Tag: Franklin

No Destination: Capitol Mural “Nature”

I’ve been excited since First Lady Jane Beshear announced that the murals were coming to the Capitol. Part of the Capitol’s original design, plans were set aside after artist Frank Millet (a friend of then-Gov. August E. Willson) died on the maiden voyage of the Titanic. One hundred years later, the Capitol finally has its murals! This is the first of four posts about the murals.

Mural “Nature” in the Capitol, Frankfort

The first mural represents Nature and the bounty of the land. In the foreground is Ceres, the Roman goddess of agricultural prosperity. Kentucky’s signature industry – the horse – also appears in the foreground. In the background you can see the twin spires of Churchill Downs, as well as the limestone fences, barns and fields of harvest for which Kentucky’s bluegrass is so well known.

These murals are grand and a fine addition to the Capitol. So many emphasize the characters depicted in the foreground that they ignore the detail in the background.

The other murals are Industry, Culture, and Civitas.

No Destination: Capitol Centennial (1910-2010)

Though ground was broken in 1904 and the cornerstone was laid in 1906, Kentucky’s fourth and present capitol building was opened on June 2, 1910. This weekend, the Commonwealth celebrates the centennial of this magnificent building which replaced the Old State Capitol in old Frankfort.

So Happy 100th Birthday to this Beaux Arts gem (I’ll do a post on the building itself soon…)!! As part of the festivities, four murals were unveiled in the rotunda. I’ll be posting on these four murals as bonus posts over the weekend. Suffice it to say, they are gorgeous!

At noon, Gov. and First Lady Beshear hosted former governors and first ladies and other dignitaries for lunch in the Executive Mansion before a ceremony held on the grounds. During the festivities, the capitol grounds also hosted a farmer’s market, a number of Kentucky craft vendors and artisans as well as an antique car show. It was a wonderful birthday party! 

No Destination: Hampton House

The Hampton House in Frankfort

Located at 101 West Main Street in Frankfort sits the Hampton House which is the city’s oldest surviving stone house in the city. It was built sometime before 1840 by John Hampton; the Walking Tour of Frankfort points to the erection of the home to be in 1815.  It is made of “patterned river limestone with jack arches over both the windows and doors.”

Hampton and his family operated a number of taverns in the area, receiving their first licenses around 1818. The home was enlarged around 1840 and was used as a boarding house in the 1850s.

In 1879, the Franklin County sheriff, Col. H.P. Williams, lived here and on at least one occasion entertained Judge John Elliot of the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Col. Buford of Henry County stopped by during this visit and invited J. Elliott to go hunting with him. The Judge declined the invitation. Buford then invited the Judge for a drink; the judge again declined.

So Col. Buford shot and killed Judge Elliott. Buford later said that he shot the Judge because of a decision rendered by J. Elliott against Buford’s sister in the amount of $20,000. Buford was tried in Owen County, but was acquitted following an insanity plea. Held in Anchorage, Ky., Buford escaped to Indiana and could not be extradited due to weak extradition laws at the time.

No Destination: Church of the Ascension

Church of the Ascension in Frankfort

Frankfort’s Church of the Ascension is the oldest congregation in the city. It has been instrumental in the growth of the city by sponsoring the first library, furnishing an orphanage from 1859 to 1939, and founding a free school for the poor.

The Episcopal Church is located on Washington Street in Frankfort’s historic district.

Constructed about 1850 and financed by Farmer’s Bank president John Hanna, the house of worship was enlarged in 1868 and both the parish house and chapel were erected in 1899. Hanna had traveled to Europe to see models of traditional church design before he funded the building of the Church of the Ascension.

No Destination: Gov. William Goebel

Outside Kentucky’s Old State Capitol is a statute of one governor. It isn’t Isaac Shelby (Kentucky’s first governor), but rather a man who served in office for only a few days. On January 30, 1900, shots rang out from the nearby state building striking Gov. William Goebel. A few days later, he was dead.

Goebel remains the only actively-serving governor of a U.S. state to be assassinated. Although the identity of the shooter will likely never be known, it followed the hotly contested gubernatorial election of 1900. For more, read here.

No Destination: Bibb Burnley House

Ever eaten Bibb Lettuce? As is often the case, you can thank a Kentuckian for this buttery goodness. At the above house, Lt. John Bibb (War of 1812) developed the lettuce variety.

After serving in the War, Bibb returned to Logan County where he practice law and served in the state legislature as a Whig. Around 1856, he constructed this twenty-one room, Gothic-style house which was then called Gray Gables. In the garden and greenhouse behind the house he developed the lettuce variety also known as limestone lettuce sometime after 1865. Although he never commercially marketed the lettuce, it was made popular after his death by the Grenewein greenhouse in Louisville.

Construction of the Bibb-Burnley House was with materials from a cabin formerly on the site, constructed by John Instone in 1786. Instone named the street, Wapping, after a street in London, England from where he came.

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: 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.

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.