Jessamine – Page 6 – The Kaintuckeean

Marble Creek is a Jessamine County Treasure

Cave Over Marble Creek – Jessamine Co., Kentucky

Saturday last, a friend, Liz Hobson and I trekked alongside the beautiful Marble Creek. Hobson helped to organize the I-75 Disconnectors organization and is the owner of a 50-acre tract nestled along Marble Creek.

The proposed 13-mile, $400 million connector between I-75 and the to-be-built eastern bypass around Nicholasville would slice through the Marble Creek watershed and would forever alter Jessamine County’s historic and natural resources.

Our beautiful hike revealed to me an impressive cave, a pristine creek nestled in an at-times deep gorge, and an environment surrounded by native species of both flora and fauna. Natural beauty was everywhere.

Price, along with his neighbors in the Marble Creek neighborhood, disagreed with Fayette County leadership. From this dispute arose the establishment of Jessamine County from Fayette in 1798. Price would then serve for many years in Frankfort as a legislator from Jessamine.

Dry laid limestone wall near Marble Creek

An 1861 map identifies James Soper as the property owner of the land which today includes Hobson’s 50 acres.. In 1871, James’ son, John Soper began selling off 19 acre parcels to African Americans. Following these transactions and throughout the post-Civil War era, a significant African American settlement was established. Though only archaeological evidence remains, vestiges of the settlement can be easily recognized in the form of cemeteries, foundations, and dry laid limestone walls so ubiquitous to central Kentucky.

Marble Creek – Jessamine Co., Kentucky

At one spot on our hike, our group noted a mighty oak tree standing adjacent to the intersection of two of these dry laid limestone walls. Daniel Boone, the legendary pioneer, temporarily settled near Marble Creek. For a time, Boone was hired by the Fayette County Surveyor to survey land in the region.

One can easily imagine Boone calling the property boundary here with something like “… beginning with the intersection of two stone walls near the great oak tree north for 150 rods, thence west ….” Though today we often scoff at the old system of metes and bounds and its use of trees or man made objects to create legal surveys, the utility seems timeless in the unchanged Marble Creek.

A survey conducted for the Kentucky Heritage Council revealed no fewer than three distinct historic districts eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places as having a significant historic sense of time and place contributing to the fabric of our Nation’s history.

Once lost, these natural and historic resources cannot be recreated. This is the why The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation included the Historic Resources in the I-75 Connector Corridor on its 2013 list of endangered properties worthy of preservation.

This column originally appeared in the Jessamine Journal.
It should not be republished without permission.

Wine and Vine Fest is a jewel for Jessamine County

Kentucky Wine & Vine Festival – Nicholasville, Ky.

Though I’ve lived in Nicholasville since 2004, I’ve never experienced one of her grandest events because a scheduling conflict has always found a way to keep me from Nicholasville and the Kentucky Wine & Vine Fest. That is, until this year.

Last Saturday, I cycled from home to the large white tents at York and Oak streets where a significant crowd had already gathered. Judging from the license plates, many locals were joined by citizens of several Kentucky counties and even those from a handful of states. This festival has truly become a destination for many.

And it is clear why. Throughout the day, live music filled the air. As I listened to people in the crowd, words like tannins and bouquets or dry and semi-sweet punctuated conversations. The festival-goers certainly were appreciating some good grape juice.

Ten Kentucky wineries (plus two vineyards from Indiana) proved how Kentucky’s fertile soil can produce not only fast horses and good bourbon, but also fine wines. Jessamine County even boasts one of these Kentucky vineyards with First Vineyard. The grapes at First Vineyard grow from the same land where America’s first commercial winery operated in the late 1700s. A host of wines from around the country and around the globe were also available to be tasted.

A number of vendors — food and craft — showcased their products. Most bore the “Kentucky Proud” label. So this festival is a celebration not only of wine, but also a celebration of Kentucky.

It is no wonder, then, that the General Assembly designated this event Kentucky’s official wine festival in 2005.

The event, sponsored by Nicholasville Now!, is now in its tenth year. I can assume that during my nine year absence, the festival saw some bumps along the way. But I can say with confidence that this is a festival well done. We can and should be proud that this festival is right here in Nicholasville.

So although I’ve missed too many past Kentucky Wine & Vine Fests, I will endeavour to not again miss out. The festival is held annually on the first Saturday after Mother’s Day. It is already on my calendar for 2014 and I’d suggest that you add it to yours.

This column originally appeared in the Jessamine Journal.
It should not be republished without permission.

Kentucky’s Reputation Hurt by de Tocqueville’s Missed Opportunity

Chaumiere’s “octagon room” asserted to have been built
for Gen’l Lafayette, who never visited
Photo: Jess. Historical Society

Alexis de Tocqueville

On Dec. 5, 1831, the Ohio River froze over, making voyage impassable for Alexis de Tocqueville and his party. They disembarked at Westport, Oldham Co., Ky. and walked the cold 22 miles to Louisville. It was one of many poor experiences that during a 10-month voyage planned to determine “what a great republic is like.”

Upon reaching Louisville, the river still offered no passage and de Tocqueville experienced a large swatch of central Kentucky as he traveled south toward Nashville. His writings on Kentucky were not kind:

“Nothing in Kentucky … gives the impression of such a finished society.”

Kentuckians “are well known through the union for their violent habits.” “They seem to deserve that reputation.”

Ouch.

Though unimpressed with Kentucky, de Tocqueville extolled the United States in his great work, Democracy in America. In this magnum opus, he warned that “when the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.”

To avoid such darkness, we should take occasion to examine our history. A great starting point in the history of Jessamine County is the grand country estate of Colonel David Meade: Chaumiere des Praries.

A young David Meade
Photo: Rootsweb

Colonel Meade was born in Virginia, schooled in England and married a young girl from Williamsburg, Va.

He served in the House of Burgesses which was dissolved by Lord Botetourt, the then-governor of colonial Virginia. He would not again hold public office. Instead Colonel Meade acquired a significant estate on the James River. It is said that here “he practiced the fine art of landscape architecture and hospitality, and often entertained the leaders of Virginia.”

In 1796, however, Meade departed Virginia for the wilderness of Kentucky.

The year before, he had purchased about 300 acres in what is now Jessamine County. Once here, he would master that fine art of landscape architecture with his Chaumiere des Praries.

Of Chaumiere’s landscape, Meade’s granddaughter wrote: “The grounds were extensive and beautiful; at that time it was said there was not so highly and tastefully improved country seat in America. … And then the walks — the serpentine one mile around … and in a secluded nook, a tasteful Chinese pavilion. The birdcage walk was cut through a dense plum thicket, excluding the sun, and led to a dell, where was a large spring of water, and the mouth of a cave.

At this point was the terminus of the lake, and … a waterfall.”

His house guests were both frequent and notable: James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, General Charles Scott, and Zachary Taylor were all guests. Statesman Henry Clay and Transylvania University president Dr. Horace Holley were both known to regularly travel 9 miles from Lexington to the house and gardens at what is now Catnip Hill Road.

Nothing but glowing remarks of Col. Meade’s hospitality, his home, and the grounds of Chaumiere have been written. Dr. Holley wrote that “there is no establishment like this in our country.”

Chaumiere des Praries was a site to behold. Meade died in 1832 (the year after de Tocqueville traversed Kentucky); the estate sold in 1835 to a “plain practical farmer” who quickly turned the Colonel’s gardens into grazing pastures. The farmer felled trees, destroyed the parks and drained the lakes.

Neighbors, incensed, decried the “Paradise Lost.”

But how different would de Tocqueville’s impressions of Kentucky have been had he feasted at Chaumiere and strolled its grounds?

This text for this post originally appeared in the Jessamine Journal. It should not be republished without permission.

In Kentucky, Four Additions to the National Register and Two Newly Designated National Historic Landmarks

Each week, the National Park Service transmits a list of properties added to the the National Register of Historic Places. Depending on applications pending, there are weeks where no Kentucky properties are listed for inclusion. Some emails are full of Kentucky’s rich history. Such was a recent e-mail.

As I alluded to in one of my weekly roundup’s last month, two Kentucky properties were designated as National Historic Landmarks. This designation is the highest designation that can be afforded a property in terms of historic significance. With the inclusion of the George T. Stagg Distillery in Franklin County and the Camp Nelson Historic and Archeological District in Jessamine County, the number of Kentucky properties designated as National Historic Landmarks rests at thirty-two.

North elevation of the Liggett and Meyers Harping
Tobacco Storage Warehouse, Source: NRHP App./KHC

From Lexington, the Liggett and Meyers Harpring Tobacco Storage Warehouse (1211 Manchester Street) was added to the Register. Constructed in 1930, the warehouse sits on a six acre tract and was well-situated to tobacco storage. A rail spur from the L&N railroad ran to the property and, as preferred shipping methods changed, proximity to New Circle Road kept the Liggett and Meyers building relevant. The building itself is constructed in six segments with each segment containing 20,000 square feet. This immense structure was important to an industry vital to central Kentucky. Today, the building is part of the city’s growing Distillery District.

Ludlow Theatre, ca. 1975
Source: NRHP Application / KHC

The Ludlow Theatre, 322-326 Elm Street, is in the community of Ludlow in Kenton County. The Ludlow Historic District, added to the National Register in 1984, already includes the ca. 1946 theater, but the Ludlow Theatre is now individually listed. Of course, in 1984 the Ludlow Theatre (then less than 50 years of age) was deemed a non-contributing structure, yet the passage of thirty years has changed perspective. Consistent with much of the architecture built in the mid-twentieth century, the Ludlow Theatre is “largely a modest modern building
with little to characterize it within a specific style.” Architectural interest is found in the façade, however, as every sixth of the variegated brick projects slightly from the façade. The most significant change to the building’s exterior since 1946 is the removal of the marquee. This occurred around the time of the historic district’s inclusion on the Register, but can be more readily attributed to the theatre’s closure in 1983.

Hindman Historic District
Source: NRHP Application/ KHC

As Nate wrote, “There is no legitimate reason why anyone would ever stumble upon Hindman.” Though, remarkably, the National Register application remarks that “few Kentucky counties can match the education, literary, cultural, and political heritage found in and near Hindman.” With credits like that, one can imagine the variety of architectural styles found in the district. Much can be credited with three of the earliest Appalachian Settlement Schools being established in Knott County. So if one were to stumble into Knott County’s seat, they would find the sixty-one buildings in the Hindman Historic District, of which 40 are deemed to be contributing. They consist of religious, governmental, residential, commercial, educational, and health care purposed structures, though the majority are two-story residences and commercial structures built between 1903 and 1960. After this period, however, many older structures have been significantly altered or demolished and this has diminished the historic character of the community.

Buck Creek Rosenwald School
Source: Kentucky Heritage Council

Finally, the Buck Creek Rosenwald School in Finchville was constructed ca. 1920 as a one-room school house and was adapted into a residence in 1959 (the school had closed in 1957). One story with hipped roof, this simple structure was a Rosenwald school for African American children during the years of segregation. It was one of only two Rosenwald schools in Shelby County. Two contributing buildings – an outhouse for either sex – are also mentioned in the National Register application. The application also contains accounts of the school day from former students – a fascinating read! More fascinating is that the application was the project of Girl Scout Julia Bache in pursuit of her Girl Scout Gold Award. Well done, Julia!

Mid-century foresight preserved Jessamine County’s Ebenezer Presbyterian Church

Ebenezer Presbyterian Church – Jessamine Co., Kentucky

According to the Christian Scriptures, “Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer, explaining, ‘The Lord helped us to this very point.'” 1 Samuel 7:12 (CEB). It was a moment where the people of Israel turned from disobedience and found restoration from God.

The name Ebenezer is found in words of the traditional hymn penned by Robert Robinson, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (1758):

Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I’m come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.

And Charles Dickens adopted the name for a character in his 1843 novel, A Christmas Story. True to the tale from the Bible, Ebenezer Scrooge turned from his greedy, tight-fisted ways as he begged for the opportunity to re-embrace life.

But a historic church in Jessamine County, Kentucky, also shares the name Ebenezer. Older than Dickens, but more recent than the words of the hymnist is the Ebenezer Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. True to its name, Ebenezer Church was once abandoned and in great disrepair, but a group of individuals in the mid-1900s brought restoration to this old house of God.

Ebenezer Church & Cemetery

Ephraim January received from a young American government a land bounty of 1,000 acres. From this, he gifted in 1806 a small plat of land for the church and surrounding cemetery. By the time title to the land passed into the hands of the church, the stone church was already constructed. Orginally, the congregation met in a log meeting house since they were organized in the mid-1790s under the teaching of Lexington-based circuit rider Rev. Adam Rankin.

When Rankin formed Ebenezer, he had already begun a number of other Presbyterian congregations in central Kentucky, including Pisgah and Glenn’s Creek in Woodford County and Mount Zion (now First Presbyterian) in Fayette County. His earlier affiliations, however, were with the proper Presbyterian Church. And you will note above that Ebenezer was of the “Associate Reformed Presbyterian” variety.

The distinction is noted for Rankin had been removed from his posts within the Presbyterian church’s Transylvania Presbytery in 1792. The following year, Rankin began his ministry with the Associated Reformed church and soon thereafter founded Ebenezer. He would serve at Ebenezer until 1803. Rankin was a disagreeable fellow (in 1789, he rode by horseback from Kentucky to Philadelphia to plead against the use of Isaac Watts’ hymns like ‘Joy to the World’ in services) which undoubtedly led to his rift with the denomination.

Ebenezer Church, ca. 1898 (15 years after abandonment)
Photo: History of Jess. Co., by B.H. Young.

After Rankin departed in 1803, the same year in which the stone church replaced the old log meeting house. Ebenezer’s new minister, Rev. Robert Bishop, served from 1803 to 1814. Bishop also served on the faculty of Transylvania University in Lexington. A feud, of sorts, erupted between Rankin and Bishop over the years which ultimately resulted in Bishop leaving Ebenezer and Rankin being permanently suspended from the ministry in the Associated Reformed church. In 1824, Rev. Bishop would go on to serve as the first president of Miami University in Ohio.

Ebenezer Church, ca. 1910 (27 years after abandonment)
Photo: Published Sept. 2008 in H-L

A long series of itinerant ministers served Ebenezer until 1841 when Rev. Neal Gordon assumed leadership of the church until his death in 1870. Due to its remote location, the stone church then began to decline and was abandoned by 1883. After it was abandoned, the years took their effect on the old off-the-beaten-path church. The photos on the right show how years of abandonment took a great toll on this old church.

Ebenezer Church, ca. 1940 (57 years after abandonment)
Photo: Ebenezer Cemetery Assoc.

In 1922, the Ebenezer Cemetery Association was formed to care for, preserve, and maintain the church and grounds. At that time, the stone building had almost entirely collapsed. Wrote James Harvey Guyn, association president, in 1953: “[t]he walls had completely fallen, except for one corner. These were rebuilt, using the old stone, and a concrete floor was laid. A new roof, new pane glass windows, and wooden slat shutters were added, following the design of the old building as closely as possible.” Total cost to rebuild was $3,664.

According to the National Register of Historic Places application (listed in 1983), the Ebenezer Church is the “only surviving stone church in co[unty]; oldest religious structure in co[unty] dating from settlement period.” Today, the property is owned by the Ebenezer Cemetery Association. Once a year, the organization meets for its annual meeting in the historic church.

Additional photos of the Ebenezer Church and Cemetery can be found on flickr.

Sources: Bishop Biography; Ebenezer Cemetery Assoc.; NRHP (Ebenezer); NRHP (First Presbyterian);

The BGT’s Eleventh Hour Endangered Properties List

Since 1999, the Blue Grass Trust has created an annual list of “Eleven [historic properties] in Their Eleventh Hour.” Each property is selected on the following criteria: historic significance, proximity to proposed or current development, lack of protection from demolition, condition of structure, and architectural significance.

The BGT’s goal of highlighting these properties is to find long-term solutions to preserve them for generations to come.

In no specific order, the BGT has announced this year’s “Eleven in Their Eleventh Hour” this morning at the Hunt-Morgan House.

Greyhound Station on Loudon Avenue, Lexington.
Old Fayette County Courthouse, Lexington.
Willis Green House, Danville.
Good Shepherd Church, Frankfort.
151 Constitution Street, Lexington.
Ligon and Matthews Houses, Lexington.
First Baptist Church, Lexington.
601 Boonesboro Ave., Lexington.
I-75 Connector Corridor, rural Jessamine and Madison Counties.
412 W. Third and 445 W. Second, Lexington.

More information about each of these properties can be found in the January 2013 issue of Preservation Matters, a tri-annual publication of the BGT.

Keene Springs Hotel A Refuge During Lexington’s 1849 Cholera Epidemic

Keene Springs Hotel – Keene, Ky.

During the cholera epidemics of 1833 and 1849, Lexingtonians feared the deadly disease. Five hundred souls perished out of a population of just 7,000. Many of the dead were buried by the now infamous King Solomon. While King Solomon can thank his alcohol-filled veins for keeping him alive during the epidemic, many of the survivors did so by leaving Lexington. But where did they go?

Wrote Bennett H. Young in his 1898 History of Jessamine County, Kentucky: “during the prevalence of cholera, in Lexington, about this time, a large number of people came to Keene and lived during the panic, occasioned by this disease in Lexington and surrounding towns.” They stayed in “a very nice hotel.”

Keene Springs, ca. 1868 (Source: KDL)

The Jessamine County community of Keene prospered during each of Lexington’s two epidemics, but it was during the second epidemic that the Keene Springs Hotel truly succeeded due in part to the 1848 discovery of the area’s “white sulphur water.” Declared by the dean of Transylvania’s Medical College, Dr. Robert Peter, as “incomparably the best medical water on this continent … eminently adapted to the cure of every species of Indigestion, Liver Complaint, Dropsy, Scrofula, Cutaneous Affections, Mercurial Diseases, a variety of Nervous Diseases and nearly all diseases that are usually denominated chronic.” Yes, the ails plaguing Lexingtonians could be cured by the medicinal springs in nearby Jessamine County. And while Kentucky boasts other natural mineral springs, none was quite as close to Lexington as Keene.

William Cleveland sold the resort hotel in 1841 to Mason Singleton, the grandson of the pioneer who first settled the community of Keene. Singleton retain Capt. G. L. Postlethwait to manage the facility which he greatly expanded with a ballroom and banquet hall. By 1857, however, Singleton was forced to sell the hotel. Alfred McTyre purchased the Keene Springs Hotel and operated it for a decade before he sold the hotel to Fielding S. Wilson. By this time, the resort’s popularity had waned. Though Wilson had a few occupants from time to time, operation was largely confined to a general store and, until liquor prohibited by local vote, a saloon. A general store continued to operate until the 1960s and the Wilson continues to own the building. Today, slow restorations are underway by a tenant operating a restaurant three days a week in this history locale.

More photos of the Keene Springs Hotel are available on flickr.

Sources: Bennett Young’s History; Jessamine Journal; National Register Application; RootsWeb

The County Fair and Deep Fried Snickers

My Deep Fried Snickers at the County Fair – Nicholasville, Ky.

On Monday evening, I went to the Jessamine County Fair. After setting up the Democratic party’s booth and registering a few voters, I strolled around the grounds a bit to see what was going on.

Jessamine County Fair

Haley Goen was crowned Miss Jessamine County. Tonight, Wednesday, we’ll find out who wins Jr. Miss and Little Miss Jessamine County. Apart from the glamour, livestock competitions, carnival rides, corn hole, truck and tractor pulls, and a greased pig competition will highlight some of the events taking place at the City County Park in Nicholasville.

But it isn’t only in Nicholasville. All summer long, across the state and the country, county fairs will occur with much the same offering. For many communities, these are the biggest social events of the year and are an exciting event. I’d highly recommend you check out your local county fair this year, or even venture to the grandaddy of them all: the state fair.

A first for me at the county fair was the deep fried Snickers bar. In appearance, it looks like a powdered-sugar covered corn dog, but the filling is a gooey mix of a Snickers bar wrapped inside funnel cake batter. Though the description isn’t much, it was quite tasty as all the components from the once frozen Snickers had come together into a hot (but not so hot as to scald my mouth) batter. And I’ve scheduled an appointment with my cardiologist for next week.

This Glorious Birthday of Our Freedom

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!

“When in the course of human events…” began that unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States, in Congress on July 4, 1776. We have, ever since, celebrated that date as being the birth date of our country (ignoring that the declaration was made on July 2, but recognizing instead its adoption on July 4).

Today’s celebrations are marked with parades, street fairs, and fireworks. Since 1777, Americans have recognized the importance of the holiday. The first such celebration in the West was in Jessamine County at the farm of Colonel William Price. Price, who had attained the rank of Major, preferred to be known as a Colonel likely due to his rank in the Kentucky militia.

Col. Price was present in October 1781 for the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown and also saw action at the Battles of Brandywine, Monmouth, and Germantown.

In 1794, Colonel Price invited a number of his fellow patriots to his farm for a feast and memory of their struggle for freedom and independence. Forty attended this great event. What follows is a letter from Colonel Price to Governor Isaac Shelby recalling the event to which the Governor could not attend. The letter appears in Bennett Young’s 1898 A History Of Jessamine County, Kentucky:

Fayette county, Ky., July 5, 1794.
To His Excellency, Isaac Shelby, Governor of Kentucky:

My Esteemed Friend — I was greatly disappointed by your not coming to my house on yesterday (July 4). We had a glorious time and a big dinner. Forty men sat down at my tables, who had served in the late struggle for our freedom and independence. It was a glorious sight to behold, and I wish King George III and Lord North could have witnessed the scene in the wilds of America. On the return of this glorious birthday of our freedom from British despotism, the heart of every patriot in the late struggle may rightfully pour its highest tribute to God and the great sages and soldiers who resolved to stake their lives and sacred honor in maintaining the Declaration of Independence. Throughout the limits of our country, from Massachusetts to Georgia, the hears of a free and happy people have been dedicated on yesterday to the contemplation of the great blessings achieved and bequeathed to us by such heroic leaders as George Washington, Israel Putnam and Nathaniel Greene. Such brave leaders took their lives in their hands, and liberty or death was inscribed on their hearts. God, in the plenitude of His beneficence, has generally chosen men qualified to resist kings and tyrants in their attacks on the rights of the people. The history of our mother country furnished full proof of this fact and our own glorious country in the late war for independence is a more brilliant illustration o the great truth that God hates all tyrants and despotic rulers, and sooner or later overthrows all such rascalsin causing the people to rise up and cut their heads off.

Truly thy old friend,
William Price

A truncated version of the events marks the location of this commemoration on State Historic Marker #201:

July 4, 1794, Col. William Price, veteran of the Revolutionary War, held the first celebration of Independence Day west of the Alleghenies. At his plantation, near here, forty veterans dined to commemorate the “glorious birthday of our freedom.”

Imagine the great time these veterans had with each having encountered different battles, different fronts. While some thought the war ended at Yorktown, the numbers included those who fought ten months later in the last major battle of the American Revolution which happened to occur in Kentucky: Blue Licks. Some suffered the frightful winter at Valley Forge and others were among Kentucky’s earliest settlers. Each contributed greatly to our Nation’s freedom and each reveled at Col. Price’s home on July 4, 1794. Then, as now, together we stand but divided we fall.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

NoD: Union Mill Bridge Down for the Count


An Overgrown Union Mill Bridge; Photo by George W. Dean		Site of the old Union Mill Bridge; December 2011

In 1915, raging flood waters took from the Jessamine County community of Union Mill its covered bridge. The bridge connected the two sides of this community and provided a link between Nicholasville and the Valley View Ferry. Almost immediately, the Jessamine Fiscal Court awarded the contract for construction of a replacement bridge to Lexington’s Empire Bridge Company. The new bridge was to be of steel truss at a price was $2,697.

Spring 2010;
Photo by George W. Dean

About forty years later, the 1915 bridge was abandoned when the road was rerouted slightly downstream. For over fifty years, the abandoned bridge experienced rising and receding waters as well as an annual vegetation that nearly hid the bridge itself. But the years took its toll. Photos by Magistrate George W. Dean reveals only 2 1/2 feet of bridge above the water leaving an entire “roadbed” submerged for several days during the floods in the spring of 2010 (see photo at left).

Following the 2010 spring floods, local authorities discussed what could be done to restore and preserve this nearly century-old Jessamine County landmark. Any repair, however, would only prove to be a short-term fix. So costs and the lack of potential reuse left leadership with tied hands. With a new bridge over Little Hickman Creek just yards downstream, safety could not be ignored.

As a result, the last weekend in November 2011, witnessed the removal of that old truss bridge which had spanned the Little Hickman Creek for nearly a century.

Sources: George W. Dean emails; Jonathan Parrish emails; Municipal Journal