Category: Uncategorized

NoDestination: Switzer Covered Bridge


Even though Fleming County is Kentucky’s Covered Bridge Capital, the Commonwealth’s Official Covered Bridge is located in northern Franklin County. The Switzer Covered Bridge spans 120 feet and was built in 1855 by George Hockensmith (it was restored in 1906, 1990 and rebuilt in 1998 the March 1, 1997 flood).

The bridge is of the Howe truss design. It carried traffic until 1954 and was listed on the National Register in 1974. You can see Switzer off KY-1262 between Frankfort and Georgetown; there is a small pull-off on the far side of the bridge.

There is something amazing about any old covered bridge; they are unique and evidence of a bygone era. Here is what the Lexington CVB says:

Four of Kentucky’s [13 remaining] covered bridges are still open to traffic; you can walk through the others. As you rumble across in your car, or pass your hand across the heavy wooden pegs and timbers — rough-hewn to the eye, but worn smooth by the years — you’ll experience the living sensations of another era.

For more on Kentucky’s Covered Bridges, check out the Kentucky Digital Library.

NoDestination: Ward Hall

Just west of downtown Georgetown on U.S. 460 lies Ward Hall. This 75’x75′ mansion was constructed in 1853 by Junius Ward. Ward, a Mississippi plantation owner, had Kentucky roots and utilized Ward Hall as his summer home. Not surprisingly, the Civil War and the end of slavery destroyed Ward’s fortune and he was forced to sell his estate in 1867.

For a time in the 1880s, the General Assembly contemplated an offer whereby it would take Ward Hall and the surrounding 250 acres as a new state capitol.

Ward Hall is an impressive structure and is described as Kentucky’s best example of Greek Revival architecture. The Ward Hall Preservation Foundation, Inc. describes some of the lavish detail:

Built on the Corinthian order, its two-story tetra-style portico has columns forty feet high that support a deep, pedimented entablature. Pilasters with Corinthian capitals ornament all four sides of the house, which is seventy-five feet square. The interior carries out the attention to detail with plaster cornices rich with decorations of egg-and-dart and bead-and-reel patterns and anthemion blossoms. The woodwork is rubbed walnut, and a gracious winding staircase ascends to the third floor.

Interestingly, Ward Hall originally had two roofs. The sub-roof was of slate, the top roof was of copper and all of the rainwater was channeled to a copper cistern. All of the copper was removed and sold during World War I.

NoDestination: The State Seal

The state seal of Kentucky is memorialized in bronze at the Governor’s Circle in the Constitution State Park (Danville). Around the seal is a depiction of each of Kentucky’s governors.

The seal itself has gone through various designs, but was originally an inspiration of the first governor, Isaac Shelby. Shelby, a war hero, was said to have loved the 1768 John Dickinson tune, “The Liberty Song.” The fourth verse reads:

Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all,
By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall;
In so righteous a cause let us hope to succeed,
For heaven approves of each generous deed.

Thus the state motto: “united we stand, divided we fall.” The seal depicts “two (2) friends embracing each other, with the words ‘Commonwealth of Kentucky’ over their heads and around them the words, ‘United We Stand, Divided We Fall.'” K.R.S. 2.020. One of the friends is a pioneer, the other a statesman.

NoDestination: The Old Talbott Tavern

For over 200 years, the Talbott Tavern has provided accomodation to travelers passing through Bardstown. In the old courthouse square sits the stone building marked by several additions. Bardstown – originally called Salem – was established in 1780, a year after the then-called Hynes Inn opened.

Originally the terminal of a western stage coach line coming east from both Philadelphia and Virginia, the Hynes Inn remains the oldest western stagecoach stop still in operation. Its earlier guests included George Rogers Clark, Daniel Boone and exiled-King Louis-Philippe of France. Later Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison and Abraham Lincoln would visit. Henry Clay, John James Audubon, Stephen Foster and Jesse James also rested at the Talbott Tavern. Romanian Queen Marie lunched here in 1926 and General George Patton also passed through. To say the least, it has a “who’s who” list of patrons!

A fire ravaged much of the structure in the 1990s and “generic” renovations were made. Most unfortunate was the loss of murals painted by the entourage of King Louis-Philippe. It would seem that the paintings could be restored, but that funding has remained unavailable.

Pike County Courthouse – Pikeville, Ky.


Seasons Greetings to everyone. I apologize for the relative lack of posts on the Kentucky 120 project. It turns out that the practice of law is pretty hectic. Who knew?
I’ve spent my New Year’s Eve with my wife’s family in Eastern Kentucky, and decided that I would swing by the Pike County Courthouse while in the area. The old courthouse is pictured above, with the new courthouse behind me. The shot above is actually the back of the old courthouse, but I thought it was much more interesting than the front. You can see the clock tower lit up on the right. This picture was taken with my Iphone, and obviously at night, so I apologize for the quality.
The Pike County Courthouse pictured above was built in 1888-89 and renovated in 1932-33. The courthouse is most famous for being the cite of the murder trials in the Hatfield-McCoy feud.

NoDestination: Tom Dorman Nature Preserve

I wanted to take my sister hiking on the day after Christmas and we were disappointed to find Raven Run closed. No trouble, I thought: we could go to another nearby hiking retreat. The Tom Dorman State Nature Preserve (SNP) encompasses over 800 acres in Garrard and Jessamine Counties (the Jessamine County acreage is not accessible to the public).

The main two-mile loop is described as moderately strenuous, but it is a beautiful walk that follows an old stage coach route. The SNP contains many varieties of trees, several rare species of wildflowers and diverse mammal and reptile populations (other than the trees, I witnessed none of the above).

The most spectacular feature of Tom Dorman is its view of the Palisades. The exposed limestone appears as a mosaic of color and dates to a period when Kentucky was under a shallow sea (thus, marine fossils abound). The Kentucky River began to cut its path through the Palisades about 400,000 to 1 million years ago exposing the ancient Ordovician (450-500 million year old) rock – the oldest exposed rock in the state.

I expect Tom Gorman SNP to grow in popularity. In 2007, the Commonwealth purchased 90 acres of land adjacent to the SNP for the development of Palisades State Park. I hope to visit Tom Dorman again soon (with better equipment than an iPhone!).

NoDestination: Amos Kendall House


At 413 Broadway (Frankfort) sits the house in which Amos Kendall resided from about 1816 to 1828. Kendall, a Massachusetts native, migrated to Kentucky about 1814. He tutored the children of the Henry Clay family before starting his newspaper: the Argus of Western America. His politics transformed and Kendall became a great supporter of the Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson. The Argus was very pro-Jackson in the campaign and Jackson took Kendall to Washington where he began the Washington Globe.

The Globe was the voice of the Jackson administration. Kendall was later named the Postmaster General of the United States in which office he served through the van Buren administration. He was one of Jackson’s closest advisors and was the author of many of Jackson’s most remembered speeches/texts (annual addresses to Congress and Jackson’s veto of the National Bank’s recharter).

After leaving politics in 1840, Kendall made a fortune as the business manager for Samuel Morse (inventor of the telegraph). Retiring in 1860, Kendall then lived the rest of his live as a philanthropist giving money to churches and a school he organized “for the deaf and dumb.”

NoDestination: Singing Bridge (& Merry Christmas)


The Kaintuckeean wishes all a Merry Christmas! Hopefully we can visit a festive place next year (my wife canned this year’s proposed trip to Southern Lights at the Kentucky Horse Park – the traffic was too much).

This year we’ll all have to settle for Frankfort’s year-round caroler, the Singing Bridge. Crossing the Kentucky River at St. Clair Street, this bridge was constructed in 1893 by the King Bridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio. It is a 406-foot Pennsylvania Steel Through Truss Bridge.

Locals call it the “singing bridge” because the steel grate deck “sings” when you drive over it. Although the state transportation cabinet describes the bridge as “safe to drive on,” it is classified as structurally deficient under the standards of the National Bridge Database. It is a landmark that needs funding and restoration/improvements.

Bridges have crossed the Kentucky River at this point for almost 200 years. In 1810, the Frankfort Bridge Company constructed a link between downtown and the “suburbs.” This wooden crossing collapsed in 1834 and a replacement was built the following year. A span of the replacement lasted only 8 days before it collapsed, killing two. A double-roadway covered bridge was completed in 1847 and stood until it was replaced by the current bridge.

NoDestination: C6, H0


On October 29, 1921 occurred one of the greatest upsets in college football history. The Praying Colonels of Centre College (Danville, Ky.) defeated football powerhouse Harvard (Cambridge, Mass.).

Harvard – undefeated since 1918 – played Centre at Harvard Field the year before when Centre led 14-6 at the half. Harvard went on to win that game 34-14, but Harvard captain offered the game ball to the Centre captain. Centre’s captain, Bo McMillin refused saying that the team would “be back next year to take it home with us.”

Centre delivered. Scoreless at the half, McMillin rushed into the endzone during the third quarter and Centre won 6-0. C6, H0. When the news travelled to Danville, students painted this “formula” on everything (even cows!).

Today, only the above graffiti remains. But the legend certainly lives on… Oh, and Harvard is still scared. The Crimson refused a rematch on the 75th anniversary.

NoDestination: Spears


Spears, Kentucky is one of those county-straddlers. Because the center of Tates Creek Road was used as the boundary between Jessamine and Fayette counties upon the creation of the former, this community on Tates Creek Road (KY-1974 at the junction with KY-169) is also in both counties. It was settled in the early 1790s by John L. Spears; other settlors followed as Spears was a well-educated man known for being both a surveyor and a teacher. (Today, Spears is serviced by two county school systems – depending on which side of the street you are on.) Spears even had its own post office from 1867 until 1915.

Pictured above is the Fayette County Old Country Store; across the street is another market in Jessamine County.