Forgotten Farmhouse, Jessamine County, Kentucky

Over the years, I’ve learned that if I don’t stop when I see an intriguing building, I may never get the chance again. It’s been years since I regularly traveled south of Lexington, so two visits to Danville in less than a week provided a reacquaintance with a corridor that has grown – well, it’s thickened and ballooned in pretty much every direction – and most of the development is not pretty. So I pulled onto the shoulder when I saw the small the small frame house perched on a hill above the busy and burgeoning road. I knew the next time I passed by, the house could well be gone.

Roadside discoveries like these are sometimes made easier if I can find documentation like a survey form prepared architectural historians before me.  It doesn’t look like that’s the case in this situation, which means telling the story of this dwelling becomes much more difficult. I don’t get paid for the time I spend on this blog, and travel time to county clerk’s offices can add up. (Again, if anyone would like to become my patron and financially support my adventures across Kentucky – let’s talk!)

Although window panes are missing or broken, and the house bears a slightly dejected air –  this was someone’s home once. A family farmed this land, and children came home from school and played here, maybe taking shelter on the back porch during a spring rain.

Now the rural roots of this dwelling (and many others in this continually-expanding section of Central Kentucky) are being choked out in every direction. And I am sure there are folks out there who know snippets of the story.  If we string those pieces together, then at least the story of this small piece Kentucky history can be told and saved.

(Should you know anything about the history of this house, you can always send me an email at gardens2gables@gmail.com)