Thursday, December 30, 2021

Dedman House

Photo from Gardens to Gables

The Dedman House was built in 1884 for Charles M. and Mollie Curry Dedman, is a Queen Anne-style house. The 2.5 story brick house has an undulating facade, with striking front gables, the smaller of which is distinguished by its pargeting detail. (Pargeting refers to the application of plasterwork to a facade of a building. Pargeting ranges from "simple geometric surface patterning to exuberant sculptural relief of figures, flowers and sea monsters, but it is only skin deep, applied onto masonry or a lathed, timber-framed wall." The technique is English in origin, and first started being employed in the 16th century.) Mrs. Dedman was very involved in the house planning - she chose the lot, the plans, and oversaw the construction of the house.

Thursday, December 23, 2021

New Providence Church

The New Providence Church in McAfee was established over 247 years ago.

Photo from Mercer Chamber of Commerce

The McAfee party came into Kentucky in May of 1773. James, George and Robert McAfee, James McCoun, Jr. and Samuel Adams made up the group. They were from Sinking Creek in Bottetourt County in the then colony of Virginia. Reports from hunters and Indians about rich land in the Ohio Valley had encouraged these frontier people to seek new fortunes in a new land. Most in the party had received grants of 400 acres from the Governor of Virginia for their part in the French and Indian War.
The McAfee party made the first surveys ever made on the Kentucky River including surveying the bottom on which Frankfort now stands. They had traveled down the Ohio River to the Kentucky River. From the Kentucky River they crossed over to the Salt River and on July 27th, 1773, they surveyed land for James McAfee, upon which the New Providence Church would first be built. They returned to Virginia and in 1775, returned to Kentucky to clear land and plant corn.
They returned with two other men and their names were David Adams and John Higgins. They cleared two acres of ground to raise corn, but Indian trouble kept them from planting. Others worked in the fall of 1775 and in the spring of 1776. However, Indian trouble and the Revolutionary War, or "resisting the invasion of the British" as some called it, were delayed until the year 1779 their final return with their families. Like most frontier settlements, their early years were difficult. In July of 1782, another event took place that is often used in telling why the church was named "New Providence" and is told as follows:
"The inhabitants of James McAfee's station often joined in their work and aided each other in cultivating their respective farms. One day, a large party, male and female, went down to the farm of James McCoun to pull flax. A party of eight or nine Indians saw them, but being afraid to attack them, made a blind of bushes, behind which they concealed themselves, intending to way-lay the company on their return to the station and massacre the whole. Having finished their work at an early hour, they were returning when one of their company proposed to go up the creek to get some plums which grew in abundance on its banks, and thus returned home in safety."
Now in its 247th year, New Providence has had a long and valuable ministry. It is the hope of its present congregation that it will continue to be an Arm of the Kingdom of God so that in some future day this old church will still be preaching its ancient gospel to an even more modern age.

Monday, December 20, 2021

Friday, December 17, 2021

The old Rose Hill School

This photo was taken in front of the old Rose Hill School before it was moved to its current location. The school was located on the first lane to the right once you pass the water tower going toward Rose Hill. This picture is of the Winfield and Mary Russell family standing in front of the old school. Shirleen Gullett provided the photo.

Photo from Shirleen Gullett


Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Dillion Carmichael

Burgin’s very own country music star Dillion Carmichael was in Harrodsburg last week to record the video for the title song of his newest album, “Son of A” at the Olde Bus Station Restaurant.

Photo from The Harrodsburg Herald



Saturday, December 4, 2021

Olde Bus Station Restaurant

This photo was provided by the Olde Bus Station Restaurant. Did you know that the Olde Bus Station Restaurant was once a livery stable before Mr. Hopin purchased the building and opened the bus station? Bill Lester (the owner for over 40 years) told the owners these floors came from the old Brown hotel in Louisville in the late 30’s as it was being torn down.

The great Ohio flood happened in late January 1937. According to Wikipedia:

One resident recalled: "We were rowing down Broadway and was The Brown Hotel. The doors were open and the place was filled with water so we just rowed our boat in one door went through the lobby and rowed out another." A worker is recorded to have caught a two-pound fish in the lobby of the hotel.

Friday, December 3, 2021

Lock & Dam 7

The Mother Ann Lee Hydroelectric Station (on the far right near the cliffs) is a 2,040 Kilowatt run-of-river hydropower plant located at Lock and Dam 7 on the Kentucky River near Harrodsburg, KY. The plant was built in 1927 and includes 3 turbine generators. The plant was operated until 1999 by Kentucky Utilities Company (KU), when problems with the generating units left all three inoperable. In December 2005, Lock 7 Hydro Partners, LLC purchased the plant from KU, and began renovating the plant in March 2006.

Lock 7 dam on the left in water, Mother Ann Lee station on right near cliffs
Photo by Keith Rightmyer

Lock 7 Hydro Partners, LLC is a partnership between Shaker Landing Hydro Associates, Inc. of Louisville, KY and Salt River Electric, a cooperative located in Bardstown, KY, which is part of the East Kentucky Power Cooperative system. The power produced by the Mother Ann Lee plant is sold to Salt River Electric. Renewable Energy Credits produced by the plant are sold through the Green Energy program offered by the Kentucky Utilities (KU) and Louisville Gas and Electric (LG&E).
Photo by Keith Rightmyer
The Mother Ann Lee plant is operated under Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license No. 539, and has a lease with the dam owner, the Kentucky River Authority. The project is one of only a few dozen hydropower plants nationally to have received “Low Impact” certification from the Low Impact Hydro Institute.

Photo by Keith Rightmyer

Photo by Keith Rightmyer

Thursday, December 2, 2021

Old Fort Harrod Amphitheater

 Groundbreaking for the Old Fort Harrod Amphitheater, November 15, 1962.

Lexington Herald-Leader, November 15, 1962


Bacon College

Bacon College was chartered in 1837 in Georgetown, Kentucky. Its founder was Thornton F. Johnson, a member of the Disciples of Christ who resigned from Georgetown College in order to establish an institution independent of the Baptists who administered Georgetown. Bacon College moved to Harrodsburg, Kentucky in 1839 and graduated its first students two years later. Suffering from limited financial resources throughout its existence, the college closed in 1850 having granted only twenty-four degrees while in operation. The campus was used as a high school from 1850 to 1855. It was revived through the efforts of alumnus, John B. Bowman and was rechartered in 1858 as Kentucky University.


 Bacon College, Harrodsburg - 1839-1859, by J. Winston Coleman, Jr.
J. Douglas Gay Jr./Frances Carrick Thomas Library Special Collections
Transylvania University

Harrodsburg Opera House

  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...