the creation of Liberia. At hand was the return of 383 slaves who had been rescued aboard the slaveship Bogota.

Back to the house.

McCalla sold it in 1824, the same year he acquired The Kentucky Gazette, to Benjamin Gratz for whom Gratz Park was named. Mount Hope would remain in the hands of the Gratz family until 1984.

Benjamin Gratz was a successful hemp merchant whose family was famed for trading along the Philadelphia-Lexington-St. Louis Circuit. His vitae is impressive: “He was a part of nearly every beginning enterprise; was one of the incorporators of the City of Lexington, the hard surfaced Maysville Road, the Northern Bank of Kentucky, the Louisville & Ohio Railroad; and contributed materially to the location of the University of Kentucky in Lexington.”

Benjamin’s sister, Rebecca Gratz of Philadelphia, was a regular visitor to Mount Hope. She was a prominent educator and philanthropist who was the first female Jewish college student in the United States. It is believed that her charm caused Sir Walter Scott, upon introduction by mutual friend Washington Irving, to model his Ivanhoe character Rebecca of York after her. Hardly a spinster, Rebecca never married but allegedly turned down one suitor – a Gentile – because of her faith. She was known as the “foremost American Jewess of her day.”

Fluted window frames on Mt. Hope

This five-bay Flemish bond brick has been said to be an excellent example of the “outstanding craftsmanship of early Kentucky brickmasons.” A notable feature, quite unusual for Lexington architecture, is the fluted window frames that have “carved corner blocks like interior woodwork” (pictured). In 1841, the architect John McMurtry designed an enlargement onto the rear of stately Mount Hope, which is also referred to as the Benjamin Gratz House.

More pictures of Mount Hope can be accessed here.

This post also appeared on KyForward.com on August 30, 2011.

Bibliography
Bluegrass Trust, “Gratz Park Spreads“
Lexington Cemetery History
National Register, “Gratz Park“
The Last Slave Ships, “Liberia History“
Sy Brody, “Jewish Heroes in America“
Wikipedia, “Ivanhoe“

EV: Lexington Cemetery (Part 2)

walkLEX: Shorty’s Cellar

Shorty’s Cellar – Lexington, Ky.

On May 1, Shorty’s opened on West Short Street hearkening the return of the downtown grocer to Lexington. During the course of the summer, I’ve been to Shorty’s Urban Market more frequently than I have been to Farmer’s Market (in other words, more than weekly).

So naturally I was excited to see that Shorty’s is expanding… sort of. But in compliance with state law, Shorty’s is not actually expanding. The Urban Market and the new Shorty’s Cellar 157 will have separate entrances.

With a scheduled opening of October 1, Shorty’s Cellar 157 will be the only wine and spirits shop in the downtown commercial historic district. (Other great wine shops, like Wine+Market, are already nearby.) Work has already begun on converting the first floor of the Messick Building – a ca. 1928 two-story, three-bay Neo-Classical commercial building – into a wine shop.

The current façade of 157 West Short Street will see its aluminum storefront replaced with a steel and glass frontage a la Shorty’s, and both an awning and blade sign will mark the location. Inside, “600 SF of reclaimed wood floors, exposed brick, and custom chandeliers and shelving.” Until then, mark October 1st on your calendar!

This post was updated on August 22, 2011 with the Shorty’s Cellar 157 logo and information about the Cellar’s interior.

EV: Lexington Cemetery (Part 1)

The Cemetery was chartered in 1848. Prior to the establishment of the Cemetery, early settlers were buried on “First Hill” – near where Main and Vine meet currently in Lexington – or in family graveyards. This was not a terribly sanitary practice, so to avoid contamination of the water supply and other sorts of problems, the Cemetery was established. Among those who were a part of the group that chartered the Cemetery were Benjamin Gratz (namesake of Gratz Park) and David Sayre (of the Sayre Female Institute). The area that is Lexington Cemetery was known at the time as Boswell’s Woods, and had been hunting grounds for Thomas Boswell. The cemetery board paid $7,000 for the land, and a small family graveyard on that original site remains.

The grounds were laid out by Charles S. Bell, a Scotsman and horticulturist whose goal it was to create a park-like, landscaped cemetery. Bell – known as a perfectionist, would not open the cemetery until the grounds were finished. The first burial took place on October 2, 1849, when A.B. Colwell, a community businessman who had died of cholera, was laid to rest with his infant son.