Kentucky History

The purpose of this research is to
identify and map the foaling locations for
Kentucky-born Kentucky Derby winners,
determine which birth sites have retained
their horse farm functions, and explore the
human and equine stories that shaped the
landscapes and contributed to the cultural
history of the Kentucky Derby. I investigate
how a detailed geography of Kentucky
Derby winners could impact
Thoroughbred farms and tourism in Kentucky.
The results of this research does, in
some cases, challenge aspects of accepted
Kentucky Derby history. The passage of time, errors in previously published
accounts, and the vagaries of consistent
equine record-keeping, makes this topic
ripe for critical evaluation. The horses and
the people around them—their “connections”—
have compelling stories to be told.
Although much has been written about
the Kentucky Derby from a historical perspective,
very little scholarly research has
been done through a geographic lens. It is
hoped that this research will draw attention
to this rich area of spatial inquiry and
contribute to a better understanding of the
Kentucky Derby as a cultural institution.

The topic of this paper addresses the mysterious and understudied origin story of The Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels. When Kentucky's first governor, Isaac Shelby, began carving out the new state of Kentucky by forming and strengthening the militia. Shelby would eventually meet a young Charles Todd serving under General James Winchester who would go on to marry Shelby's daughter and, legend has it, become the first honorary Colonel that would spawn the Order of the Kentucky Colonels. This paper addresses the period from the inception of Kentucky to the War of 1812 as it is concerned with the history surrounding Governor Shelby and the young militia Officer Todd. This paper will argue that though disputed, the official history of the Kentucky Colonels is arguably correct.

Occupation, use, and symbolic construction of place in the Mammoth Cave region of Kentucky has resulted in five distinct eras of place-making during the past two hundred years. The connectedness of Mammoth Cave to the larger national stage is revealed through struggles over control and development that wrought successive transformations upon the cultural landscape. The symbolic import of the world’s largest cave altered as, in turn, resource extraction, tourism, and environmentalism became the dominant ideology influencing development in the Mammoth Cave region. This paper positions the process of placemaking at Mammoth Cave within the changing scene of American society and culture.

This essay will examine Madge Vertner, Griffith's second antislavery novel, as an exilic voice of Kentucky abolitionism.  The novel speaks to many of the reasons why its author left Kentucky with such antagonism and, given the declining death of the novel's heroine, possibly suggests Griffith believed that if she had not left Owensboro her spirit might have died there too.  Mattie Griffith was a Kentucky novelist, but no local patriot.

Known at the Philological Society as 'The Erudite Fossil' this paper is an essay on the Sandstone Specimen found in Kentucky at Rough River Lake and traces the Stone's origin all the way to the Pennsylvanian Epoch during the time of Pangea.

Under contract with Walsh Construction Company, ASC Group, Inc., has conducted a Phase I archaeological survey for two parcels for the US 421 Milton-Madison Bridge project , from Milton, Kentucky, to Madison, Indiana. The project is administered jointly by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and the Indiana Department of Transportation. The setting is the Ohio River floodplain in Milton, Kentucky. The purpose of the Phase I survey is to provide information for compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA, as amended) and to recover archaeological information on two areas, specifically a grassy area and area adjacent to the bridge in the east parcel and a graveled lot in the west parcel. The construction project planned to walk cranes and heavy beams across these parcels and use the cranes and other machinery to complete construction of the Milton-Madison Bridge, leading to concerns about compaction negatively affecting features or artifacts that might be in these parcels. Prior to the fieldwork it was not known whether a site that existed north of the two parcels, 15Tm112, might extend into either or both of these parcels. The prehistoric component of 15Tm112 was previously determined eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Additionally, it was not known if historic archaeological remains might be located in either parcel that relate to the Third Street Historic District, which covers much of the area to be investigated.

In the spring of 2008 history students from Morehead State University took part in a public history project at the Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park. Lead by Associate Professor of History, Dr. Adrian Mandzy, the team consisted of six students from the history junior seminar class and a team of specialists from the Battlefield Restoration and Archaeological Volunteer Organization (BRAVO). The goal of this project was to locate any remaining evidence from “The Last Battle of the American Revolution”. Fought in northeastern Kentucky, a group of Native Americans and their British allies defeated a group of American settlers. Among the legendary figures that fought at the battle were Daniel Boone, who lost his son in the battle, and Levi Todd, the grandfather of Mary Todd Lincoln.
During the course of this research project, students learned how to conduct an archaeological survey and write a report for a state agency. By working with professionals in the field, students were provided with a hands-on experience that went beyond the traditional classroom environment. As a result of the survey, we were able to establish the actual location on the battlefield and provide the park with the evidence to lobby for placement of the battlefield on the National Register of Historic Places. This project was made possible through the generous support of the Kentucky Humanities Council, the Robinson County Tourism Commission, and Morehead State University.

This paper is a remembrance of the Slack Farm site (15UN28). It considers the 1987 events that led to its looting, the work of collecting evidence for the Kentucky State Medical Examiner's Office carried out by archaeologists and the volunteers who helped them, the role Native people played in the project, and what ultimately happened - to the looters, the artifacts, the site protection laws in Kentucky and surrounding states, and the site itself.  This essay was submitted to the Archaeology For the People accessible archaeology writing contest sponsored by the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World at Brown University in 2014. It was selected as one of five meritorious runner-up essays from a field of about 150 entries.

The Broaddus site, as discussed in my last paper (Great Pyramids of Kentucky: Constellation Alignments in the Broaddus (Ft. Ancient) Site, ResearchGate, September 2018), shows interesting constellation alignments. In the pursuit of discovering those alignments, Giza and Caracol (Belize) were cross referenced for well known Orion or Cygnus configuration sites. In the course of that exercise, the Bauval 11,000 BCE alignment was verified, but at the same time Orion was precluded from being the source of inspiration for the Fort Ancient (1200-1300 CE) site.

This paper analyzes creation museums that explain the biblical creation story as an authoritative “scientific fact,” a certain type of museum that has become popular since the 1980s in the United States. Based on the perspectives gained from museum studies and from my analysis of exhibits during my fieldworks in August 2010 and January 2011 at the Creation Museum (2007-) in Petersburg, Kentucky, I argue that the museum problematizes the concept of “science museum” through its identity politics of scientific knowledge.

In the context of creation-evolution controversy since the 19th century, creationists after the 1970s have emphasized the validity of creationism by using scientific explanations, or so-called “creation science.” However, evolutionists have harshly criticized it and have argued that the controversy does not serve as a ground for “scientific debate.” Meanwhile, creationists have taken another strategy for justifying the creation science. With the change in the role of museum education particularly since the 1980s, scientifically authorized objects at exhibitions often have been replaced by replicas of authorized objects or audio-visual materials. As the visitors do not pay much attention to whether objects at science museums are scientifically authentic or not, the Creation Museum has come to use many scientifically unauthorized materials as their scientific “evidence.” From my analysis of its exhibitions, I demonstrate that this strategy enables the museum to succeed in avoiding the evolutionists’ counterarguments on the exhibited objects by appropriating traits of typical science museums.

[*An English version will be published soon.]

Kentucky, one of four Commonwealth states, became the 15th state of the Union in 1792. It was the birthplace of both president’s Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, was explored by Daniel Boone, saw numerous battles during both the Revolution and Civil War and is mostly known for its bourbon, moonshine, tobacco and horses. It is also home to hundreds of buildings, some on the National Register, which are adorned with thousands of gargoyles, grotesques and Green Men. Solidly a Christian state, Kentucky continues to publicly exhibit on its old buildings ancient symbols and icons which have been part of humankind’s history for thousands of years, far longer than Christianity has existed. Ancient symbolism continuously influences the lives of everyone, in every society, throughout time. This is because symbols are important to each generation and seem to be imbedded in the psyche. Symbols satisfy a need to be linked to an ancient tradition and the physical remains of that tradition. Overtime these symbols, and the various things they represent, become absorbed into the dominating culture and religion and come to represent the core values of those cultures and religions. This is especially obvious in the development of Christianity.

In cooperation with the Boone County Public Library, the Boone County Historic Preservation Review Board, and the Rabbit Hash Historical Society, Gray & Pape, Inc. conducted an archaeological and architectural assessment of the Craig-Ewalt farmstead and cemetery in Boone County, Kentucky. These investigations were focused on documenting the log house prior to disassembly, identifying any intact subsurface archaeological deposits, and delineating the boundaries of the Craig Cemetery.

The Craig-Ewalt farmstead is located on the south side of Beaver Road (KY 338), approximately 1.25 kilometers (0.78 miles) west of its intersection with Riddles Run Road, in the East Bend area of Boone County. This research was conducted as a “rescue archaeology” effort to document the site prior to removal of the log house and subsequent grading and contouring of the landscape. The log house (KHC Resource Be-315) associated with the Craig-Ewalt farmstead was disassembled in late April 2015, and moved to the farm of Butch and Mary Ann Wainscott in Petersburg, Kentucky.

Although architectural elements suggest that the house was constructed during the mid-nineteenth century, artifacts found within the fill surrounding the foundation indicate that it was constructed adjacent to Beaver Road (Locus 1) during the late-nineteenth century. It appears that the log house was originally constructed approximately one-half mile to the south (Locus 2), shortly after William Ewalt acquired the property in 1844. Based on the results of this research, it is likely that the log house was moved from Locus 2 to Locus 1 sometime after publication of D. J. Lake’s (1883) Boone County Atlas.

A Ground-Penetrating-Radar survey of the Craig Cemetery identified at least nine potential interments. This family cemetery appears to have been established in 1852, with the death of Capt. John Hawkins Craig, a veteran of the Revolutionary War. However, earlier graves may be present. Additional known burials include Franklin Craig and John P. Craig; both of whom are sons of Capt. John Hawkins Craig and Sallie Snelling Craig. Historical research indicates that Sallie Snelling Craig is also buried in this cemetery. Currently, the Craig Cemetery is in disrepair and nearly all grave markers have been moved, broken, or are missing.

The Camp Nelson Military Prison (15Js78) in Jessamine County, Kentucky, was constructed in 1863 to hold 200 to 300 military and civilian criminals. Only rarely were Confederate prisoners of war kept within this stockade. Historical documents, including maps and photographs, have shown that the prison consisted of a jail surrounded by a stockade and numerous support structures. Archaeological investigations have broadened our understanding of the location of documented and undocumented buildings, the location and construction methods of the stockade, activity areas, and the material culture and diet of the prisoners.

Studying the way Americans have received and refashioned the Boone story offers a fascinating insight into the making and remaking of an ideal American identity, along with many aspects of the national mythology. Emerging at the end of the revolutionary war, the Boone myth reached its zenith in the Jacksonian and antebellum eras and Turner used it in his seminal frontier essay of 1893. The Frontier myth first underwent criticism in the middle of the 20th century, in the field of cultural and literary studies with Roger Nash Smith's Virgin Land (1950) and Richard Slotkin's Regeneration Through Violence (1973). It was demolished several decades later in historiography by a generation of historians and ethnohistorians who called for a new, anti-turnerian history. There was a ethnohistory and new western history turn in the 1980s and 1990s and many folk heroes of the West such as Davy Crockett and William Cody have since fallen from their pedestals. The statue of Daniel Boone, however, stands erect. This paper will analyse the way historians have looked at the statue.

In the previous article I mentioned the presence of huge mounds in the formation of shell middens of single platforms, constructed in the era of pyramid building worldwide. I proposed that there was some form of logistical plan, and that it is very unlikely that subsistence aboriginal cultures employed garbage dumping. Rather, it is my belief that these mounds were planned. 96 Since then, I have learned through Graham Hancock's new book, "America Before," about the Amazonian Dark Earth soil called terra-preta. In short, this soil was not only manufactured , it is  incredibly proficient at fertilizing agricultural forests. With it, the Amazonians were able to ostensibly feed millions of people , just as reported by the Spanish conquistadors in their deep jungle searches for  lost golden cities. The Archaic Kentuckians also preferred tree products. Whereas before the mainstream archaeology was self-assured that no more than few thousands-and no practical civilization-could have existed in the Amazon, we now know due to the earthworks found in and around Llanos de Moxos (Mojos) , Bolivia, near to both Brazil and Peru, and not very far from Lake Titicaca.

A second trip to the platform was scheduled to provide some high definition drone photography of the platform. Secondly, to recheck the electromagnetics of the site. Finally to use the photography and digitally put the stones back together, and re-measure the equatorial: polar diameter ratios.
Unfortunately, the site has been tampered with, even since 2018, and many of the stones are now missing (compared with the before). Erosion appears to be a factor as well. But it seems likely that the site is too demolished to get a perfect DR measurement even with an orthogonal perspective.  However, based on Figure 2, and utilizing the edges of the gray area/stone area, that there will be an approximate 65:55 ratio or 1.18. That is a 4.07% difference with the Ramesses II stele, as per the author’s previous paper. However, the shape is different and is closer to the Cosmic Egg than an ellipse, or is very nearly triangular. 
This means the site remains -and is growing due to destruction-  a mystery (but the stones are natural).

Albert Covington Janin was the key architect of tourism development at Mammoth Cave for two decades at the start of the twentieth century, yet little has been written about his tenure. This paper explores his background and accomplishments for the period 1900 to 1910 as an initial attempt to understand his contributions to Mammoth Cave. Material about  his activities in relation to Mammoth Cave is synthesized from primary sources in the archival collections of the Huntington Library (HL) of San Marino, California, and the Historical Society of Washington, DC (HSW).

The Disciples of Christ or Restoration Movement had its genesis in the early part of the nineteenth century. As the movement moved westward, individuals and complete congregations of other religious persuasions aligned themselves with the new movement. As churches were established on the frontier, a need for grammar schools, secondary schools, and higher education soon followed the movement west. Many individuals seeing this need, established schools.

In 1836, the Disciples higher educational mission began with Bacon College - after a name change to Kentucky University and a move to Harrodsburg, the Civil War necessitated the eventual merger with the oldest school west of the Alleghenies (Transylvania University). 

The resulting institution (which lives on as Transylvania University, the University of Kentucky, and Lexington Theological Seminary) became an archetype of the Restoration Movement’s further educational endeavors.

The 52,830-acre Mammoth Cave National Park, located in the karst region of south-central Kentucky, was formally established in July of 1941, culminating nearly three decades of park creation that displaced several thousand residents of the region. This thesis sampled residents using the 1920 manuscript census for the United States Census of Population and Housing and tracked their migration destinations using the 1930 and 1940 manuscript censuses. Migration patterns for the entire sample, as well as by race and homeownership status, were identified through mapping. Out-migrants generally chose locations north, west, and east of the proposed park area, noticeably neglecting the Deep South. Statistical analyses proved significant differences between proportions of Black out-migrants and White out-migrants moving to urban areas, as well as those of homeowners and renters who were not successfully tracked during analysis. The research underlines unintended consequences of the forced out-migration from the proposed Mammoth Cave National Park and several factors that contributed to it. In the process, the thesis fills a gap in research on Mammoth Cave National Park and sheds light on an important aspect of Kentucky’s history.

The Shylock stereotype was behind Union General Ulysses S. Grant's reasons for ordering General Order Number 11, on December 17, 1862, expelling "Jews as a class" from areas of Northern occupied former Confederate states Tennessee, Mississippi, and the Border State of Kentucky. General Order Number 11 stands out in American history as the first instance of a policy of official anti-Semitism on a large scale. At the time, prominent Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise called it an "outrage, without precedent in American history." During the Civil War, loyalty was a significant issue, especially in the three Border States. All three states, Missouri, Maryland, and Kentucky, had issues of dual-loyalty. Grant's Order was directly related to Southerners' Northern suspicions of those on the Border States about where their loyalties lied during the war. Jewish loyalties were always questioned throughout history more because the nation feared their devotion was to their co-religionists as opposed to their country. These two issues of loyalty collided and resulted in the worst incident of anti-Jewish prejudice in American history until that point.

George Summit(t) was one of the early pioneers of the state of Kentucky.  Founder of Summit Station in Kentucky, some of George's children went on to be early settlers in the new state of Missouri.  Using genealogy and census information, the names of George's children and their births are estimated.

Investigations at the Grizzly Newt rock shelter in Daniel Boone National Forest, Jackson County, Kentucky encountered relatively well-preserved deposits despite decades of intensive looting.  Excavations revealed the presence of a discernible Early Archaic component containing multiple features, diagnostic artifacts, botanicals, and faunal remains.  Subsequent Middle to Late Archaic and Woodland occupations also occur along with a significant Fort Ancient presence.  This paper offers preliminary findings related to the Early Archaic at Grizzly Newt and underscores the unrealized data potential of this site and carries significant implications for both research and the management of archaeological resources.

What began as a study on Squire Boone, brother of the legendary American frontiersman Daniel Boone, as the first Baptist in Kentucky, became the debunking of a Baptist myth. There is little evidence Boone was a Christian, much less a Baptist or a preacher!

"Stephen Collins Foster is the only composer with two state songs to his credit. His "Old Folks at Home" also known as "Way Down Upon the Suwanee River" is Florida's state song, and it is a verified fact that he never visited Florida, nor laid eyes on the Suwanee River" - TRUE KENTUCKY LEGENDS by Robert A. Powell

"The Big Bone Lick (Boone County, Kentucky) bison fauna offer a glimpse into the population dynamics and behavioral characteristics of eastern Bison bison during the late Holocene. Examination of the Big Bone Lick dentitions suggests a single kill event that took place during winter or spring. Furthermore, osteometric comparisons of crania and metacarpals between the Big Bone Lick (BBL) bison and western Bison samples suggest that this species adapted to environmental conditions in the eastern US by adjusting developmental timing rather than through overt morphological change. Finally, isotopic (d13C, d18O) analyses of bison tooth enamel hydroxylapatite and a unique progression of tooth
wear in older age groups indicate these bison were obligate browsers that exhibited substantial differences in inter-annual land-use patterns. The BBL bison assemblage represents a healthy, in situ bison population that successfully occupied a different ecological niche than bison on the Great Plains. Subsistence models that incorporate these animals should consider these important differences. "

John Mulkey joined Barton Stone’s reform after leaving the Baptists. He began preaching Stone’s restoration gospel; however, eleven years after leaving the Baptists, Baptist records state that he had been excommunicated because of his newfound teachings. Mulkey had kept silent about the details of his departure until his character was impugned in their records. His reply was to write a circular describing his reason for leaving the Baptist church—which was the belief that his religious liberty had been violated.

On this day in history, February 7, 1839, Henry Clay declares in the United States Senate “I had rather be right than president,” in a speech against petitions for the abolition of slavery, his speech would mark the end of his presidential aspirations in 1840. Historian Harlow Giles Unger in his book Henry Clay, America’s Greatest Statesman stated Clay “responded with one of the most prescient replies of his life — indeed, in the history of presidential politics.” (Unger) The venerable Whig Party politician and statesman Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky believed his time to win the presidency would finally be ripe in 1840. The former Secretary of State, Speaker of the House of Representatives and senator was known as the Great Compromiser for his work crafting three bills that averted a sectional crisis over slavery, “the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Tariff Compromise of 1833, and the Compromise of 1850.” Clay was a moderate when it came to slavery and his position aimed at averting a Civil War. Clay lived in a border state and spoke out against slavery, believed in colonization; however, he was a slaveholder.

It might fairly be stated that whenever the leading lights of
nineteenth-century American Old School Presbyterianism joined
ecclesiastical combat, Robert Jefferson Breckinridge (1800–1871) was
always a bridesmaid but never a bride. Though forever embroiled,
he was seldom the foremost figure in the numerous controversial
causes championed by his peers. Occasionally footnoted, he is rarely
researched. His important legacy is largely reduced to a history written by the conquering; he seems to be viewed mainly as a pugnacious
troubler and myopic knit-picker. Even one of the few works dedicated
to memorializing him labels Breckinridge an “American Presbyterian
controversialist.” Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that his role in the
“ruling elder controversy” of the mid-1800s has been widely misrepresented, and the views he expressed in the earliest days of the
debate not examined with appropriate thoroughness or charity. It is the purpose of this brief essay to lay a foundation for the notion
that, contrary to his critics’ accusations, Breckinridge did not conflate
two ecclesiastical offices, but argued for how to protect one from the
encroachments of the other.