Holly Rood has had many owners through its long history

Holly Rood Mansion on Burns Avenue, home of Gov. James Clark, is the most his­toric Ante-Bellum house in Winchester.  It seems appro­pri­ate dur­ing Preservation Month to hon­or Holly Rood as well as the Clark County-Winchester Heritage Commission for their role in the preser­va­tion and care of the old home of 200+ years. 

While built as a res­i­dence for our illus­tri­ous gov­er­nor, the two-sto­ry brick man­sion has served as home to many oth­er not­ed cit­i­zens in the course of its sto­ried past.  The sequence of own­ers of Holly Rood is shown in the enclosed table.  This arti­cle pro­vides a brief bio­graph­i­cal sketch of each own­er and how they came to acquire the property.

James Clark (1779−1839)

James Clark’s first res­i­dence in Winchester was at the south­east cor­ner of Main Street and Ogden Alley.  In 1815, while serv­ing in Congress, he pur­chased from Peter Evans a 100-acre tract, then on the out­skirts of town, where he built his mansion.

Best known as the 12^th gov­er­nor of Kentucky, James Clark was admit­ted to the bar in Winchester in 1797 before embark­ing on a career in pub­lic ser­vice.  He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives, judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, and in the House and Senate of the U.S. Congress.  Clark was one of the first to speak out for free pub­lic edu­ca­tion for all cit­i­zens.  He died in office while gov­er­nor and was buried at Holly Rood.

Samuel G. Jackson (1800−1853)

Samuel Grant Jackson pur­chased Holly Rood from James Clark’s heirs in 1841 for the sum of $21,319.  The sale includ­ed 442 adjoin­ing acres that Clark had accumulated.

In 1833 Jackson went into the iron-pro­duc­ing busi­ness.  He, along with Samuel Wheeler and John C. and Luther Mason, bought the Estill Furnace in Estill County.  After oper­at­ing for sev­er­al years, Jackson’s group sold out to anoth­er company.

Samuel Wheeler (1802−1854)

Samuel Wheeler acquired Holly Rood and 462 acres from his broth­er-in-law of Samuel G. Jackson; the two had mar­ried sis­ters of Col. James Mason.  While briefly involved in the Estill Furnace, Wheeler’s prin­ci­pal occu­pa­tion was farm­ing.  He pur­chased Holly Rood from Jackson in 1846.

Caroline Wheeler (1810−1882)

Following Samuel’s death, his prop­er­ty was divid­ed; his wife Caroline’s dow­er includ­ed Holly Rood and the sur­round­ing 111 acres.  She lived in the house with her daugh­ter, Mattie Wheeler, who kept a jour­nal dur­ing the Civil War.  Caroline’s son Levi served with John Hunt Morgan, while her daugh­ters had mar­ried Union offi­cers, the cause of some fric­tion in the fam­i­ly.  Caroline sur­vived long after the war.  She is buried beside her hus­band in Winchester Cemetery.

The “Clark County Chronicles” report­ed that there were two board­ers at Holly Rood before the man­sion sold again: Dr. James L. Grigsby and Judge Charles Stephen French.

Charles E. Stuart (1836−1902)

In 1886 Caroline Wheeler’s heirs sold Holly Rood and 6 acres to Charles E. Stuart.  As Stuart and Company, he laid off the Stuart Addition, near Holly Rood.  The Addition would become the site of Kentucky Wesleyan College that came to Winchester in 1890.  A long-time suf­fer­er from seri­ous rheuma­toid arthri­tis, Stuart died at his home on College Street and was buried in the fam­i­ly grave­yard near Wades Mill.

William M. Beckner (1841−1910)

William M. Beckner was one of Winchester’s most notable cit­i­zens dur­ing the late 19^th cen­tu­ry.  He came to town at the end of the Civil War, and in a short time was appoint­ed police judge and prin­ci­pal of Winchester pub­lic schools.  He estab­lished the Clark County Democrat and was its edi­tor for years.  Beckner also served as coun­ty attor­ney, coun­ty judge, Kentucky Prison Commissioner, Kentucky Railroad Commissioner, state rep­re­sen­ta­tive, and a del­e­gate to the 1889 Kentucky Constitutional Convention.  Back in Winchester, he served as the first pres­i­dent of the Commercial Club and was large­ly respon­si­ble for con­vinc­ing Kentucky Wesleyan to locate here. 

In 1888 Beckner pur­chased Holly Rood and 32 acres from Stuart and Company for $3,000.  He made sub­stan­tial improve­ments to the man­sion, but only resided there for two years before selling.

West End Land Company

The West End Land Company was one of more than a dozen cor­po­ra­tions formed in 1890 to acquire real estate and lay out new sub­di­vi­sions (called “addi­tions”) sur­round­ing Winchester. This occurred dur­ing the rail­road boom, which saw Winchester evolve from a vil­lage to a rapid­ly grow­ing community. 

In 1890 the West End group pur­chased Holly Rood and 32 acres from William Beckner for $25,000.  Here, they estab­lished Beckner Place, locat­ed between Belmont Avenue on the south and Beckner Street and the Stuart Addition on the north.  The plat showed the land divid­ed into twen­ty-nine town lots.

Benjamin F. Curtis (1837−1919)

Due to the glut of real estate on the mar­ket, the West End Land Company put the entire 32 acres up for sale in 1892; it brought only $7,000.  The pur­chas­er of the land, includ­ing Holly Rood, was Benjamin F. Curtis, who was one of the investor/directors and trea­sur­er of the company. 

A Virginia native, Curtis set­tled in Winchester after serv­ing under Col. A. P. Hill and Col. W. H. F. “Roony” Lee.  He took a posi­tion as book­keep­er for Clark County National Bank and even­tu­al­ly become head cashier; he retired after forty-sev­en years with the bank.  Curtis was the chief fundrais­er for the new First Methodist Church being erect­ed in 1880.

Dr. Washington Miller (1839−1919) & Thomas C. Robinson (1860−1912)

Curtis held onto Holly Rood for ten years before sell­ing to the part­ner­ship of Washington Miller and T. C. Robinson.  Miller farmed his estate, “Deerlawn,” on the Paris Pike and was a dis­tin­guished physi­cian in Winchester.  He was also one of the founders and long-time pres­i­dent of Citizens National Bank.  At the age of 72, Miller died sud­den­ly at the Brown-Proctoria Hotel where he was then residing.

Thomas C. Robinson, a farmer and stock-rais­er, had one of the finest herds of short­horn cat­tle in the coun­ty.  He also served as pres­i­dent of the Clark County National Bank.

Washington and Robinson both trad­ed heav­i­ly in Winchester real estate.  Their acqui­si­tion of Holly Rood may have been one of their invest­ments, as they held the prop­er­ty less than three years before sell­ing to Floyd Day.

Floyd Day (1854−1936)

Born in Frozen Creek, Breathitt County, Floyd Day was one of the most suc­cess­ful busi­ness­men to come out of Eastern Kentucky.  He began clerk­ing for his broth­er, J. Taylor Day, at Hazel Green and soon bought his own mer­can­tile busi­ness in Jackson.  He moved to Clay City in 1890, went into the stave-mak­ing busi­ness, and began invest­ing in tim­ber land and lum­ber mills.  Along the way, Day found­ed the Jackson Deposit Bank and built and oper­at­ed the Mountain Central Railroad, a lum­ber short­line in Wolfe County. 

Day moved to Winchester in 1890, and in 1903 he pur­chased Holly Rood, which was said to have been in a much dete­ri­o­rat­ed con­di­tion from use and neglect.  The “Timber King of the Mountains” pro­ceed­ed to update the house, adding elec­tric ser­vice, indoor plumb­ing and bath­rooms.  The mod­ern­ized home became a cen­ter of hos­pi­tal­i­ty, where the Days enter­tained lav­ish­ly with gar­den par­ties and a con­stant stream of overnight guests.  Floyd Day report­ed­ly suf­fered busi­ness rever­sals in 1922 and had to sell Holly Rood.

Robert J. McLin (1867−1955)

In 1923 Robert J. McLin pur­chased Holly Rood along with 32 acres of land for $35,500.  McLin had mar­ried a daugh­ter of J. Taylor Day (Floyd’s broth­er).  McLin lived briefly in Winchester then removed to Hazel Green to man­age stores of his father-in-law.  He only owned Holly Rood for five days before con­vey­ing the home and ten acres to the Board of Education.

Winchester Board of Education

The Board of Education acquired ten acres of the Day prop­er­ty on which to erect the new Winchester High School at the cor­ner of Belmont and Burns Avenue (1924).  They used the man­sion for class­rooms and offices and lev­eled the apple orchard behind Holly Rood for a foot­ball field.

Construction of a new high school on Boone Avenue (1963) meant that Holly Rood was no longer need­ed.  The aban­doned build­ing fell into dis­re­pair and bro­ken win­dows were not replaced.  The Board announced plans to raze the man­sion for a park­ing lot.

Clark County Historical Society tried to save Holly Rood, but the Board of Education claimed they could only legal­ly trans­fer the prop­er­ty to anoth­er gov­ern­ment enti­ty.  The Historical Society, led by its pres­i­dent, Frank Downing, per­suad­ed the fis­cal court and city com­mis­sion to cre­ate the Clark County-Winchester Heritage Commission in 1974.  Then, in September 1976, the Board of Education deed­ed the man­sion and .43 acres to the Heritage Commission.

Clark County-Winchester Heritage Commission

The Heritage Commission restored Holly Rood and has main­tained the man­sion and grounds since 1976.  The man­sion serves as head­quar­ters for the Commission, hosts spe­cial events, and is rent­ed out as an event venue.  The Commissions’ near­ly fifty years of ser­vice to Holly Rood was rec­og­nized by our city and coun­ty gov­ern­ment at a cer­e­mo­ny this month.