Category: Places
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Genealogy of Winchester
It seems like genealogy has become a growth industry of late. Millions of people are working out their family history using courthouse records, libraries, and websites like ancestry.com. They are also trying to learn more about their geographic origins via DNA testing. I thought it might be of interest to trace the genealogy and geographic origins…
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Progress Coming on Athens-Boonesboro Road?
As Clare and I were returning home from Lexington last week on Athens-Boonesboro Road, just before the intersection with Combs Ferry Road, we saw what looked like a fresh clearing of trees and brush on the Pat Shely farm. With the foliage gone, we got our first view of the old frame building that had…
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Winchester Cemetery
On a balmy but windy day last week, my wife Clare and I went for our weekly “long walk.” Since spring has sprung early this year, we decided to check out the scene at the Winchester Cemetery. We went for the exercise and stayed several hours, but we stopped so frequently that it wasn’t much…
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Historic preservation goes ‘off the rails’
This story is not about a tragic loss but more of a heartbreaking disappointment. While residing in Clark County for nearly 24 years, I’ve become involved in research and writing about the people, places, and events that shaped our local history. This led naturally to an interest in historic preservation. The county has many historic…
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Hannah H. Hinde
There are many Kentucky women whose courage, spirit, and accomplishments need to be documented and preserved. Hannah Hubbard Hinde Kavanaugh Taylor Martin is certainly one of those. Hannah, the daughter of a wealthy British-born physician, is one of the most intriguing characters of early Clark County. She married and buried three husbands and bore ten…
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Lisletown
Following the Civil War, formerly enslaved persons faced daunting challenges. According to one historian, “after emancipation on December 18, 1865, Kentucky’s 225,000 [formerly enslaved people] were on their own. Literally overnight, tens of thousands of black Kentuckians were scrambling for the basics of life in an often hostile environment.” Most had no money, no housing,…
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Hieronymus Cabin
The Hieronymus Cabin Site (Stop #9 on the John Holder Trail) takes its name from Benjamin Hieronymus, who lived there from the 1830s until his death in 1859. Evidence suggests the cabin was built in the late 1700s. It survived until destroyed by a fire in the 1960s. All that remains today is the ancient…
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Crossing Lower Howard’s Creek
The mouth of Lower Howard’s Creek lies in the palisaded area of the Kentucky River, and the creek cuts through a limestone gorge on its way to the river. Because of these cliffs, the creek was a barrier to travel in pioneer settlement times. Early residents described the paths they used to cross the creek. Ambrose…
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Orson Martin’s Factory Bottom
Orson Martin was born in 1764 in Goochland County, VA, the son of John and Rachel Martin, who were pioneer settlers on Lower Howard’s Creek. Orson came to Kentucky in 1786. An early resident stated that “there was two of the Martins built a mill on lower Howards creek,” relating to a gristmill Orson and…
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Our scenic south side
Like most everyone else in Clark County, I missed the Sept. 7 Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation walking tour of our beautiful Thomson Neighborhood on the southern edge of downtown. But I didn’t miss Harry Enoch’s Sept. 14 WinCity Voices article about it — and for that I am grateful.