Category: Places
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Lower Howard’s Creek Nature and Heritage Preserve
Since the preserve was established in 2000, we have helped to protect the waters of--and nearly 441 acres of land surrounding--Lower Howard's Creek, all without the assistance of taxpayer funds. Please consider helping us continue our mission of protecting rare, threatened, and endangered species, providing environmental education, and interpreting an important part of Clark County's…
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Legacy Greenscapes
Legacy Greenscapes is the non-profit organization committed to the stewardship and management of Legacy Grove Park, a sprawling 30-acre inclusive and accessible park nestled in Winchester, KY. In the past year, Legacy Grove Park has seen remarkable growth in its natural beauty and the breadth of programs and events it offers, and it's all thanks…
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Sycamore Forest
Sycamore Forest was located on the ridge between Johnson Creek and Hancock Creek, near present-day Renick on Van Meter Road (KY 2888). Old depositions in Clark County state that the forest was a grove of sycamores about 200 yards wide and about half a mile long. The grove ran along the ridge top and did…
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Upper Howard’s Creek
Upper Howard’s Creek takes its name from John Howard, who claimed 1,000 acres at the mouth of the creek by virtue of an improvement he made there in 1775. He established an inspection warehouse on his land and a ferry across the Kentucky River. A number of Clark County and Montgomery County roads converged at…
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Daniel Boone Heritage Trail
In 2020 the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet designated Athens-Boonesboro Road (KY 418) between Ford Road and Grimes Mill Road as a Kentucky Scenic Byway. From Grimes Mill Road to Athens has been a Scenic Byway since 1995.
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M. T. McEldowney
Morgan Thomas McEldowney (c. 1865-1934) was born on a farm near Vanceburg in Lewis County, attended the University of Kentucky, and came to Winchester as a young man. Here he had the good fortune to come under the notice of Smith Kerr, proprietor of Winchester’s most successful flour mill. He proved himself so useful that…
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When Maps Lie: The Oil Mill
The Oil Mill was located on Snow Creek Road (KY 1028) in what is now the extreme western end of Powell County. Snow Creek Road begins at the Clark County line near Log Lick Church and runs east to near Clay City. From Lulbegrud Creek it is 1.7 miles to where the Oil Mill stood,…
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Antebellum Winchester: Pre-Civil War Houses in Winchester, Kentucky
Winchester grew slowly from a near wilderness in 1793. From a population of 539 reported in the 1810 census, the town could only count 1,142 residents fifty years later, just prior to the Civil War. It is not too surprising then that very few houses survive from that era. I have attempted here to identify…
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The Shot Factory
The Shot Factory was located on a cliff high above the Kentucky River about three-tenths of a mile upstream from the mouth of Boone Creek. The factory was located on a cliff 110 yards east of a picturesque little stream called Berkley Spring Branch. This small manufactory produced buckshot for use in muskets and fowling…
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Origin of Local Road Names
County road names can be obvious (Lexington Road, Mt. Sterling Road) or obscure (Nest Egg Road, Rabbittown Road). Many take the name of prominent Clark County families—Van Meter, Bybee, Fox-Quisenberry, Venable—while others are named for the creeks they follow—Pretty Run, Big Stoner, Dry Fork. Others have more interesting origins.