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Slow Travels-Kentucky
Slow Travels-Kentucky
Slow Travels-Kentucky
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Slow Travels-Kentucky

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This edition in the Slow Travels series explores U.S. Highways 25 (Covington to Tenn Line), 31W (Louisville to Tenn Line), 41 (Ohio River near Owensboro to Tenn Line), and 68 (Maysville, KY to Paducah). Over 450 Historic sites and landmarks are described along these routes, and reference maps and GPS coordinates for all listed sites are included.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherLyn Wilkerson
Release dateDec 17, 2010
ISBN9781458009005
Slow Travels-Kentucky
Author

Lyn Wilkerson

Caddo Publications USA was created in 2000 to encourage the exploration of America’s history by the typical automotive traveler. The intent of Caddo Publications USA is to provide support to both national and local historical organizations as historical guides are developed in various digital and traditional print formats. Using the American Guide series of the 1930’s and 40’s as our inspiration, we began to develop historical travel guides for the U.S. in the 1990’s.

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    Book preview

    Slow Travels-Kentucky - Lyn Wilkerson

    While every effort has been made to insure accuracy, neither the author nor the publisher assume legal responsibility for any consequences arising from the use of this book or the information it contains.

    All maps are by the author.

    Slow Travels-Kentucky

    Smashwords Edition

    Lyn Wilkerson

    All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2010 Lyn Wilkerson

    No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by

    any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

    recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval system,

    without the permission in writing from the author.

    License Notes:

    This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    Introduction

    This guide, along with the various others produced by Lyn Wilkerson and Caddo Publications USA, are based on the American Guide Series. Until the mid-1950’s, the U.S. Highway System provided the means for various modes of transport to explore this diverse land. To encourage such explorations, the Works Projects Administration under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Federal Writers Project created the American Guide Series. This series of books were commissioned by the Federal Government to capture the culture and history of the United States and provide the direction necessary for travelers to explore it. Each state created a commission of writers who canvassed their respective territories for content to submit. The preliminary works were then sent to Washington D.C. for final assembly in to a standard format. The result was a travel guide for each state. The series spread to include guides for important cities as well. After the State Guides were complete, the concept of a national guide was developed. However, it would not be until 1949, with the backing of Hastings House Publishing, that a true national guide would be created. Through several rounds of condensing, the final product maintained much of the most essential points of interest and the most colorful material.

    To quote from the California edition of the American Guide Series, romance has been kept in its place. . . The intent of this guide is to provide information about the historic sites, towns, and landmarks along the chosen routes, and to provide background information and stories for what lies in-between. It is not our desire to dramatize the history or expand on it in any way. We believe that the character and culture of this state, and our country as a whole, can speak for itself. The guide has been created, not for just travelers new to the city, but for current residents who may not realize what lies just around the corner in their own neighborhood. The goal of Caddo Publications USA is to encourage the exploration of the rich history that many of us drive by on a regular basis without any sense it existed, and to entertain and educate so that history will not be lost in the future.

    Table of Contents

    U.S. Highway 25

    U.S. Highway 25E

    U.S. Highway 25W

    U.S. Highway 31W

    U.S. Highway 41

    U.S. Highway 68

    U.S. Highway 25

    U.S. Highway 25, locally called the Eastern Dixie Highway, reveals a typical cross-section of Kentucky. It crosses the low wooded hills of the Ohio River, passes rolling orchard land and prosperous country estates with waving bluegrass meadows, and between the great gorge cut by the Kentucky River and the rugged foothills of the Appalachians, follows Daniel Boone's Wilderness Road.

    Ohio River

    U.S. Highway 25 enters Kentucky from Ohio on the C.W. Bailey Bridge.

    Covington (0.4 mile south of the Ohio State Line on U.S. 25 at 4th Street)

    On St. Valentine's Day in 1780, George Muse, a soldier of Virginia in the French and Indian War, swapped for a keg of whisky his scrip for 200 acres of land allotted him for military service. The new owner of the land traded it for a quarter of buffalo that General James Taylor offered him. Taylor bartered it off to Colonel Stephen Trigg, who got rid of it to John Todd, Jr., who unloaded it onto James Welch. Welch kept the land long enough to get it surveyed, and in 1801 sold it to Thomas Kennedy for $750. Kennedy erected a huge stone house overlooking the Licking River near what is now the approach to the Suspension Bridge, and lived there as a tavern keeper and ferry man until 1814. He then sold 150 acres of his property to John S. Gano, Richard M. Gano, and Thomas Carneal. In the following year, the three men chartered a town and named it for General Leonard Covington of Maryland, a hero of the War of 1812 who died of wounds received during the Battle of Chrysler's Field.

    Covington's growth was negligible during the years of national depression following 1819, but in 1830, with a population of only 715, the town had a log church, several inns, and a schoolhouse which was also a meeting place for a light infantry troop, the town trustees, and the Social Polemic Society. A few streets were paved; those running east and west were numbered, those north and south were named for notables. The town also had a fire brigade, a steam ferry, and the store of Benjamin J. Leathers, who issued so much scrip in hard times that paid in Leathers became Covington argot.

    Beginning with the 1830's, as settlers headed West over Kentucky land routes and the Ohio River, Covington became a trade center for livestock, grain, and other products of the countryside. An influx of people from over the Appalachians (principally Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia) was succeeded by the large German immigration of 1840-1860. By 1847, there were two leading educational institutions in Covington; the Western Baptist Theological College and Dr. Orr's Female Seminary. The seminary stressed good manners and deportment. One teacher, a Miss Robb, dismissed her class one by one, and exacted from each girl a Victorian curtsy the spreading of the skirt and making a low bow, not one of the silly bobs as of later days.

    In the 1850's, the Kentucky Central Railroad was begun from Covington to Lexington, a high school opened, the seat of a Roman Catholic bishopric established, a local Turnverein organized, and gas first used for lighting. In 1860 the first hospital, St. Elizabeth's, was established. Covington people made furniture, farm tools, rope, and cloth, and brewed beer, packed meat, and participated in the growing river commerce. Covington commuted to Cincinnati by ferry. But service was interrupted during flood times, and it sometimes took a whole day to make a business trip to Cincinnati and back. The State of Kentucky had already bought the macadamized highway coming up from Lexington over an old Indian trail. Elimination of road tolls drew Covington and interior Kentucky together, but the city was more closely associated with its big neighbor to the north, and it needed better means of getting across the Ohio. In 1846, the State legislature authorized the building of a bridge over to Cincinnati, but work on the structure was postponed periodically. When actual construction finally began, along came the panic of 1857, followed by the War Between the States four years later, and work was stopped.

    On a snowy night in January of 1856, seventeen slaves fled, from the foot of Main Street, across the frozen Ohio River. Margaret Garner was in this group. When arrested in Ohio, she killed her little daughter rather than see her returned to slavery. This much publicized slave capture became focus of national attention because it involved the issues of federal and state authority. The decision regarding Margaret Garner fueled fires of abolition. Fugitive Slave Law supporters wanted her returned to master. Garner wished to remain in Ohio, even at risk of death for her crime. She was returned to Kentucky, with her master's agreement to extradite her to Ohio. But soon afterward Garner was sent south and never heard from again.

    Although Kentucky wanted to be neutral in the war, neutrality was impossible. The State became a battleground, and Covington an armed camp, half its citizens Northern, half Southern, in sympathy and enlistment. Actual warfare, however, came only as close to Covington as Morgan's and Kirby Smith's raids in north-central Kentucky. One threatened raid, however, had beneficial after effects. When a detachment of Kirby Smith's men was detailed to terrorize the Cincinnati region, General Lew Wallace declared martial law in Cincinnati, Newport, and Covington, and laid a pontoon of coal barges across the Ohio so Cincinnati troops could hurry over to Covington and help build earthworks on the southern border of the town. The Confederates skirmished with a few pickets, and then withdrew. The pontoon bridge, however, had proved its value. After the War, work on the Suspension Bridge, officially named the John A. Roebling Bridge in 1984, was resumed, and this solid symbol of commercial and political union between North and South was completed in 1866. During the years that followed, new industries, such as brewing, yeast making, and distilling were established and old ones, such as the manufacture of tobacco products, were enlarged. All this growth was stunted, however, by the panic of 1873.

    Covington aroused itself quickly following the panic years. By the end of the decade the present Federal Building was completed. During the next few years, the Maysville & Big Sandy Railroad came through from Ashland, and in 1888 a bridge was built across the Ohio River. In 1899, the city waterworks (in Fort Thomas) was completed. In the 1890's, the chamber of commerce was organized; an electric power and light plant built; and the streetcar system, acquired by Cleveland capitalists, fitted with single-trolley electric cars. During this long middle period, characterized industrially by the establishment of one man shops, the genius of Covington flowered. John G. Carlisle and William Goebel grew to national stature politically; Archbishop Maes inaugurated the construction of huge St. Mary's Cathedral; and Frank Duveneck painted murals in Covington homes. When the twentieth century arrived, Dan Beard, raised in Covington on the banks of the Licking, began his program of young character building by helping to found the Boy Scouts of America.

    From time to time, the Ohio and the Licking Rivers have overrun their banks and pillaged Covington. The flood of 1832 taught a lesson that was not well learned, for the floods of 1883 and 1884 brought great ruin and that of January 1937 was even worse. Two-thirds of the business section was submerged. Lights and power were shut off, transportation was at a standstill, and schools were closed. Hospitals were badly damaged, but their staffs worked on heroically. Property loss ran into the millions. By summer of 1937, however, debris had been cleared away and buildings repaired, and the city was back to normal. Immediate help was given by the American Red Cross, and Covington citizens quickly rehabilitated their homes and business places.

    Ben Lucien Burman (1895-1984), born in Covington and inspired by the Ohio River, became a famed chronicler of life and people along America's rivers and in Kentucky's mountains. His 22 novels, fables, and works of nonfiction were widely translated. Burman's Steamboat Round the Bend (1933) became Will Rogers' last movie. Hailed as new Mark Twain for his stories of river life, Burman also became a second Aesop with his High Water at Catfish Bend (1952) and six related fables of mythical animal folk. He was awarded the French Legion of Honor in 1946 for World War II reports from Africa, and he roamed the world as a special writer for Reader's Digest. Haven Gillespie (1888-1975), the composer of Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town, was a native of Covington. He attended local school, became a printer, and was later employed by the Cincinnati Times-Star and New York Times. Gillespie's songs carried Americans through the Great Depression and World War II; they include Breezin' Along With The Breeze, You Go To My Head, Honey, and That Lucky Old Sun.

    Kenton County was named for General Simon Kenton (1755-1836). Kenton was born in Virginia. At 16, thinking he had killed a man, he fled beyond the Alleghenies, becoming a companion of Daniel Boone and other early pioneers of Kentucky. As a scout for Governor Dunmore of Virginia, Kenton returned to Kentucky in 1782. Frequently engaged in Indian warfare, he fought alongside Kentucky troops at the Battle of Thames.

    Points of Interest:

    John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge (Court Street at the Ohio River)

    Designed and built by John A. Roebling of New York, this bridge was completed at a cost of $1,871,000 in 1866. This is the first of America's great suspension bridges. It is 36 feet wide and 2,252 feet long, and its towers are 100 feet high.

    The Point (Kennedy Street and Shelby Street)

    At the confluence of the Ohio and Licking Rivers, Christopher Gist, an agent of the Ohio Company, was the first white man known to have set foot on the Point in 1751. The Lieutenant of Kentucky County, Virginia, Colonel John Bowman, led an expedition from here against Shawnee Indians in Ohio in 1777. Governor Isaac Shelby rendezvoused 4,000 Kentucky troops here before his victory at the Battle of Thames in 1813.

    Site of the Thomas Kennedy House (Garrard Street and Riverside Drive at George Rogers Clark Memorial Park)

    Near the alleyway that runs behind the park is the site of the Kennedy House, marked by a boulder and inscribed plaque. Kennedy operated a ferry across the river and was a congenial host in the stone tavern, called Kennedy's Ferry, which he erected here in 1801.

    Carneal House (405 E. 2nd Street)

    This residence was built in 1815 by Thomas D. Carneal, of Coving-ton and Ludlow. Tradition says that Carneal aided slaves to escape by giving them asylum in his home and helping them to cross the Ohio into free territory. Eliza, heroine of Uncle Tom's Cabin, is said to have been aided in this way.

    Dan Carter Beard Boyhood Home (322 E. 3rd Street)

    A two-story brick residence dating from the mid-nineteenth century, bears a plaque on the side facing Licking River stating that here lived, in his boyhood, the founder of the Boy Scouts of America. As a boy Beard (born in 1850) consorted with the soldiers at Newport Barracks. Later, he became well acquainted with stories and legends of Kentucky pioneer life, and formed a band called the Sons of Daniel Boone. The youngsters took oath and named themselves for Boone, Kenton, and other noted pioneers. They became adept at making dugout canoes, brush shelters, and other woodcraft necessities. When Sir Robert Baden-Powell formed the Boy Scouts of England in 1908, he made use of Beard's plan of organization. In 1910, when the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated, Beard merged the Sons of Daniel Boone with the Boy Scouts.

    John W. Stevenson Home (318-320 Garrard Street)

    Built about 1820, this is a two-story brick structure fronted by a portico of white fluted columns. The house is connected by a large brick tunnel with a private home at Seventh and Garrard Streets. According to local tradition, a second tunnel once ran from a mansion on Second Street up along the river bank into the backyard of the Stevenson home. Beneath the house and in the yard are huge subterranean cellars, with thick brick walls, said to have been used for concealing slaves during the War Between the States. Stevenson was Governor of Kentucky from 1867 to 1871.

    Clayton House (528 Greenup Street)

    This structure, built of ship's timbers, was put up in 1839 by John W. Clayton, and was later the residence of his granddaughter. During the War Between the States, it housed a private school, kept by Clayton's daughter, among whose pupils was Frederick D. Grant, son of General Ulysses S. Grant.

    Covington Public Library (Robbins Street and Scott Boulevard)

    This library was established through an act of the Kentucky legislature in 1898 and was inadequately housed in a room on Seventh Street until a gift by Andrew Carnegie made possible the present two-story concrete building in 1901.

    St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedral (Madison Avenue and 11th Street)

    This is the seat of the Diocese of Covington. The plan of the nave, transept, and apse, designed by Leon Coquard, begun in 1895 and finished in 1900, follows that of the Abbey of St. Denis, France; while the facade, designed by David Davis in 1908 and completed two years later, is patterned after that of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

    Frank Duveneck Birthplace (1226 Greenup Street)

    Frank Duveneck (1848-1919) worked for several local church decorators and later studied art in Munich. In 1875, he exhibited a group of sensational paintings in Boston, and became famous in this country overnight. After his wife died at Florence, Italy, in 1888, Duveneck came to Cincinnati to teach at the Art Academy, and became the dean of Ohio Valley artists. As teacher and exemplar, Duveneck was one of the pioneers of modern American art. He executed the murals in St. Mary's Cathedral as a gift in memory of his mother. Some of his paintings are on the walls of the State Historical Museum (Old Capitol) in Frankfort. The best collection is in the Cincinnati Art Museum, to which Duveneck donated a large group of his works in 1915.

    Linden Grove Cemetery (Holman Street and 13th Street)

    This is one of Covington's oldest burial grounds. It contains graves of men who fought in the American Revolution and in all wars of the United States.

    Grave of John Griffin Carlisle (Linden Grove Cemetery)

    John Griffin Carlisle was Secretary of the Treasury under President Grover Cleveland. Carlisle, who was born in Kenton County in 1835, distinguished himself as a lawyer, State legislator, Lieutenant Governor, Congressman, and Speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1893, Cleveland selected him as a member of his cabinet, and his efforts to avert the panic of that year won him wide acclaim.

    African-American Elks Club (229 East 11th Street)

    Covington native Benjamin F. Howard (1860-1918) was co-founder, with Arthur J. Riggs of Shelbyville, of the first national African American Elks organization, called Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World. The organization was chartered in Ohio in 1899. Howard was elected as first Grand Exalted Ruler. Covington's Ira Lodge No. 37 was formed in the early 1900’s.

    First City Hall (3rd Street and Court Street)

    Covington's first permanent city hall was erected on this site in 1843. It was one of the first in the entire Ohio Valley. City Hall doubled as a hospital in 1848 for returning Mexican War veterans. During the Republican State Convention in 1860, fiery emancipationist Cassius M. Clay spoke here. Almost eighty years later, on June 3rd, 1938, in the courtyard of a later city hall, Kentucky's last execution by hanging took place.

    First United Methodist Church (5th Street and Greenup Street)

    This congregation first used a public school house in 1805. The first building was erected in 1832 on Garrard Street. In 1843, a new one was constructed on Scott Street. The church was split over slavery in 1846. The Methodist Episcopal Church South remained on Scott Street. The Union Methodist Episcopal group located here. The two churches were reunited in 1939. Jesse Grant, father of Ulysses S. Grant, had a pew here. This structure was built in 1867. It was damaged by fire in 1947 and rebuilt.

    Grace United Church of Christ (819 Willard Street)

    This church was organized as a Reformed Church and German-language day school. The cornerstone was laid on July 13th, 1862. Grace United is the second oldest in Covington still used by its founding congregation. The structure was dedicated on Palm Sunday in 1863. Construction had been interrupted when this area was threatened by Morgan's Raiders. The name of Grace Reformed Church was adopted during the First World War in 1918.

    Grant House (520 Greenup Street)

    From 1859 to 1873, this was the home of Jesse Root and Hannah (Simpson) Grant, parents of General Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States. Jesse served as the Postmaster of Covington from 1866 to 1872. General Grant's sister, Mary, lived here with her husband, Reverend Michael Cramer, who served as United States Minister to Denmark. President Grant visited this house on several occasions. In January of 1862, he sent his wife and children here to live. The children attended local schools. Among the famous persons to visit here were Generals William T. Sherman, A.H. Terry, George Stoneman and John Rawlins, who was later Secretary of War.

    Holmes High School (25th Street and Madison Avenue)

    Holmes is one of Kentucky's earliest tax-supported, coeducational, public high schools. It was founded as Covington High School in 1853 at Scott and 11th Streets. Its present name was adopted when it was moved to this site. The campus is former estate of New Orleans merchant, Daniel Henry Holmes, and was the site of Union Army activity during the American Civil War.

    Holmes Castle, home of Daniel Henry Holmes, was erected here in 1866. His son, Daniel Henry, Jr., was a noted 19th century poet. The 32-room, English-Gothic manor was acquired by the Covington Board of Education. From 1919 until 1936, the mansion was part of Holmes High School. In 1936, it was razed and replaced by a new administration building.

    Mother of God Church (119 W. 6th Street)

    This congregation was organized in 1841 by the Reverend Dr. Ferdinand Kuhr. This is the Mother Church of German parishes and the second parish in Covington. The first church was built 1842. A one-story brick school was erected 1843. The present Renaissance church was built in 1871.

    Sandford House (1026 Russell Street)

    Built in the early 1800’s by Major Alfred Sandford, this residence stands on land originally owned by his father, General Thomas Sandford, who was the first member of Congress from Northern Kentucky. In 1835, the house was purchased by the Western Baptist Theological Institute for the home of its President. The Western Baptist Theological Institute was incorporated by a Special Act of the General Assembly in 1840. It opened in 1845. Conflict between Northern and Southern trustees over the slavery issue forced its closing in 1853. Arbitration by Supreme Court Justice John McLean led to the equal division of property between the parties. The building housed Miss Bristow's Boarding and Day School in the 1890’s.

    Ernst Mansion (405 Garrard Street)

    Built for the John Matson family in 1890, this mansion was the residence of Senator Richard Pretlow Ernst from 1906 until 1934. The home served as the Flannery Hotel from 1937 until 1975. The structure was renovated in 1982. Born in Covington, Richard P. Ernst (1858-1934) was a lawyer, banker, philanthropist, and women’s-rights proponent. The leader of the Covington YMCA for 42 years, he was a member of the Kenton County Bar Association & Industrial Club. Ernst served as a U.S. Senator from 1921 until 1927. He died in Baltimore in 1934 and is interred at Highland Cemetery.

    St. John the Evangelist Church (627 Pike Street)

    In 1848 and 1849, German Catholics of the Mother of God Church in Lewisburg founded Saints Peter and Paul School. In 1854, St. John Parish was created.

    William L. Grant School (824 Greenup Street)

    William Grant (1820-1882), a Covington city clerk, councilman, and state representative, supported public education for African-American children. He deeded land on Seventh Street for an elementary school, which opened 1880. It was renamed the Lincoln School in 1909. An African-American high school was named in honor of William Grant and opened in 1886. In 1931, this building was constructed for African-American elementary and high schools to be known as Lincoln Grant and William Grant Schools. The high school closed in 1965 and the elementary in 1976. The original Seventh Street site was occupied by the Board of Education. The Northern Kentucky Community Center was housed here beginning in 1976.

    Side Trip to Constance (4th Street West, Crescent Avenue North, Kentucky Highway 8 West)

    Ludlow (0.4 mile west on 4th Street, 0.1 mile north on Crescent Avenue, 1.5 miles west on KY 8)

    Ludlow had a few settlers in

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