Harrodsburg Sestercentennial - Welcome to Harrodsburg, the oldest English settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains, established in 1774. We will be celebrating our 250th anniversary with huge celebrations in 2024. Join us!
Year of the Bloody Sevens
Along the
American Revolutionary War’s western front, Kentuckians called 1777 the bloody
“Year of the Three Sevens.” Cabins were torched, leaving bloated, mutilated
corpses of men, women, and children. The nerves of the walking wounded were
frayed and ragged as they surveyed the burned crops and the slaughtered cattle,
hogs, and goats. Lack of food and ammunition led to starvation and overwhelming
death.
The
year 1777 opened with two months of calmness. The Native Americans committed no
raids and seemed to have abandoned their wrath against Kentucky. The pioneers
began to recover their spirits and venture away from the support and protection
of the stockades. Unbeknownst to them, the British Governor of Canada was
directing his Native American allies toward Kentucky with instructions to
destroy the settlements there.
At
first the Native Americans roamed around in small war parties causing mischief
and mayhem. They would set fire to a cabin in Harrod’s Town, disappear into the
woods, only to reappear and scalp a hunter. They would snatch infants from
mothers at the gates of forts and other times they would just lie in wait. The
white men were also coldblooded, collecting scalps and feeding Indian bodies to
their dogs thinking it would make them ferocious.
March 5, 1777, the
militia of Kentucky County started a regiment, with a company mustered from
each settlement - Boonesborough, Harrodsburg, and Logan’s Station - and
elections for officers were held at Fort Harrod and James Harrod was made a captain.
Prior to this, every fort and every camp had its own selected chief, with but
little order or subordination.
Most
of the pioneers knew there were troublous times in store for Kentucky if the Native
Americans should again take the warpath. At this time when the Kentucky
settlements were in greatest need, they were also at their weakest stage.
Indian attacks and the rumors of war had pretty well emptied the country. Three
hundred people had left Kentucky and seven stations had been abandoned.
Boonesborough, Harrodstown, and Logan’s Station alone survived, and the latter
was temporarily abandoned in the early days of 1777. Many of the people from
the abandoned forts had found refuge at Harrod’s Town. There were in essence
only two settlements and a possible one hundred and fifty men in Kentucky.
Although Harrod’s Town was made the capital of the new county, all Kentuckians
had to work together in order to survive.
The
first attack on March 6, 1777 at Fort Harrod was a Shawnee war party led by war
Chief Blackfish. They ambushed three men at their maple sugar camp near the
fort. One man was wounded and captured, but James Ray, who possessed what were
possibly the longest legs on the western continent, made his escape and ran
away while the Native Americans stood dumfounded at his speed. The last man hid
in a hollow log and struggled to keep quiet as the Shawnees tortured and
eventually killed the first man. When James Ray reached the fort, he gave the
alarm and thirty men set out for the sugar camp. While Blackfish failed to take the fort, he
did cause the delay of spring preparations for corn planting, so no corn was
planted at Harrodsburg during 1777.
The
Native Americans killed all the cattle they could find and continued to molest
the fort throughout the year. On
March 8, several men ventured out from Harrod’s Town to bring in corn from the
corn cribs raised the previous year; it took them ten days.
On
March 28, 1777, a large number of Native Americans again attacked Harrod’s Town.
They divided into small parties and waylaid every path and avenue to the fort
from the fields or forest, concealing themselves behind trees and bushes. They
also attempted to cut off all supplies arriving at the fort.
By May 1, 1777,
there were only eighty-four men fit for militia duty at Harrod’s Town,
twenty-two at Boonesborough and fifteen at Logan’s Station. This made one
hundred and twenty-two men fit for duty in Kentucky. Most of the cattle had
been killed and most of the horses stolen. No corn was planted at Harrodsburg.
Hardly a week went by without one or two deaths because of ordinary activities near the fort. On June 22, 1777 one man carelessly wandered outside the fort above the Big Spring, against Harrod’s orders. He was killed and scalped by the Native Americans. They cut off his head and stuck it on a pole. For years after that, the boys living near the fort used to say that at night when the moon was full, they could see a ghost around the fort springs.
Photo from the Armstrong Archives
September 11, a
party men to a settlement at the Cove Spring, five miles southeast of
Harrodsburg to shell corn and bring back to the fort. The “corn crib skirmish”
occurred on September 22 when a party of Native Americans came through a
canebrake and fired upon the whites as they were shelling corn. This spirited
little affair was known among the frontiersmen of the day as the Battle of Cove
Spring.
Harrod never
suffered any injuries during the numerous Indian attacks, but he did end up
with two broken bones related to hunting trips, both incidents happening in the
same way. Harrod liked to do his hunting on horseback because he needed the
extra speed for chasing down buffalo, deer and elk, but managing a long rifle
while mounted was risky. Both of Harrod’s accidents happened when he fired and
his horse reared up, threw him off, and broke his thigh bones.
James Harrod
tried to keep things running cheerfully and smoothly, but it was no fun to be
cooped up in the fort all summer. Nerves were frayed and the women were
quarreling and gossiping. The women were never safe outside the fort during the
summer of 1777, but they could only stand the dirty, smelly clothes just so
long before venturing into danger to clean them.
On September 2,
1777 the first court was held at Harrod’s Town. Harrod became a justice in
Kentucky County.
Not only were
the Indian attacks the most frequent and violent during this year, but the
winter of 1777-1778 was the worst ever endured by the pioneers. The
temperatures dropped to twenty degrees below zero. The rivers and springs froze
solid and travel was impossible. The bears, the buffalo and smaller wildlife
were found starved and frozen to death. There was no food or water and Indian
attacks were almost daily. Many pioneer men, women and children died of
starvation and dehydration. The pioneers were able to survive but they lost all
of their livestock and many friends.
The
Fort held. Fort Harrod was the only Kentucky fort never breached.
Photo from the Armstrong Archives
The Montgomery Lodge 18 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the organization sponsoring many of the street fairs, had their lodge room in the building known as the opera house, at the top of South Main Street in the top photograph. Inside the circle at the top of the building is the I.O.O.F. emblem, a three-link chain representing friendship, love, and truth. One explanation as to the meaning of their name “odd fellows” says they were “odd” because it was odd to find people who followed noble values in the 19th century.
Photo from the Armstrong Archives
This photograph shows members of the Odd Fellows Lodge gathered on Main Street. Only one or two men are identified, Charles Corn and D. M. Hutton (with the ribbon on his lapel), standing together at the center.
The circa 1950 photograph above was the home of J. J. Newberry 5-10-25 Cent store. The store was owned by Jerry Newby and remained in operation from 1936 – 1975. Three large window fronts were changed often to display new and modern items. This was THE place to buy almost anything you needed in Harrodsburg. I remember buying my Trixie Belden Mystery books there, as well as my first embroidery equipment. In 1976, the store began to decrease inventory until it only carried furniture and appliances. It became known as the Discount House, though still owned by Jerry Newby.
Photo from the Armstrong Archives
Unfortunately, the store burned down in 1989, as seen in the above photograph. Firemen worked hard to save the building, while protecting nearby stores. They did manage to pull some furniture and appliances out, but the building was a total loss.
The Louisville store was another fixture on Main Street that
managed to compete successfully and survive for 47 years, from 1941 to
1988. It was one of a chain of similar
stores that operated throughout Kentucky.
It was not a fancy store. It was
a solid kind of place that sold things that would last – clothing for the
family, material – a lot of women made their own clothes. They were an authorized dealer for Sportleigh
coats, tailored right here in Harrodsburg, which sold for $22.95 and were
featured in Vogue and Mademoiselle. In
1970, they did a complete renovation with “a new modern glass front, all new
fixtures and wall-to-wall carpeting throughout.
New and more merchandise was added.”
This photograph is Jimmy Taylor’s general store and gathering place, in business for over 50 years on Chiles Streets. When Taylor sold the property in 1969, it was to make room for progress. It was during the demolition a log structure, dated back as early as 1797, was found under the weather-boarding..
The following is a portion of a
poem written by Harrodsburg resident, Tony Sexton, entitled “Jimmy Taylor’s
Store:”
It’s good to live
in a town where some things never change.
Like Jimmy
Taylor’s store … It reminds us
the simplicity of
life still remains for those who want it.
It’s good to know
in our world of fast food chains and freeze dried coffee
There is still a
store in our town selling taters by the pound.
The Transylvania Company
Later in March 1775, the Transylvania Company, led
by Richard Henderson, helped negotiated the Treaty of
Sycamore Shoals with the Cherokee Native Americans. Henderson was an important man in the
east – a colonel in the militia, a noted orator, a judge – a self-made man who
had dreams of a great fortune in the West. He had a vision of taking over Kentucky
and making it a separate country with himself as supreme ruler, or at least a
new colony with himself as governor.
The
treaty was not really a treaty, but a deed. The company received some two
hundred thousand acres of land lying roughly in the area bounded by the
Kentucky, Cumberland, and Ohio Rivers. Henderson paid $10,000 in guns and other provisions for the land. However,
the Cherokee did not mention they didn’t own the land.
Daniel Boone helped
set up Henderson’s negotiations, perhaps for money or a promise of glory in the
new regime. As he left the treaty site, the Cherokee Chief Dragging Canoe,
shook Boone’s hand, but said: “We have given you a fine land brother, but you
will find it under a cloud and a dark and bloody ground.” Boone left Sycamore
Shoals with thirty men and orders from Henderson to establish the capitol of
his Transylvania Empire and to build a road through the Cumberland Gap.
Boone
and Henderson reached the banks of the Kentucky on the first of April 1775, and
lost no time in clearing the land in anticipation of erecting a fort.
Boonesborough would be only twenty-two miles from Harrodstown, as the crow
flies. By April 22nd the fort was under way and lots had been laid off for the
men.
Henderson
had to move fast in establishing his settlements before the Native Americans
could drive him out. He recorded in his journal he was afraid his experiment
would be wrecked at the onset. He also worried about James Harrod. Henderson
could not risk an open argument with Harrod; he must and would win his support.
In
addition to problems with Henderson, James Harrod had another challenger.
Colonel Thomas Slaughter brought a party of land seekers from North Carolina to
Harrod’s Town. Upon their arrival, Harrod greeted them warmly and sent the
newcomers out to begin their search for unclaimed land. When they realized
Harrod’s men had already marked vast acreages, they began to grumble and accuse
James of unfair tactics. Slaughter complained Harrod’s men had no right to mark
every piece of land and secure all the good springs in the area.
Harrod
replied his men had arrived first and had started a town. The men marking land
were working for those who had returned to the settlement in order to bring out
more supplies or their families. Everyone wanted good land and Kentucky was a
new country with plenty of land for the all. Harrod chose his land about six
miles from the settlement proper, in what is now Danville. He named his station
Boiling Springs.
On
May 7th Harrod and Slaughter came to Boonesborough to ask Henderson to settle
their dispute. While Harrod and Slaughter argued, Colonel Henderson saw himself
as an uneasy mediator. Henderson secretly favored Slaughter, but fearing
Harrod’s wrath, refrained from voicing this conviction and tried to appear
impartial. Henderson proposed that the different settlements in Kentucky should
send delegates to Boonesborough on May 23, 1775, and form a representative
government to make laws and rules to prevent trouble. The four distinct
settlements – Boonesborough, Harrod’s Town, Boiling Spring Station, and Logan’s
Station (formerly St. Asaph) – agreed to meet at Boonesborough to draw up a
constitution and make laws.
Photo from George Washington Ranck
When
the Transylvania Assembly held their meeting, it was the first American
legislative assembly west of the Appalachians. They had nowhere to house the
delegates, so they found the shade of a “giant divine elm” between Boone’s
stockade and the unfinished Boonesborough fort as a suitable meeting place.
This majestic tree stood on a beautiful plain, covered and perfumed by a turf
of fine white clover which made a thick carpet of green up to the trunk. It is
said that between the hours of ten and two, the shade of the elm would
comfortably cover a hundred people.
As the host
settlement, Boonesborough was allowed six delegates; Harrod’s Town, Boiling
Springs, and Logan’s Station were allowed four delegates each. The eighteen
elected delegates would make up the lower house of a legislature, but the land owners
would constitute the upper house. Henderson would provide executive leadership,
and the Assembly would collect land
taxes of two shillings per hundred acres.
Henderson
proceeded to discuss the problem facing the new assembly. Referring to English
law instead of Virginia or North Carolina law, Henderson skirted the touchy
subject of prior land claims. A three-man committee, including Harrod, was formed and drew up a statement to
acknowledge an earnest desire to meet their legislative tasks. The first order
of business was to draft a constitution for the new colony. Henderson wanted
the constitution to have an elected assembly, with perpetual rents, and a power
of veto reserved for the landowners.
The convention
remained in session until the twenty-seventh, and during that time passed nine
laws. These laws concerned themselves with a variety of topics: establishing
courts, regulating the militia, punishing criminals, preventing profanity and
Sabbath breaking, writs of attachment, clerk’s and sheriff’s fees, preserving
the range, improving the breed of horses, and, finally, preserving the game.
This last law was made necessary by the fact that the abundant game of the
region was already fast disappearing because of reckless hunting by settlers.
The
delegates agreed it was highly necessary to provide for courts, a militia, the
collection of debts, and the punishment of criminals. Harrod served on a number
of committees, including the one on lands in which he was chairman. He drew up
regulations for the militia, helped amend the bill prohibiting profane swearing
and Sabbath breaking, and also served on a committee with Daniel Boone for
conserving game.
One of James
Harrod’s major triumphs was the law providing for freedom of worship. This
passed in spite of the fact that at the time, the Church of England was a state
institution in Virginia. The religious provision must be accredited to the
temper of the frontier delegates themselves, many of whom, like Harrod, were
dissenters, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, or indifferent churchgoers.
The assembly agreed to meet again in September 1775 and the delegates adjourned. The settlers returned to their surveying, clearing, and planting.
Creating
Kentucky County
By late spring
1776, the pioneer population in Kentucky was estimated to be two hundred, and
most of these people were in forts at Boonesborough, Harrod’s Town, and Logan’s
Station. The area north of the Kentucky River had been abandoned.
During
summer 1776 Kentucky County was formed and Harrod’s Fort became an organized
body with laws enacted for its government. It became the first capitol of this
vast and interesting territory. It gathered men of ability, energy, and
determination whose lives were useful to their associates and a blessing to
those who came after them. They not only served their own locality well, but
did heroic service in behalf of their common country.
By
June 1776, James Harrod’s truce with Richard Henderson abruptly ended and
Harrod became an outspoken opponent of the Transylvania Company. He gained
followers at the other stations. Jack Gabriel Jones joined Harrod in leading
the second revolt. He was a lawyer and son of a prominent Virginia family and
his abilities complemented with Harrod’s own natural leadership and charismatic
abilities. Jones easily matched the Transylvania lawyers with elegant and
rational arguments and knowledge of legislative methods. Later, more help came
from George Rogers Clark who had a deep interest in Kentucky.
It
was decided Kentucky needed to have its own delegates to assure a fair hearing.
Harrod called a gathering to elect delegates to represent them in the General
Assembly and to ask for separation from Fincastle County. Harrod also wanted to
stop Henderson and his Cherokee land purchase, which would beat the pioneers
out of their legal rights. Clark and
Jones were elected as the delegates. The two were instructed by Harrod to
appeal to Virginia to overthrow Transylvania and incorporate the country under
her own government.
Harrod
helped the men formulate the document as a defense of their land claims, based
on bounty warrants granted by Governor Dunmore and on regular prior-occupancy
laws of the colony. They claimed Henderson’s purchases were illegal on grounds
Virginia had rights to it under their charter. They stated her citizens had
“fought and bled for it”, and that had it not been for the defeat of the
Shawnee at the Battle of Point Pleasant, the region would still be
uninhabitable. In conclusion they asked that their delegates be recognized,
stating they had already elected a committee of 21 men to maintain district
order.
Harrod
also petitioned for recognition of the new committee and drew attention to the
impracticality of having only two delegates to sufficiently represent Fincastle
County. He argued it was illogical to allow the colonist to remain impartial,
since a group from North Carolina was also formulating a challenge to Virginia
charter rights. Harrod knew Kentucky needed help and quickly because the
overwhelmed frontier settlements were almost out of gunpowder. They also needed
to settle the question of Virginia jurisdiction in order to hope for any future
assistance the government.
George Rogers Clark - photo from James B. Longacre
When
Clark and Jones arrived in Virginia, Clark visited the new Virginia governor,
Patrick Henry, to secure his backing for the Harrod’s Town cause. Clark
appeared before the Council at Williamsburg with a letter from Governor Henry,
making the executive council aware of Kentucky’s shaky position and officially
informing them of his support. Clark ran into opposition from several peers who
did not approve of frontier expansion. After much debate and arguing that the
western settlements could not survive without gunpowder, the proposal was
accepted and Clark was granted five hundred pounds of gunpowder.
On
August 23, 1776, the powder was sent to Fort Pitt in Pittsburgh. Clark sent a
letter to Harrod to tell him to send a party to Fort Pitt to bring the powder
home. Little did Clark know, but Harrod never received the letter.
The first court in Kentucky County was held on
September 2, 1776. George Rogers Clark, Isaac Hite, Benjamin Logan, Robert
Todd, Richard Callaway, John Kennedy, Nathaniel Henderson, Daniel Boone, James
Derchester, and James Harrod were named justices of the peace. Levi Todd was
appointed Clerk of Court.
With
the help of Thomas Jefferson, Clark and Jones were able to bring out their bill
and after a month of arguing and closed door maneuvers, the bill passed the
House and the Senate on December 31, 1776. The legislature created Kentucky
County. With the creation of Kentucky County, the territory was called “the
political birth of Kentucky” and George Rogers Clark the “Founder of the
Commonwealth.”
Clark
and Jones finished their business in Virginia and prepared to return to
Kentucky, but when a messenger from Fort Pitt reported that Harrod had not sent
men to get the five hundred pounds of powder, their plans changed. Clark knew
those twenty-five kegs of gun powder were vital to Kentucky’s defense, so they
set out toward Pittsburg. Once at Fort Pitt, the pair recruited a small group
of men to assist them in transporting the black powder down the Ohio and then
up the Kentucky River to Fort Harrod.
Unfortunately,
Clark’s every move was being shrewdly watched and evaluated by British and
Indian enemies, but he was not to be manipulated. Clark and his men slipped out
of Fort Pitt in the middle of the night and silently started their long trip
down the half-frozen Ohio River with five hundred pounds of high quality,
rifle-grade gunpowder. They quickly made their way down the big river, with the
success or failure of Kentucky resting squarely on their shoulders. Clark and his companions were forced to move
between numerous bands of angry Indian war parties. Unwilling to run the risk
of losing his cargo, he buried the powder in several spots and continued
downstream for a few miles before abandoning the boats and setting them adrift
as a decoy.
Clark
headed off to the nearest settlement, McClelland’s Station and sent a messenger
to Harrod’s Town explaining what had happened and asking for a party to
retrieve the gunpowder. Then Clark left to meet up with Harrod to recover the
gunpowder.
James
Harrod and about twenty others left Harrodsburg on the second of January 1777, to
recover the powder. Within a short time and without incident, the men reclaimed
the powder and returned to Fort Harrod. The brave settlers of Fort Harrod come
through to save the day, retrieving the gunpowder and bringing it safely back
to the fort through miles and miles of unfriendly, Indian wilderness.
Once at Fort
Harrod, the powder was divided and quickly distributed to the many struggling
Kentucky forts and stations. This important event saved the country because now
the settlers could now defend the forts
and hunt for food. There were now one
hundred and fifty men fit for active duty and forty families split between
Harrodsburg and Boonesborough.
When Virginia
created Kentucky County on December 31, 1776, Harrod’s Town was selected the
county seat. Fort Harrod became a stockade stronghold for the pioneer families
until they could settle on lands of their own and proved refuge for the
settlers when Native Americans were raiding.
Many famous pioneers occupied the fort at some time during its eventful
years. This was also the time that Benjamin Logan pushed his settlers to
complete the stockade at Logan’s Station.
Photo from the Armstrong Archives
This drawing by Harrodsburg artist Larrie Curry shows the beautiful spires, which are all visible together from several spots in town. Shown from left to right are Harrodsburg United Methodist church, Harrodsburg Christian Church, United Presbyterian Church, St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, the courthouse (demolished in 2009), and Harrodsburg Baptist Church. The saying “a church on every corner” holds true here, as all these buildings are located within a three-block radius from the center of the business district.
Mr. I.C. James’ Livery, Feed and Sale Stable, located on the
corner of East Office and Greenville Streets, opened in 1882. He had stabling for as many as 250
horses. Mr. James was a well-known horseman
throughout the state and his stable had the best horses and finest
equipment. When cars replaced horses,
the building was used for a garage which burned sometime in the 1920s.
Hoover Food Store was on Main Street from 1947 until
1969. It was the last grocery on Main
Street at a time when people still lived downtown and enjoyed being able to
walk to the store. In an interview, Mrs.
Hoover said, “we stayed open to nine, 10, maybe 11 o’clock on Saturday
nights. People would come in and shop
and leave their groceries here and we would stay until they came and picked
them up after the movie.”
Located on the corner of Chiles and Factory Streets, the
Harrodsburg Electric Light Plant, shown here during the 1930s, provided the
city’s electrical power before Kentucky Utilities began buying it from the Dix
Dam power plant. Stream was produced in
three large boilers that operated four generators. At first the plant produced no daytime
current, only power for light at night.
Fort Harrod Part Three
The log houses of Fort Harrod consisted of one room with a dirt floor and were approximately twenty feet by twenty feet. Some cabins had a loft that could be reached by a ladder for sleeping. The first-floor room usually had a rope bed, crude table and chairs for eating, and a fireplace for heat, light and cooking with cooking utensils hanging from it. The fort’s cabins, three blockhouses, and schoolhouse were of foot-thick logs that were squared on the top and bottom to fit snugly when chinked with clay and straw.
Photo from the Armstrong Archives
The Methodist parsonage, located next to
the church, is thought to have been built at the same time as the first church,
in 1840. According to tradition, it is
the oldest continuously used Methodist parsonage west of the Allegheny Mountains. After the Civil War Battle of Perryville,
October 8, 1862, the parsonage and church were used as a hospital for both
Confederate and Union troops. The top
picture shows the house as it originally looked. The bottom picture shows it as it currently
looks. In 1910, the wrap-around porch was
taken off and a Greek Revival portico and re-worked entrance were built.
Photo from the Armstrong Archives
What memories does this stir in Harrodsburg natives?
The above 1920s photograph is of Graves Jewelers, owned and operated by the Graves family from 1904 until 1989. Graves not only sold jewelry, but also fine china, crystal and collectibles. Unfortunately, due to fires on both sides of the business, this building was left all alone for many years. The building was eventually torn down and there is currently just a vacant lot between the Olde Towne Park and the corner of Main and East Poplar Streets.
Lucille Graves took great pride in her collection of fine china and crystal, as well as the jewelry she had to offer her many loyal customers. Although there were several jewelry stores on Main Street during the time Graves was in operation, Mrs. Graves’s states in an interview from 1990,“... there was no rivalry [between jewelry stores], we always cooperated with any jeweler that has ever been in Harrodsburg.”
Photo from the Armstrong Archives
The photograph above is the inside of
Dedman Drug Store. The man on the right
is C. M. Dedman and the other men are unidentified. Glass display cases line both sides at the
front of the store. The soda fountain is
near the back on the left side and the solid cherry apothecary drawers line the
back wall. The second floor of the building
was used to sell paint and wallpaper, as well as aisles of books, perfume, comb
and brush sets and more. The soda fountain offered a delicious soda,
ice cream sundae, root beer floats and other mouthwatering treats. There were only eight stools, so most people
took their purchases outside, probably enjoying the shade in the courthouse
square.
Photo from the Armstrong Archives
The above photograph taken in 1983 shows Harriett Ruby arranging antique bottles in the cherry cabinets of the drug store when it was her antique store. Although Dedman Drugs changed ownership many times since opening in 1868, it remained a pharmacy until 1983. From this time until 2001, the building served as several different antique stores.
In 2001, with the help
of Ralph Anderson, the James Harrod Trust was able to buy the store and restore
it to its turn of the century beauty.
The photograph below shows the outside of the restored building where
the Kentucky Fudge Company at Dedman Drug Store is once again a meeting place
for food and conversation.
Fort Harrod was a defensive, arsenal fortification and its walls served as a stronghold ready to protect settlers living on the outside. It became an important haven to the pioneers of Kentucky because, as the American Revolution intensified, the British encouraged the Native Americans to raid the Kentucky settlements.
Photo from the Armstrong Archives
The Methodist Church first held services in Kentucky at the home of James and Ann Harrod in Boiling Springs at the Harrod's Station. The large, frame two-story home used for services was burned to the ground by arson in 1833. Technically, Boiling Springs is in Danville, Kentucky.
The above log cabin, the home of Rebecca Hart, was the site of the first Methodist prayer meetings held in Harrodsburg in the early 1800s. In 1828, an official Methodist Society was organized, paving the way for the future establishment of the Methodist Church in Harrodsburg. This 1935 photograph shows a pageant reenacting a gathering of early Methodists for an old-time prayer meeting at the Hart cabin.
This cabin was located on the corner of West Broadway and North College Streets. Because of its history, the Stoll Oil Company of Louisville, which had bought the property in the early 1930s, decided to restore it, furnishing it with period pieces and opening it as a museum. The exact date off its demolition is not known.
These very cabins were Harrodsburg’s oldest
buildings, built outside the fort at a time when the threat of Indian attacks
had lessened, but close enough to get back inside in the case of trouble. The settlers, anxious to escape the confines
of the stockade, wanted to establish their own paces to raise their families
and plant their crops.
This corner was a drugstore for over 80 years, having as
many as six differently owned businesses there throughout that period. This photograph of the Corner Drug Store is
from the 1920s. It was a truly versatile
store, selling paint and household goods, filling prescriptions, and providing
a fountain and luncheonette.
The post card above is the earliest
photograph of the Hotel Harrod, in operation from 1852 until 1941; note the
horse and buggies unloading at the front entrance. Located on the southwest corner of Main and
Office Streets, this hotel was thoroughly modern with 75 guest rooms and dining
areas. The Hotel Harrod was known for
its famous southern food – Kentucky country ham, southern fried chicken and
western steaks served year round.
In this photograph, Elija Bryant,
from Harrodsburg, is holding a mouthwatering country ham, probably cured on a
Mercer County farm. Dressed in his
waiter’s uniform of black pants, a crisp white shirt and a black bowtie, Bryant
was a longtime employee of Avalon Inn, and he took pride in his work.
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During September
1773, Chief Cornstalk broke the uneasy truce with the white men and directed a
massacre of families on the Greenbriar and other outlying stations. This is
about the same time Daniel Boone had decided to move his family from the Yadkin
Valley of North Carolina to Kentucky with the intent of making a permanent
settlement. On September 25, 1773 the Boones and five other families sat out,
and upon reaching Wolf Hills at present day Abingdon, Daniel dispatched his
seventeen-year-old son, Jamie, and several others to Russell’s Fort to retrieve
supplies. On October 9th, Jamie and his group were attacked by
bands of Delawares, Shawnees, and Cherokees.
Harrod was not going to let the Native Americans prevent him from returning to Kentucky. As he continued with his plans, Colonel William Preston, surveyor of Fincastle County refused to enter any of Captain Bullitt’s surveys. He said Bullitt refused to hire Fincastle deputy surveyors as required by Virginia law, and he had staked his surveys in Shawnee land under treaty to the crown. Bullitt also failed to tip Preston a little gratuity for his trouble in overseeing Fincastle’s disputable claims. Colonel Preston demanded the surveys had to be redone under his supervision, and he doubted the men had a legal right to survey below the Kentucky River.
In Harrodstown, during September 1775, they erected more cabins around the Town Creek, chinked the older buildings, and worked on construction of Fort Harrod. By the end of summer, Harrodstown boasted a seventy-acre cornfield and eight to ten cabins.
During Harrod’s years in Kentucky, his first loyalty was to the men who had chosen him as their leader. However, some of his men were unwilling to obey what they considered unnecessary and arbitrary restrictions on their movements. Newcomers, seeing the muddled situation in the Transylvania colony, choose to ignore the rulings or returned to their old homes in the east rather than risk their efforts on uncertain claims.
The Transylvania Company announced an increase in land prices from twenty shillings to two pounds ten shillings per one hundred acres. Joining Daniel Boone on his second expedition to Boonesborough was a hot-tempered, loud talking but able Scotch-Irishman named Hugh McGary. After passing through the Cumberland Gap, McGary finally settled himself and his new family near Harrodstown in September 1775.
When Hugh McGary’s party arrived, they selected land about three hundred yards farther west as a more suitable location, on account of a spring which issued from the foot of a rocky bluff on the north side. There McGary, Denton, Harrod, and three others erected cabins. When the Poague party finally arrived in February 1776, the Hugh Wilson family were the only ones residing in the old cabins.
The Kentucky frontiersmen could plow the ground, fence in new clearings, and erect cabins, but only the arrival of women and children could give stability to the settlements. The women and children began arriving in September 1775. There was also resurgence in the work of completing Fort, which the increasing number of the Indian attacks rendered a necessity. The construction on the stockade began and it was completed by early spring. The fort enclosed an area of about one and a half acres, with a spring and a stream running through for fresh water. Settlers were warned of an Indian attack by a large cedar horn sounded from the fort. Fort Harrod was a defensive, arsenal fortification and its walls served as a stronghold ready to protect settlers living on the outside. It became an important haven to the pioneers of Kentucky because, as the American Revolution intensified, the British encouraged the Native Americans to raid the Kentucky settlements.
Harrodstown had lush grass and abundant water, and the limestone soil made great pastureland for grass eating animals that was without parallel in pioneer history. Bears provided an excellent meat substitute for bacon. Game was plentiful but so were Indian raids. The new fort was nearly completed and conveniently located it provided refuge for both the people of Harrodstown and other settlers when the Native Americans were on the warpath. The fort of 1775-1776 was located about one-half mile south of the Big Spring and was built on higher ground than the 1774 Big Spring’s encampment.
The first court in Kentucky County was held on September 2, 1776. George Rogers Clark, Isaac Hite, Benjamin Logan, Robert Todd, Richard Callaway, John Kennedy, Nathaniel Henderson, Daniel Boone, James Derchester, and James Harrod were named justices of the peace. Levi Todd was appointed Clerk of Court.
George Rogers Clark was still in Williamsburg for the fall legislative session and on the opening day John Gabriel Jones joined him. They presented the two Harrodsburg petitions to the Assembly. They also requested to be seated as delegates from the Western Part of Fincastle County; the council refused to grant the request. Henderson, upset that his purchases had been voided, tried another attack by attempting to have his claims validated under Virginia law at the expense of Harrod’s company.
Thomas Slaughter, a past opponent of Harrod, also had a petition on behalf of himself and others near Kentucky. It turned out Slaughter not only reinforced the Harrodstown pleas but called attention to the need for organized militia. By highlighting the danger of Native Americans, the Kentuckians showed they would be a barricade for the older settlements in the east. This argument was a success and the House of Delegates began considering a bill for creation of the new county.
The Indiana Company also protested Virginia’s claim to the western lands, and Judge Henderson, who did not want a new county created out of his territory, lobbied hard to protect the fading prospects of the Transylvania Company. Clark and Jones did receive support from Thomas Jefferson and George Mason, strong allies with Harrodstown, and they fought valiantly to get Kentucky created as a county with its own local government. Jefferson agreed with Governor Henry about the Transylvania-Harrodstown controversy and helped Clark successfully argue that Kentucky settlements were essential for the protection of the Virginia frontier.
The corn crib skirmish of Harrodsburg occurred on September 22, 1777 but started on September 11. A party of 37 men under Colonel Bowman went to Captain Joseph Bowman’s settlement at the Cove Spring, five miles southeast of Harrodsburg to shell corn and bring back to the Fort. The “corn crib skirmish” occurred on when a party of Kickapoos stole up through a canebrake and fired upon the whites as they were shelling corn. Bowman gallantly hallooed to his men, “Stand your ground! – we are able to beat them, by the Lord!” Squire Boone and six others were injured (one later died that night). Eli Gerrard was killed. This spirited little affair was known among the frontiersmen of the day as the Battle of Cove Spring.
Corn had been raised at the Cove Spring near Harrod’s run, and some five miles northeast of Harrodsburg. A party went there to shell corn – in the cribs, and the Native Americans came upon them. James Berry very severely wounded, and two killed and another wounded who subsequently died. The men fought – Nathaniel Randolph ran all the way to Harrodsburg, got help and returned – the men were still in possession and the Native Americans were moving off – saw bloody signs.
A boom of children was being born in Kentucky. James and Ann Harrod had been married seven years before finally in September 1785 Margaret Harrod was born; Ann’s second child, and only child of her marriage to Harrod.
This is a photo we had never seen and Belinda S Kurtz shared this from another group. “Wasn’t Bob Martin that used to run the radio statio...
