Jefferson – Page 2 – The Kaintuckeean

Stop the Demo of Whiskey Row

Whiskey Row, Louisville, Ky.

Local neighborhoods activist Hayward Wilkirson penned a terrific piece for ProgressLex warning about the struggle to preserve an area of downtown Louisville known as Whiskey Row:

a collection of seven historic buildings (most of a city block) listed on the National Register of Historic Places and protected by the Louisville Historic Landmarks Commission. These buildings, some of Louisville’s most significant architectural treasures, comprise the largest cast-iron-fronted building district outside of Soho in New York City.

Truly a unique and beautiful set of buildings obviously in need of great repair, developer Blue wants to demolish the buildings apparently with no plan for what should come next. Wilkirson and others have labeled this “Louisville’s Centerpointe.” The buildings have been labeled by local and national registers as historic so that extra steps must be taken before any demolition can occur. Without these requirements being fulfilled, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer appears to have given the go ahead for demolition.

I rarely make it to Louisville, but I do remember driving down its Main Street a few years ago and thinking about how terrific it would be if this great group of mid-nineteenth century buildings were restored and reused. Now it is time to either sink or swim.

No Destination: Louisville Zoo’s Cemetery

Cemetery at the Louisville Zoo, Louisville, Ky.

In the middle of the Louisville Zoo is a family cemetery. The old cemetery is a quiet respite in the middle of a modern, busy cemetery. Although it does not hold the grandeur of Louisville’s Cave Hill Cemetery, it is a fine old family cemetery. A marker, Salute to a Pioneer Family, rests near the Phillips-Durrett-Clark Cemetery and reads:

The American branch of the Phillips family began with Jenkin Phillips, born in 1744 in Loudon Co., Virginia. He fought with George Washington and helped survey what was then called Kentucky County for Patrick Henry and the Commonwealth of Virginia. For his services, Phillips was deeded 1,00 acres of land radiating out from this spot. At the time of his death in 1822, the family owned land extending from this area into southern Indiana.

No Destination: Louisville Zoo

The Wife and our Lil Kaintuckeean viewing the Addax, Louisville Zoo.

Yep, we had a destination. I’d never before been to the State Zoo of Kentucky, the Louisville Zoo. Founded in 1969 (on land purchased by the City of Louisville and with funding by James Graham Brown of the Brown Hotel fame), it is a really nice zoo with 135 acres containing over 1,300 species. While there, however, I didn’t see two of the new featured exhibits. The first is the much anticipated “Glacier Bay” that is under construction; the second is (more interesting to me) the historic Louisville Clock. (Also missed the baby gorilla.)

Despite the timing-related shortcomings, it was a lot of fun and is, unsurprisingly, a great family atmosphere.

No Destination: Farmington

Farmington, Louisville, Ky.

Inspired by the architectural designs of Thomas Jefferson, architect Paul Skidmore designed Farmington for John and Lucy Speed (John Speed was a seventh generation descendant of the English cartographer of the same name). The home was completed in 1816 and contains two 24-foot wide octagonal shaped rooms (unique to 19th century Kentucky and a common attribute of Jeffersonian architecture).

Farmington was the site of a 550-acre hemp plantation; there is a memorial on the site to the slaves who toiled here.

In 1841, Abraham Lincoln visited Farmington for a three-week period where he visited with his friend, Joshua Speed (the son of John and Lucy). Apparenly, Abe and Mary were having a little tiff in their courtship and the mental break of Farmington was just what Honest Abe needed in order to muster up the courage to ask Mary Todd for her hand.

Once elected President, Lincoln offered the position of Treasury Secretary to Joshua Speed. Speed declined as he had no political ambition, but brother James Speed (a Louisville attorney) accepted Lincoln’s 1864 offer to become Attorney General.

The home was purchased in 1958 by the Historic Homes Foundation, a Louisville-based organization which owns, preserves and protects historic Louisville residences.