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Gallatin County Courthouse – Warsaw, Ky.

U.S. 42 is always a beautiful drive – I highly recommend it. When I lived in Oldham County, I would drive it whenever I had the chance, but I never made it as far up the road as Warsaw. U.S. 42 basically follows the river, and there are a ton of great old river towns along the way. Warsaw is one of those towns.
The courthouse above is on the National Historic Register, and was built in 1837.

I took this picture just two blocks behind the courthouse on the Ohio River. I thought it was pretty picturesque, so I stepped out of the car and snapped this one really quick. Just two miles up the river from here there was apparently a horrible river accident back in 1868. If you pull over to the side of the road, there is a historical marker describing the collision between the America and the United States, two passenger boats traveling between Louisville and Cincinnati. The United States had barreled coal oil on board, which ignited in the collision, spreading to both boats and coating the river in fire. There was $325,000 in damage ($5.6 million today according to an inflation calculator) and 162 people died in the tragedy.

Boone County Courthouse – Burlington, Ky.


Burlington has a really nice historic downtown area, with a wealth of markers that provide a ton of information. All government buildings are in a little cluster downtown, including a HUGE new judicial center. The historic courthouse above was built in 1889. According to the historical marker, there has been a courthouse on this spot since 1799, and this is the third such building. A few interesting things about this building:
* It was built in the Renaissance Revival style for about $20,000
* Notice how small the cupola looks? Well, that’s because the original cupola was deemed to be too heavy for the building to support, and it was removed in 1898.
* There is a nearly identical courthouse in Bandera, Texas built a year after this one, but made of sandstone.
It felt great to head out of Burlington, because it meant that I got to leave the big roads behind and get back to the little country roads.

Campbell County Courthouse – Alexandria, Ky.

At this point, I was really frustrated. Navigating Northern Kentucky is a complete disaster. Roads meander around, and there are “freeway-style” roads all over the place. After wandering around for awhile I finally found this courthouse in the middle of what I guess used to be Alexandria. It felt sort of bleak up there. It is now a history center for the county I think, but I couldn’t find the new judicial center anywhere. So I got this picture of the historic courthouse and was happy.
The courthouse’s historic marker told me that Campbell was the 19th county, was formed in 1794, and that originally the county seat was in Newport (which makes much better sense). But for whatever reason the county seat was moved to Alexandria in 1840.

Kenton County Courthouse (No. 1) – Independence, Ky.

Okay, so this was nuts. Kenton County has two county seats – one in Independence, and one in Covington. I did not know this today, and now I’m sort of upset that I didn’t get the other one in Covington when I was up there. Can anyone tell me if its prettier than this one in Independence? I was wondering the entire time I was in Independence why the seat wasn’t in Covington, and now I feel kind of stupid. I guess I’ll get it on my next trip to Cincinnati.
I have to admit that I got lost trying to find this courthouse in Independence, due mostly to the fact that Northern Kentucky is about the most confusing place in the world to drive. I had to end up calling Peter, who helped me get where I needed to go through the magic of the internet.

Grant County Courthouse – Williamstown, Ky.


Today I decided to travel up to Grant County on a little bit of what remains of the Dixie Highway (U.S. 25). For anyone living in Lexington, the next time you head up to Cincinnati, I highly recommend the route. It basically weaves around under I-75, but like many of the old highways in this country, the road follows the terrain instead of blasting through it. It’s a beautiful drive through the Bluegrass, and there are tons of great now-defunct roadside stores and shops to check out.
The courthouse above bears the date 1937 on its cornerstone, and is about to be “the old courthouse,” as there is a huge judicial center being constructed down the street. It’s pictured here below.

No Destination: Liberty

This sleepy town of about 2,000 is – and always has been – all about its name: Liberty. A number of Revolutionary War veterans received land grants in the area and named their community after that which they had sacrificed. Liberty was selected as the county seat in 1808 and was finally incorporated in 1830.

Looking down Main Street from the courthouse, I noticed a small park (Veteran’s Park) with many waving American flags. In that park, too, was an exact replica of the Liberty Bell (sans the infamous crack). The original bell, which hung in Independence Hall arrived in America from its manufacturer (the Whitechapel Bell Foundry) in 1753. The Liberty replica was also cast by Whitechapel and, with its African teak headstock, weighs 2,700 pounds. It is dedicated to the “Citizens of Liberty” (a great double entendre).

Casey County Courthouse – Liberty, Ky.

I’ve driven through Casey County a couple of times, but have never been downtown. The courthouse is pretty sweet, though it appears to need a little restoration, which I doubt will ever happen based on the huge new judicial center across the street. When we arrived in Liberty, it was getting ready to storm, and the downtown area was ominously quiet. I love storms, which is probably one of the reasons that I enjoyed photographing Liberty so much.
This courthouse was built in 1888, and was preceded by a different brick building and a log building. According to this historical marker, the use of stone trim and its asymmetrical design are unique for a courthouse.

Lincoln County Courthouse – Stanford, Ky.


Stanford was a big surprise. Driving into town, I saw a big Super Walmart, which tends to be the death knell for any sort of cool downtown area. But Stanford is an amazing little downtown. Perhaps you could chalk it up to it being the oldest Main Street in Kentucky (because it’s on the old Wilderness Trail), or perhaps its due to the fact that there are tractors parallel parked across from the courthouse. Whatever it may be, there’s only one word to really describe Stanford -it’s charming. I sat on a park bench right in front of the courthouse and enjoyed a few minutes of the afternoon.
The courthouse pictured above is the fourth courthouse on this spot, built in 1909. Lincoln County is named after Revolutionary War hero Benjamin Lincoln, and is one of the original three Kentucky counties. According to materials from the Lincoln County tourism folks, the architecture is classical Beaux Arts influenced, and its archives are “a genealogy goldmine” as their records date back to 1780. These are the oldest records in the state.

Garrard County Courthouse – Lancaster, Ky.

Lancaster is kind of a mess. The traffic is crazy for the size of the town, and its really difficult to get around. Maybe it was the overcast day, or the empty buildings I saw, but Lancaster kind of depressed me.
There is a pretty cool plaque on the courthouse that details the gifts of Captain William Early Buford, a veteran of the American Revolution who gave the original 20 lots and the public square in Lancaster.

Jessamine County Courthouse – Nicholasville, Ky.

Ah, Nickytown. . . home of my good friend Peter, who serves as the primary writer for this blog. I promised him that I would wait to do Nicholasville with him, so we headed into town one evening last week. The Jessamine County Courthouse is beautiful, and is quite a complex building.
Here at the right you can see the back of the building, which shows a lot of its complexity. I particularly like the lady justice that faces (I believe) west on the side of the courthouse. The folks in the courthouse were extremely friendly, offering to let us see the Circuit Courtroom and show us around. The courthouse was originally built in 1878, and was remodeled in 1964.
I thought this little tidbit was pretty interesting. According to the county historical marker, Jessamine county was named for the Jessamine flower that grows so abundantly in the area, as well as the Jessamine Creek. Local legend apparently attributes that name to Jessamine Douglass, the daughter of an early settler to the area, who was allegedly “stealthily tomahawked” to death by a Native American as she rested on the creek. That seems to me to be a strange way to name a creek/county, but hey, who am I?