Category: Uncategorized

No Destination: Old State Capitol


Pictured is the third capitol constructed in Frankfort. Since the completion of our current capitol in 1910, this building has been known as the Old State Capitol. Erected in 1830 and designed by Lexington architect Gideon Shryock, this Greek Revival building is patterned mostly after the Temple of Minerva Polias at Priene.

One of the most interesting features is inside; the main circular staircase is self-supporting and is held in place by a capstone which if moved 1/10th of an inch would cause the entire staircase to collapse.

Constructed of “Kentucky Marble” (aka limestone), a wire saw was invented by Joel Scott (warden of the state penitentiary) to cut through the stone and to expedite construction. Scott single-handedly had control of the state prisons from 1825 to 1832. Scott was to “employ the convicts at hard labor, treat them humanely, pay the State half of the net profits [minimum $1000 per year], and keep the other half of the net profits in lieu of salary.” [Cite, which has a lot more interesting stuff about early Kentucky prisons and Mr. Scott] It can be presumed then that much of the labor employed in constructing the capitol was from prisoners.

NoDestination: Capitol Murals

Admittedly, the picture above is not my own. It was taken by Finance Secretary Jonathan Miller (posted via Twitter @millerky). Pictured is First Lady Jane Beshear (right) unveiling pictures of the four murals that will be placed at the top of the rotunda above statues of Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln. The four murals represent agriculture, industry, civilization and integrity.

The original design for our 1910 capitol was to include murals, but funding was never available. Artist Frank Millet was scheduled to come to Frankfort to create murals for the captiol, but he died on the 1912 maiden voyage of the Titanic.

Today, Terry and Marion Forcht (the owners of Forcht Bank) are funding the project. EverGreen Architectural Arts of NYC is designing the new murals which are being installed as part of the Centennial Celebration of the Capitol.

No Destination: Offut-Cole Tavern

The Offut-Cole Tavern is located at the corner of Old Frankfort Pike and US-62 in Midway. According to the historic marker, the log portion of the structure dates to the 1780s-1790s. Major John Lee, a founder and early leader of Woodford County, lived here and began its tradition as a tavern. Leased to John Kennedy and William Dailey, it grew in fame as a stagecoach stop (midway) along the toll road from Lexington to Frankfort.

A separate tavern located on Cole’s Road (now known as Leestown Road) was known as Cole’s Bad Inn. Owned by Richard Cole, Sr. and nicknamed “Little Sodom,” it can only be imagined what there occurred. English journalist Fortesque Cuming visited both Dailey’s Tavern and Little Sodom in 1807 as he traveled to and from Frankfort by Lexington. Cuming wrote:

Quitting Frankfort, we took Coles Road, a different route to that by which we had come, which brought us after riding ten miles mostly through woods, to Cole’s who keeps an Inn on this road in opposition to Dailey, on the Old Frankfort-Lexington Turnpike. But any traveler who has once contrasted the rough vulgarity and the badness of his table and accommodations, with the taste, order, plenty and good attendance of his mulatto competitor will never trouble Mr. Cole a second time, especially as there is no sensible difference in the length of goodness of the roads, and that Mr. Bailey’s is through a generally much better settled county.

Little Sodom burned in 1811. Cole, Jr. bought his father’s former competitor’s tavern and named Major Lee’s old tavern the Black Horse Inn. (Side Note: Cole, Jr’s great-grandson was the infamous Jesse James.)

The tavern also served as a tollhouse for the company owning the Frankfort Pike from Lexington. When in the early 1850s, the road from Midway to Versailles (now US-62) was constructed, the tavern became a dual tollhouse taking tolls from travelers from all directions.

A tavern of many names. Black Horse Inn. Lee-Cole Tavern. Lee’s Tavern. Dailey’s Tavern. But what of Offut? The historic marker suggests that Horatio Offut leased the tavern from Major Lee (or his widow) and constructed the brick section, but genealogical researchers suggest that no leases or deeds were ever recorded to Mr. Offut.

walkLEX: Henry Clay’s Law Office

At 176 North Mill Street sits a one-story structure erected by Henry Clay in 1803 as his office. From this office, Clay practiced law until 1810. During this period, Clay was twice elected to the state senate and from that office was selected to fill an unexpired term in the United States Senate.

Henry Clay, the “Great Compromiser,” delayed the inevitable Civil War through his Compromise of 1820 and his role in pacifying the Nullication Crisis (when South Carolina thought it could nullify acts by the federal government). He was several times the Whig’s candidate for President.

His law office is one of Lexington’s few remaining early professional buildings. Although it was enlarged in 1830, these additions were removed as the building was reconfigured to its 1803 design by the Commonwealth in 1969. Soon after, a renovation followed. The building is now nestled within First Presbyterian Church’s property and is the home of the Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship.

Posting Schedule & Map Update

I am going to try and regularly post on this blog Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Many of my upcoming posts will repeat locations cited on my earliest NoDestination trips (when I only posted a link to a photo album. Don’t you want a few more facts about the Valley View Ferry or the Confederate mass grave at Perryville?) Kentucky 120 Project posts will not follow this posting schedule.

I also blog the 5:9 Focus. The 5:9 is a religious blog emphasizing my interpretation of faith, of being a good person and of being a steward of the earth. I will post there on Tuesday and Thursday.

Also, a map update. I have now posted about 28 counties (23%).

NoDestination: I75, Exit 154


Driving north to Pittsburgh, Pa., I found myself needing to refuel. I was not anticipating my fuel stop a possibility for NoDestination, but as I stood putting 87-octane into my car I noticed a historic marker in the lawn between the Shell station and the KY-36. I suppose the moral of this story is that you never know when you might see something worthy of visiting and that you should always take the opportunity to inquire.

Marker #725 “A Civil War Reprisal” tells the tale of an Aug. 1864 execution of three Confederates in retaliation for the guerilla murder of two Union sympathizers. Interestingly, the three were held in Lexington prior to their execution but were brought to the Owen/Grant County area (home of their victims) to be executed. According to E. Polk Johnson’s 1912 A History of Kentucky, the executions were performed by firing squad.

walkLEX: Broadway Christian Church

I attended the Broadway Christian Church for about 5 years in the mid-1990s; it is a storied church with a long and schismatic history. Since conducting its first service on May 1, 1870, the church has been a leader in the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement and has planted many of the “Christian” Churches now in the area.

The current church is the third “Broadway” at the Broadway/Second Street location. The first on the site was an old Presbyterian Church, torn down in 1890 and replaced by another structure that served from 1891 until a 1916 fire. The current sanctuary rose from the ashes in 1917 and two major additions followed in the mid-to-late 1900s.

One of the most memorable features of the church are the hallway behind the sanctuary and the long hallway underneath the sanctuary (off of which are some of the old Sunday School classrooms). Along the former are paintings and/or photographs of each of the church’s senior ministers. Along the latter are pictures from the church’s long history (which details a great bit of Lexington’s history, as well).

NoD: Raven Run

Raven Run Nature Sanctuary in Nov. 2009

Nestled along Fayette County’s Kentucky River-front is Raven Run Nature Sanctuary. This 734-acre complex is unknown (and unvisited) by most Lexingtonians, but those who visit are so appreciative of its existence.

Off Jack’s Creek Pike (which is off Old Richmond Road, which in turn is off Richmond Road at Jacobson Park), Raven Run features over 600 species of flora and many varieties of fauna as well. The ten miles of hiking trail are all relatively easy and intertwined so that a variety of scenes can be visited in a single afternoon. It is remarkable to think that this site was purchased by the city in the 1960s as a landfill site. Under construction is a new Nature Center (scheduled to open in spring 2010) which will be LEED certified.

One of the most popular destinations is the Kentucky River Overlook (pictured above and below). At the Overlook, there are two ledges from which to enjoy the view. The upper ledge is more accessible, but the lower ledge ( only by a few feet) is often ‘uninhabited’ and allows for a much more peaceful moment. In fact, I have been known to visit on an early Sunday afternoon as a “church alternative.” Unfortunately, my recent visit (pictured above) was only slightly late – the peak change in fall colors had already passed. Pictured below is a much greener visit from June 2007).

Raven Run in June 2007


UPDATE/CLARIFICATION: The Jack’s Creek Landfill (a/k/a Raven Run Landfill) operated from 1969 until 1972. The official closure occurred following a 1971 fire and subsequent covering with dirt for reclamation, but additional deposits were left after that time. Oil and sludge deposits exist on the site, which is within the boundaries of the Nature Preserve.[Source]

walkLEX: Memorial Coliseum

From 1950 to 1975, Memorial Coliseum was the home of the University of Kentucky Wildcats Basketball program. Ten times this 9,000 seat facility hosted NCAA Basketball Tournament games. Despite its official occupancy, crowds of 13,000 would often gather inside to watch the Cats play and amass a .890 record (306-38) inside Memorial.

Although Kentucky’s men left the facility in the mid-1970s, the women’s program continues to call Memorial Coliseum home.

But the men’s team returned once last season when it hosted (and defeated) UNLV in a second-round NIT game. It was the last game Billy Clyde Gillispie would coach for the Wildcats in Lexington. Despite fans’ disappointment in BCG and in playing the NIT, the feeling inside Memorial was electric. You could sense the history rising from the wooden bleachers. (Pictured: pre-game).

walkLEX: The Lyric Theater

The Temptations. Count Basie and his Orchestra. Duke Ellington. Ella Fitzgerald. All played in Lexington; all at the Lyric Theater. The corner of Third and Walnut Streets (now Third and Martin Luther King) was the center of much of Lexington’s best entertainment for the better part of the early twentieth century.

But the Theater closed in 1963 and fell into disrepair (as did much of Lexington’s east end). Although it has often been targeted for demolition, the city has finally OK’d the renovation of the Theater to create a community center, a smaller theater and multi-purpose space. The renovation is projected to cost $9 million and the funds will come from a public-private partnership. The Lyric is scheduled to re-open in September 2010 and talks and meeting with New York City’s Lincoln Center promise a return of jazz excellence to Lexington’s east end.

I like to imagine this theater at its heyday, when one of my old neighbors would have played within those walls. Clarence “Duke” Madison called Lexington home from the late 1940s until he passed in 1997, and I still remember the sweet sound of his saxophone stirring sweaty summer nights. The sounds filled the night.

Although Duke may never play again in Lexington, I hope that Lexington can again host music’s best.