Fayette – Page 23 – The Kaintuckeean

walkLEX: Hunt-Morgan Carriage House

The Bluegrass Trust for Historic Preservation hosts a monthly deTour to a local historic site that has been well-preserved and restored – the group meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. Details are always available on the Kaintuckeean Calendar and on Facebook! In September 2011, the deTour group visited three carriage houses; this is the first installment. More pictures from this deTour are available on flickr.

Carriage House behind the Hunt-Morgan House – Lexington, Ky.

Behind the stately Hopemont on North Mill Street is the home’s carriage house. A carriage house, like the carriage, is a relic of centuries past. Today’s automobile and garage were preceded by horse-drawn carriages and these carriages (and their noble steeds) required protection from the elements. And unlike today’s two-car garages, a carriage house was never attached to the residence it served (even without carbon monoxide issues!).

Hopemont, built in 1814, preceded the above carriage house by some twenty years. It is quite unlikely that John Wesley Hunt – believed to be Kentucky’s first millionaire – would have built Hopemont without an accompanying carriage house. On this notion alone, one must conclude that the pictured carriage house was the home’s second. Although much of the interior structure is original, the carriage house was slightly modified at the turn of the twentieth century, i.e. circa 1900.

It is said that John Wesley Hunt’s nephew, John Hunt Morgan – the famed “Thunderbolt of the Confederacy,” stalled his famous Black Bess in the carriage house. And although the legend has been told in different ways, one version is as follows: General Morgan saddled Black Bess in the carriage house before riding through the rear of the Hunt-Morgan House only to stop and kiss his mother on the cheek before galloping out the front door.

Of course, Black Bess has been immortalized herself in another way when artist Pompeo Coppini sculpted a masculine mare upon which General Morgan would forever bestride in front of the old courthouse in Lexington. Yes, this famous mare is likely the most infamous ‘tenant’ of the Hunt-Morgan House carriage house.

Bibliography
Alvey, R. Gerald. Kentucky Bluegrass County (p.64-65)
Federal Writers Project, Kentucky: A Guide to the Bluegrass State (p. 204)

EV: Confederate Memorials (Lexington Cemetery, Part VI)

Ladies Confederate Memorial – Lexington, Ky.

When the Civil War concluded, battlefield were littered with Kentucky soldiers who had lost their lives on both sides of the conflict. Some of the fallen were buried in the Lexington Cemetery. In total, 102 Confederate soldiers were buried in the Lexington Cemetery during the conflict. The Confederate plots, which are separated from the fallen Union by a small paved drive, were turned over to the Confederate Veterans Association in June of 1891 for the token payment of one dollar. In February of 1892, the CVA bought the adjacent 510 square feet for $50, and eventually the CVA purchased an additional two lots totaling 853 square feet.

The Confederate lot is highlighted by two sites on the National Historic Register.

First, the Confederate Soldier’s Monument (pictured at left). The Soldier’s monument was built with donations from four particularly wealthy residents of Lexington. Built in Carrara, Italy, and ordered from a catalog, the Soldier’s Monument was erected in 1893. It contains the names of 160 veterans.

The nearby Ladies’ Confederate Memorial (pictured at top) is much more striking in its appearance. It was erected in 1874. Instead of being about southern patriotism, the Ladies Memorial represents the grief of those lost in the war. The Ladies Memorial and Monument Association was founded by the wife of John C. Breckinridge. The monument features a marble cross adorned with a broken flag-staff. It was designed by George W. Ranck, a Lexington historian. Frank Leslie’s Weekly, a popular national magazine at the time, described the Ladies Memorial as “probably the most perfect thing of its kind in the South.”

I would agree. It’s truly unlike anything I have ever seen in a memorial.

EV: Lexington National Cemetery (Lexington Cemetery, pt. V)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, there are three national historic sites within the Lexington Cemetery. The largest of these is the Lexington National Cemetery. It is one of eight national cemeteries in the state.

During the Civil War, 965 Union soldiers were buried in the Lexington Cemetery. Confederates were buried in an adjoining lot. After the war, the Union lot was donated by the cemetery company to the federal government, which also purchased an adjoining 16,111 square feet in 1867. The whole area was designated a national cemetery and federal soldiers from several surrounding Kentucky counties were brought there to be buried. By 1932 the area was filled, and an additional adjacent lot was eventually purchased.

walkLEX: Prayer Garden in the City

Prayer Garden (Central Christian Church) - Lexington, Ky.

The Prayer Garden at Central Christian Church – Lexington, Ky.

I immediately thought of the first verse and chorus of C. Austin Miles’ 1912 hymn, I Come to the Garden Alone, when I walked into the prayer garden nestled outside Lexington’s Central Christian Church:

I come to the garden alone / while the dew is still on the roses / And the voice I hear falling on my ear / The Son of God discloses / And He walks with me, and He talks with me / And He tells me I am His own / And the joy we share as we tarry there / None other has ever known.

The entire concept of a prayer garden — a quiet, outside place designed entirely for reflection and contemplative thought — is one of my favorite church design features. Of course, a well-designed park can also provide a reflective and contemplative place to tarry.

The prayer garden at Central Christian Church is narrow and long. Walking up the pavers toward a statue of Jesus – his arms outstretched – is welcoming. Two benches sit for those wanting to linger. Although plantings were at a minimum, the simplicity of the design felt complete. Visible from Short Street, the garden provide a place of “rest… in the midst of onrushing and noisy living.”

Incomplete was the statue of Jesus. Whether the result of weather or vandalism, Jesus was missing an arm and on the other, a thumb. The statue, carved of carrara marble in Carrara, Italy, is a reproduction of The Christus which stands in the Church of our Lady of Copenhagen, Denmark. The sculptor of the Danish Christus was Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844); it depicts Jesus after the resurrection when he is calming his gathered disciples. “Peace be with you.” As legend goes, a man was disappointed upon seeing the statue but was reassured by a newsboy who told him, “Mister, you really can’t see his beauty unless you get down on your knees and look up into his face.”

More pictures of Central Christian Church’s Prayer Garden are available on flickr.

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.

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!

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“

Tag: Fayette