LIBERTY HALL IN FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY

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liberty hall frankfort, ky. Liberty Hall located at 202 Wilkinson Street in Frankfort, Kentucky is a museum well worth your time to visit.

Kentucky’s first United States Senator, John Brown, bought the property and historic site in downtown Frankfort in 1796. He began construction shortly afterwards on one of the earliest brick homes in this area.  The house was completed in 1804.  He named his home Liberty Hall.

Liberty Hall, in addition to the main house, had several other structures including a kitchen, laundry, smokehouse, privy, stables, carriage house, slave quarters and a boat landing. The house was occupied by Brown and his descendants until the 1930s.  It was opened as a museum in 1937.

The Browns were very social people and hosted such dignitaries as President James Monroe, Col. Zachary Taylor, Col. Andrew Jackson, Gen. Lafayette, Aaron Burr, William Harrison and Theodore Roosevelt.

The Grey Lady of Liberty Hall has haunted the grounds for many years.  Margaret Vick, an aunt of Mrs. Brown, came to Liberty Hall when one of the Browns children died to be of comfort to the family.  Margaret died of a heart attack in one of the bedrooms a few days after her arrival.  She seems to appear throughout the mansion dressed in gray.  Doors open and close, there are cold spots and strange lights.  People have spotted her looking out an upstairs window.   A curator took some pictures of a restoration project and in one picture there is an image of a woman coming down the stairs.

A Spanish opera star disappeared from the grounds in 1805 while staying at the Browns.  She was last seen walking near the river.  Her body was never found.  A dark-haired female ghost has been seen running through the grounds.

A soldier appears peering into the living room window on occasion.

Click for hours, tours, directions and more information.

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Click to check out Liberty Hall on Haunted Houses.Com

THE GREATEST FAMILY FEUD, THE HATFIELDS AND MCCOYS

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thehatfieldclan
The feud between two Appalachian families, the Hatfields and McCoys is one of the most famous battles in history. These two mountain families fought for years. The McCoys lived on the Kentucky side of Tug Fork, a tributary of the Big Sandy River and the Hatfields lived on the West Virginia side.

Most members of both families fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War but Harman McCoy of Kentucky fought on the Union side. Some say his murder was the first violence in the feud. Harmon was actually killed by some ex-confederates but the McCoys suspected Devil Hatfield. Devil was actually innocent of the crime. He owned a timber operation during this period and even employed several McCoys.

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Devil Hatfield

The Hatfields were affluent people for their time and well connected politically.

Then, there are those that say the violence really started over the ownership of a hog. Floyd Hatfield had it and Randolph McCoy said it belonged to him.

In truth, the dispute was over property lines. The pig was in the fight because one family believed because the pig was on their land it was theirs. They went to a local Justice of the Peace (who by the way was a preacher and a Hatfield) and the McCoys lost due to the testimony of a relative of both families, Bill Staton.

The feud escalated when Roseanna McCoy and Johnse Hatfield began having an affair and Roseanna went to West Virginia to live. Johnse abandoned her when she became pregnant and married her cousin, Nancy McCoy.

roseannamccoyhatfield2520-2520johnse25202_small_smallJonse Hatfield

The feuding continued and between 1880 and 1891 more than a dozen members of the two families were shot, stabbed, hung or murdered. To try and restore order both the Kentucky and West Virginia militias had to be called up.

The U.S. Supreme Court became involved in 1888 due to the murder of Alifair McCoy. Alifair was shot running from a burning building set aflame by eight Hatfield men. The men were all found guilty. One was executed by hanging and seven received terms of life in prison. The hanging took place in Pikeville, Kentucky.

Finally, in 1891 the Hatfields and McCoys agreed to stop fighting.

An actual peace treaty was signed in June 2003 in Pikeville by members of both families.

Kevin Costner starred in the three-part miniseries Hatfields and McCoys, which premiered on May 28, 2012 on the History Channel. It immediately broke a record by pulling 13.9 million viewers

Since I was born and raised in Kentucky, I have heard about this feud all my life. I don’t think I am related to any of these people but the names are common in Kentucky. The descendants of the two families even appeared on the t.v. game show Family Feud several years ago and they had a live pig on stage during the entire show.

Read more here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatfield%E2%80%93McCoy_feud

http://www.wvculture.org/history/crime/hatfieldmccoy01.html

 

How Paducah, Kentucky got its name

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George Rogers Clark flood wall mural. (Photo by John Cashon)

A great post about how the city of Paducah, Kentucky actually got its name and puts to rest previous incorrect stories.

Reflecting on History with John Cashon

A common story told in the Paducah area is that William Clark, of the Lewis and Clark fame, named Paducah for a Chickasaw chieftain called Chief Paduke, but this is incorrect. Clark was actually referring to a tribe he learned about during his travels exploring the west.

In a letter to his son on April 27, 1827, Clark wrote:

“I expect to go to the mouth of the Tennessee River, and be absent about two weeks. I have laid out a town there and intend to sell some lots in it, the name is Paducah, one of the largest Indian nations known in this country, and now almost forgotten.”

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