My son and I made a visit this summer to find a slave graveyard that was reported to be located on a recently developed Civil War Battlefield Park which involves several sites in Madison County, Kentucky. The site we were headed for was a homestead called the Pleasant View House and Farm.Nothing in its published flyer indicated that there was a slave graveyard on site.
What the flyer did say was that Joseph Barnett built the present house on the property in 1825 and at that time he owed 20 slaves. And, he also owned 578 acres. This information was a good base to help us understand the spatial pattern of the graveyard. So off we went toward a rise on the land, a distance back of the old house, to find the slave graveyard.
The first thing we noticed when we spotted the graveyard was that it was divided into two sections – African American slave on one side and European white pioneer family on the other.
EUROPEAN WHITE GRAVE SECTION
It was a small graveyard and according to a sign posted by it, it had been in a deteriorated state for a long time previous to a recent restoration. There were approximately fourteen or so grave-markers on the white side and about six or so on the slave side.
The white side consisted of two types of grave-markers; the ledger type and the head and foot marker type. The African American slave side of the graveyard had two types of grave markers. One being head stone and foot stone type made by a stone cutter and the second type -- some head stones and foot stones -- being simply a field stone to mark the head and one also to mark the foot.
MY SON MAKING RUBBINGS OF THE LEDGER INSCRIPTIONS
The ledger types were large flat one-piece stones covering the grave, similar to the cover of a tablet, and placed on a raised limestone foundation. The inscription was on the ledger’s topside. Most of the ledger grave-markers were difficult to read – exposure to weather and the type of local stone used had blurred or erased much of the writing.
My son came up with the idea of doing rubbings to determine what information we could obtain about the deceased. This method did help some in deciphering some of the names and dates.
The ledger style was expensive in its time and is believed to have been used by the wealthy. Historically, they are believed to be a British tradition.
HEAD STONE IN SLAVE SECTION
The head stones in both the slave and white sections of the plot, if made by a stone cutter, carried the name and date of the deceased. The foot stone simply had the initial of the deceased.
Southern folk grave-markers are simple and unadorned. None of the grave –markers had adornment such as flowers, birds etc. The graveyard was on a rise, which is a southern thing -- this tradition is older than Christianity. The front side of the head stone is smooth while the sides and back have chisel marks – a sign of back country grave stone-cutters
FOOT STONE OF EMILY'S HEADSTONE -- PHOTO ABOVE
The earliest deceased date that we found was 1806 and the latest was 1851 -- pre-Civil War times. These dates definitely indicate back country living for this region of Kentucky. Also, I would consider this graveyard a folk one due to its dates, arrangement and back country location.
SLAVE HEAD STONE WITH FOOT STONE
Grave stone-cutters in the backcountry during the above dates were involved in other artisan trades along with stone cutting. Many grave stone-cutters were itinerate and travelled over large regions.
SLAVE HEAD STONE INSCRIPTION In Memory
Joshua Servant of
Jos Barnett Jr born
1798 & died by a
stroke of Lightning
July 1827
In the early 1800s, markers were not always placed on the grave site at the time of death. This was due to time spent sending away for a grave-marker and then having it delivered by wagon. This could take up to a year or so. The spatial arrangement of the plot is similar to early Scots-Irish traditions – linear rows. The slave side was also dictated by this pattern.
CLOSE-UP OF JOSHUA HEAD STONE (PHOTO ABOVE)
This graveyard in all probability has many more secrets to unveil through its material culture. My son and I made two trips to the plot and feel we still missed some of the clues to its history.
CHISEL MARKS ON BACK SIDE OF HEAD STONE
For sources to check out about folk graveyards – see below. I never thought that graveyards could be so culturally fascinating but now I know I will be on the lookout for more of the same.
SOURCES:
Books
Texas Graveyards: A Cultural Legacy by Terry G. Jordan
Sticks and Stones: Three Centuries of North Carolina Gravemarkers by M. Ruth Little
Ghosts along the Cumberland by William Lynwood Montell
OLD ROW HOUSES ALONG MARKET STREET
MAYSVILLE, KENTUCKY
Maysville, Mason County, Kentucky, is a small town with a large area of housing and commercial buildings that need to be seen to be appreciated. It is an old river town, along the Ohio River, that had its beginning in the late 1700s.
Here is a town in situ (buildings not moved) that has remained viable for the folks that live in the area. There is a movement to upgrade sympathetically -- keeping the structure in line with its original design.
I recently talked with Sara Swope from the Maysville Chamber of Commerce and Lynn David from the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center to ascertain the architectural history of their town. They were both very informative about the mindset of the folks that live there. They both said that the town had families going back several generations and were not anxious to change the architecture of the town. Many natives of the area owned the buildings and felt they should remain as they are.. With such citizens their buildings have become their architectural legacy to Kentucky.
2ND STREET -- STREETSCAPE -- MAYSVILLE KENTUCKY
My trip to Maysville was a jaw-dropping experience. As I rode into town I was met by a commercial downtown that seems to have every historic type of style imaginable.. Known locally as Old Town, it reflected its economic pattern by the types of buildings standing -- they were built from 1784 through the late 1800s. If you are a folklife or historic preservation student or layperson of architecture this is where you should visit, to not only see the structures but the connections that they have to the land and the social setting of the town, This is a real working and living town not a planned museum complex.
OLD OPERA HOUSE -- 2ND STREET -- MAYSVILLE, KENTUCKY
Unfortunately, my time was very limited in the town. I had my camera with me however, some turned out dark as the sun was going down. Given the wrong conditions for taking streetscapes, I still pointed the camera and clicked. I wanted to at least give you a small window of some of Maysville's streetscapes. I plan to revisit this place often as it holds threads to our present life -- such as art history, architectural history, settlement patterns, economies, and a cultural matrix of other realities.
A couple thoughts stood out in my mind as I glanced at the buildings. First and foremost was that the town essentially resembled a time warp. not economically but through their buildings. If I were designing a mid- 1800s movie location, I would say that this town would be the perfect set.
EARLY 1930s SHERWIN WILLIAMS SIGN, 2ND STREET
Aboveis an Italianate building that housed the Hendrickson Paint Company beginning in 1908 through 2004. The Sherwin Williams sign was installed on its facade in the early 1930s. Its retail business was paint, wallpaper and home furnishing. This is just one of the many examples of the historic and cultural elements of the town.
2ND STREET -- STREETSCAPE
MAYSVILLE, KENTUCKY
More of 2nd Street. This street section appears to hold earlier buildings than the photo -- second one down from the top -- of this post. Of course my fast glimpse of the town didn't allow time for close examination.
Ms Swope and Ms David provided quite a bit of detail of the Maysville area. Their generoisity and time was greatly appreciated.
Now when I visit Maysville again (and again) I will allow plenty of time to take in the town.
Last weekend, when I drove my son to the Amtrak station in Maysville, Kentucky, we stopped at several interesting spots along the drive. One was a place called Washington. It was a "place" along a two-lane country road that was settled in the late 1700s and still retained remnants of that first settlement period.
Originally, in the 1790s the area around Washington contained around 119 log cabins. Above is one of the original log homes remaining in situ (not moved from its original place). There are only about ten of the original number left in the area.
As one can tell from looking at the above photo, the log home is rather tilted from its years of use and exposure to the elements. But up until recently it was a Visitors Center for people to stop in and find out about the area.
The first thing I noticed about the place were the shutters. I was not familiar with these types on old historic homes and wondered if it was some type of retro fit to make it look charming. A little research and I came up with the photo above from the Library of Congress. The same type of shutters were being used on this 1862 photo of a gin house in North Carolina. I suspect that the shutters are a southern indigenous type. It would be fitting that the log home would adopt a naive type as it is constructed simply.
The windows, I believe, are perhaps original but I can't say for sure. Many homes from the late 1700s had 6 over 6 panes in the windows or a 9 pane (lights) sash (McAlester). The chinking of course is recent as most old chinking had to be replaced every five years or so.
The original builder/s must have been quite short as my son would have to duck to get in the front door if it were open. I suppose that is why someone put the sign above the door that says, "duck."
Right now there is no one living in the place. but it is being well maintained.
There was a sign out front that said that the home had been used as a residence up until the 1950s. At one time there were actually two families that lived in the log cabin.
The above photo is the back of the house. It shows the frame addition that was added in 1805. The roof is still being kept in what was probably the original type -- wood shake shingle. There are two chimneys -- one to the right in the photo and another to the left on the addition.
The chimneys are old brick. I wondered if they had been limestone originally as so many of the historic homes in Kentucky have it as chimney material. I called the Washington Visitor Center the day after I got back -- I found it online and I talked to a Jeanette Tolle. She said the chimneys were original and that the bricks had been produced right on the property.
I want to go back to this area when I have time. It certainly is an area rich in vernacular architecture.
Sunday Simplicities is about -- my outlook on life. Now in retirement I am observing new horizons -- opportunities have surfaced. Economies have changed as well as my perspective on what is truly important in my simple life. Stay tuned.
SMALL TOWN CUSTOM -- TOWN FOLK SIT OUT IN FRONT OF A STOREFRONT AND DISCUSS THE WORLD OR TOWN EVENTS
As we are aware, small towns are declining. In 1950 44 %. of Americans lived on farms or small towns -- now it has declined to about 23%. Small towns located near urban areas fare better as employment opportunities are near. Decline has been attributed to many factors -- farmers losing out to large aggregate farming (read, corporate industrial), movement by the young to urban areas for jobs, loss of transportation such as railroads and not being near new highway systems, all of which cause political and economic shifts benefiting larger cities. Result -- small town decline. Small towns have been fighting this, some have been winning. But most are not.
OLD THEATER SEATS POISED INSIDE THE OLD COX HARDWARE BUILDING, MT VERNON, KENTUCKY
As I travel around Kentucky and other states I always like to take the back country roads and ride through the small towns and places. They offer many opportunities to experience what you cannot find elsewhere. Two of my favorites are the local businesses and architecture. The less disturbed the town is from outside influences the better I enjoy it.
A VICTORIAN FENCE SITTING ON AN EMPTY LOT -- A REMNANT LEFT FROM A BURNT-DOWN HOUSE IN MT VERNON KENTUCKY.
I have noticed that many folks like to jump in their cars and take rides in the country and small towns. Do they stop? I don't know. Are they treating these small towns like museums? Could be!
Let me call these "jump in the car and take a ride" folks, small town travelers or STT folks.
As a suggestion, perhaps small towns in an area could join together and highlight what the area has to offer. Not the Motel 8 or the McDonalds but the different-- the unique -- what they have and don't realize it. How about the streetscapes in many of these towns that hold authentic buildings built in situ by locals using many local resources. A tiny Victorian building, a century old city hall built of native stone plus much more. Yes, the STT will say "oh, that's pretty," as they drive through, but never know what they are really looking at.
Let's do what some small towns are beginning to do -- have a tiny visitor center run by volunteers. Package the unique and different in little flyers and provide a walking tour map. Leave the commercial ads out. Get school kids involved designing a small town web site for their town, again leave out the ads. Maybe do this a few times a year. Not a festival -- just a plain ole appreciation of small towns event. Get the folks interested in the towns. Start a movement of BACK TO SMALL TOWN LIVING. With computers one can live and work just about anyplace. I'm not suggesting a tourist town or area but to introduce folks to what is and was the beauty of small town living. Just an idea to perhaps plug the leaking decline.
BEAUTIFUL LIMESTONE STAIRS TO NOWHERE -- SMALL TOWN BUILDING -- MISSING IN ACTION
Small towns and villages hold a history of settlement and offer individuals a chance to live life in non-pretentious ways. The photos on this post were taken in the small town of Mt Vernon. Their population is abut 2,592 according to the 2000 census. They are quickly losing their lovely main street vitality as storefront businesses leave -- the fabric shrinks.
These are just a few ideas that popped into my head -- I'm sure there are many more out there.
This morning, before the rain fell, I went down to visit the tall mature Northern Catalpa tree that lives down the lane from my homestead. Right now it is full of thousands of blooms that appear to me like orchids. It's the only Northern Catalpa on my lane and lives naturally among other hardy trees near a small creek. The tree not only brings my admiration for its ability to produce beautiful blooms but also stirs past memories.
.
As a child there was a street called Catalpa very near my home. It was called Catalpa as these trees lined the street intermittently for a couple miles. They were planted as street trees during the early settlement of the town and now in my youth were reaching about 50 feet or more into the air.
Today, street trees are tiny frail trees compared to the giant hardy trees of my childhood. Then, I remember large elms branching over my street as well as my yard, shading and cooling our environment. They contributed a certain aura of dignity and peace.
However, today when landscapers are plugging new street trees into the soil in front of a house they must be "clean" -- no big seed pods or large amounts of leaves to "litter" the yards. This means no leaf piles for kids to play in, no blaze of color in the fall, less oxygen produced into the air we breath, no cooling breezes or shading, and less habitat for many of those wild critters that need "real" trees.
About a month ago I was lost on twisting narrow roads that you find in the back-country where I live. Even though I was lost I was observing the beautiful views from my windshield. I knew I would eventually find my way out of the road maze.
While lost, I spotted this old abandoned Kentucky homestead off the side of the road with a real estate for sale sign. The place was gated so I had to shoot my post photos from quite a distance.
Now I am speculating that the attitude of most people who drive pass this homestead view it as a bunch of falling down, useless shacks (except developers). I view it in another way.
This is what I view when I gaze out upon such places. I see -- continuity and change, tradition, folk culture, authentic people, family, settlement patterns, craftsmanship, material culture, life and death, and sustainability over time and space. What do you see?
Today is St Patrick's Day and I thought it would be appropriate to put a photo on of the above barn that I found in Jackson, County Kentucky a few weeks ago. The sign stuck above the open doorway says, CLOVER BOTTOM. After all, a clover is a symbol of Ireland as well as one of the symbols of St Patrick's Day.
I, myself am half Irish. I call it my better half. My family came to Canada in the mid 1800s and formed kinship and Irish clans in the area. Many of this clan crossed over the border into Michigan at the beginning of the 1900s. Irish were a close knit group back then, keeping to themselves as they were regarded as second class during those early times. But the good thing is, it kept the Irish strain together as Irish married Irish. That is how I can claim that I am half Irish -- I know the genealogy trail.
Today, in the U. S. many St Patrick traditions have come about. On the "day of" one should wear green or expect a pinch, drink green beer, eat Irish food, or if you live in Chicago expect to see the river turn green. All fun and a day when everyone is looked upon as Irish.
The clover or the shamrock as it is called in Ireland, has a history dating back to the ancient Celts. Its original meaning was that the three leaves represented; gods, goddesses, and time and balance of energies.
And, oh yes, the Clover Bottom barn in the above photo -- it is actually a designated name for a "place" in Jackson County. I had heard of the area of Clover Bottom but when I went searching for the place I had difficulty finding it. The sign on this barn was the only hint that it did indeed exist. Maybe it is a mystical place like many of the old stories told by Irish leprechauns?
Jesse Splawn at 77 was still going strong as a gardener when I met him in 1989. He had lived his entire life since he was three on a hundred-acre family farm outside of Brownsville, Oregon located in the beautiful lush WillametteValley. His roots were deep in the area.
Never marrying, he was an independent and knowledgeable person of the land. I sat down with him many an afternoon on an old log in his yard while he shared his life stories with me. One of his stories was about his ornamental front-dooryard garden. Of course this is not what Jesse called it; to him it was his, “mother’s garden.”
By definition, historically, a front-dooryard garden is one that is within the usually enclosed front yard of a home. The Splawn front-dooryard garden began in 1915 when Jesse was three. His mother planted and maintained the garden and her children helped with the weeding. Jesse assumed the care of the garden after his mother died in the mid-1950s. He assured me that it was still of the same basic arrangement that his Missouri-born mother first planted in the early 1900s.
FRONT YARD GARDEN -- PART OF TEN FOOT WIDE ROW TO THE RIGHT -- FOUR FOOT WIDE ROW IN THE MIDDLE
Jesse's mother lived her early life in Missouri and moved to Oregon shortly after she married Jesse's Oregon born father. His mother's garden pattern was reflective, perhaps, of Missouri gardens. She moved to Oregon as a young adult so she had time to fill her mind with Missouri patterns. Jesse, claimed her garden was plotted out according to,”what she knew in her head." and not by the,”garden pattern books" that were available at that time.
Following is a description of the garden pattern:
The layout of the garden was of two (2) approximately 30-foot long beds separated surrounded by weedy-mown pathways. The two beds were rectangular, one being approximately four feet wide and the second ten feet wide and were positioned perpendicular to the front porch. The ten foot wide bed lined up against a fence line and contained large shrubs as well as perennials and rose bushes. The four foot wide bed contained the same as the ten foot minus the shrubs.
The front porch overlooked the garden and was a small open one with a waist-high railing along its front. The garden and the porch were south facing. Both garden and porch were integral parts of the front-dooryard garden complex.
POTS AND PANS NURSERY ON FRONT PORCH
On the front porch were very old pots and pans that were damaged but provided excellent containers for growing plants.
Jesse got the plants for the old pots at the nearby cemetery. He explained that there was a place where the plants were dumped and he would pick out a few for nurturing. His front porch garden had a quaint look although that was not the intent. His nurturing was practical and being quaint was not a part of his thinking.
JESSE WITH HIS DOG AND WHIRLEY GIG AT END OF ROW
At the end of the four foot wide bed, near the front porch, was a wooden unpainted whirly-gig that was of the same design as the original one that was built for his mother's first plantings. The whirly-gig was a simple, unpainted design, the top piece turning with the direction of the wind. About four feet high it was made of four pieces - the pole, head, body, and the propeller that turned with the wind. Over the years the whirly-gig had to have various parts replaced as the damp Oregon winters eventually rotted the wood. The whirly-gig remained the same design through all the repairs.
Jesse maintained the bed by shallow digging with a shovel -- no mulch -- just soil exposed around the plants. He did not use any chemicals or even organic fertilizer or compost. He just let Mother Nature take care of the health of the plants as he felt that she did a good job. Even with Oregon's dry summers he did not use any watering system to supplement the droughty weather. The garden evolved apparently from knowledge of tough plants that could survive this type of care.
Roses were the predominant plants in both beds. In the wide bed a Harrison rose bush grew. Jesse said it had its origins from the early days when his father's ancestors traveled with the root stock along the Oregon Trail..
Occasionally, a small snake slithered in and out of the grass as one walked around the garden -- it was rich with wild critters. Birds sang woven complexities of various sounds. One of the old hardwood trees near the garden had an old blooming rose that climbed twenty-plus feet up the trunk and into the lower branches. Overall it was a chorus of nature's spontaneity.
Jesse died about ten years ago. He was the last caretaker. The garden no longer exists. It was an example of a distinctive folk vernacular garden. It contained artistic embellishment, social history, and individual predilections. It had garden patterns that were woven into the social fabric of early settlement in Oregon. It was a naturalistic form of expression conveying the emotional roots of the Splawn family.
Sometimes while cruising down a country highway or back road, we come upon a few homes and stores clustered within a semi-defined commercial landscape. The stores can be either deserted or, "hanging in there." Usually the cluster exudes the feeling of a time past, one that is beyond its prime. My father used to define these types of places as, "just a spot in the road."
In Rockcastle County, Kentucky there is an old clustered settlement called Conway which was named after a timber man. He founded the settlement as a commercial place to operate his business. His selective harvesting was mostly virgin timber from the surrounding area. White oak was the most desirable of the trees being cut. Eventually most of the valuable trees were cleared out and Mr. Conway moved on leaving the settlement to survive on its own.
Always a very small settlement of a few homes and commercial places, it attempted to make a go of itself. An example of survival was the old Conway Garage. Existing during the 1930s - 40s and perhaps before, it is now a building with a completely different commercial focus. Changes occur by necessity to survive.
OLD CONWAY GARAGE EXTERIOR
Above is a vintage photo of the exterior surrounding the old Conway Garage. A small child in the picture gives one an idea of the height of this large truck. Another plays with a tire off to the left. Notice the large sign on the building announcing CONWAY GARAGE and an old hand pump off to the side of the truck.
UPDATED CONWAY GARAGE
Today the structure exists as a deli and small grocery that has been updated almost beyond recognition of the original garage.
"Bones" tell the story when looking at old architecture. You get the feeling that the structure is old by its overall details. Compare the old Conway garage photo at the top of this post and this updated Conway garage photo above you can pick out some of the, "bones" of the old structure.
CONWAY COMMERCIAL BUILDING
Down the street a bit is an old store that has additions and sheds surrounding it. But the architectural false facade front is a dead give away that it is from another time.
FRONT FACADE CONWAY COMMERCIAL BUILDING
Old style store bay windows were used to show-case wares, undoubtedly ones that were needed by the locals of the area. It appears that the last use for the store was possibly a resale shop?
FRONT DOOR CONWAY COMMERCIAL BUILDING
-- CLOSED --
A "closed"sign hanging on the door could mean closed permanently, as many of these commercial clusters can be here one day and gone the next usually due to redevelopment growth of an area. This particular building has had a closed sign on it for at least a year.
Conway's old architecture seems to indicate that the prime time in this town was during the early 1900s. Changing ways determine if settlements like these can remain viable.
