The Region
Our family’s farm is situated in a fertile, scenic and historically significant area along the Ohio River in northern Kentucky.
Old Washington
“Heaven must be a Kentucky kind of place.”
Washington Fork Farm is located just four miles from historic Old Washington, Kentucky. Washington, on the National Register for Historic Places, was founded by frontiersman Simon Kenton in 1786 and formally established by the Virginia State Legislature in “Old Bourbon County.”
It is considered the first settlement named after General George Washington who would become president three years later. When Kentucky became the 15th state in 1792, the frontier community was home to 462 residents and a popular choice to become our fledgling nation’s capital.
Despite Old Washington’s modest stature today, it played an outsized role in American history:
In 1833, abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe visited Washington and witnessed a slave auction on the courthouse lawn. This experience helped inspire “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” which was the best-selling novel and the second best-selling book of the 19th century, following the Bible.
Future President Ulysses S. Grant attended the Maysville Academy (or Maysville Seminary) in 1836-37 before enrolling at West Point.
Washington also produced two Civil War generals: Union General William “Bull” Nelson and Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston. Ironically, Nelson and Johnston lived in the same home (albeit at different times) and attended the same Presbyterian Church.
Nelson, killed by a fellow Union general in 1862, was the namesake of Camp Nelson (Nicholasville, KY), a strategic supply depot that became the nation’s third largest recruiting and training grounds for African American soldiers supporting the Union Cause. By the time the 13th Amendment (ending slavery) was ratified in December 1865, more than 40% of the 23,000 black men that had enlisted as soldiers in Kentucky had come out of Camp Nelson.
Albert Sidney Johnston served as a general for three armies in his career: The Texian (Texas War of Independence), the United States and Confederacy,.
During the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, a bullet clipped an artery in the back of his knee, filling his boot with blood. When asked if he was wounded, he looked down and uttered his last words “Yes, and I fear seriously.” He became the highest ranking officer on either side killed during the Civil War.
Blue Licks
“I never met a Kentuckian who wasn’t either thinking about going home or actually going home.”
Washington Fork Farm is situated just fourteen miles from Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park. The salt springs have been a popular meeting place throughout history; attracting prehistoric mastadons, early Native Americans, pioneers and, by the end of the 19th century, travelers seeking respite at the mineral spring health resort.
Perhaps most notably, Blue Licks was the site of one of the last battles of the American Revolution, a full ten months after General Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown. In August 1782, 50 Loyalists, along with 300 indigenous warriors, ambushed 182 Kentucky militiamen, led in part by Daniel Boone. Among the casualties was Daniel’s 23 year old son, Israel, who was killed in action.
Maysville
“The people of Maysville, for intelligence, industry, enterprise, and sterling patriotism, are surpassed by none in the Union.”
Our farm is located just six miles from the town of Maysville, recently named “Best Southern Small Town” in a 2023 USA Today poll.
European-American settlers traveling down the Ohio found a natural harbor at the confluence with Limestone Creek, a prominent “buffalo trace” where the herds forded the river in search of salt licks. The trails beaten by the buffalo shaped a well-traveled path for Native Americans through the Bluegrass region in search of game, extending all the way to modern-day Lexington.
Founded in part by notable pioneers Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton, Maysville (then called Limestone) became a historically important port on the Ohio River. By 1786, Boone and his cousin had established a trading post and tavern.
By the 19th century, Maysville and the surrounding area became an important stop on the Underground Railroad. In Old Washington, lawyer and abolitionist James Paxton owned the Paxton Inn, a popular meeting place to discuss politics and news. His family home was attached and served as a station on the Underground Railroad, utilizing a hidden stairway between the first and second floor where runaway slaves were safely hidden until they could be safely transported across the Ohio River.
Abolitionists and Underground Railroad operatives helped more than 1,000 escaped slaves cross the Ohio River, or “River Jordan,” into Ripley, Ohio. Today, the National Underground Railroad Museum is located in downtown Maysville on West 4th Street.
Maysville and the surrounding area became an agricultural and industrial center, with primary exports including bourbon whiskey, hemp, tobacco and wrought iron downriver to Cincinnati, Louisville and New Orleans.
In 1811, the first steamboat came down the Ohio River, passing Maysville in the trip from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. The emergence of the steamboat connected Maysville to distant towns, helping build a vibrant, thriving economy as people and goods traveled up and downstream.