On the north side of Hazard, a large goose holds court along the road, a nest she has maintained for almost 80 years. The Mother Goose House, built by George D. Stacy between 1935 and 1940, is one of my favorite pieces of roadside architecture in Kentucky. Words fail to express how excited I am to hear that this most venerable goose will soon be reborn as an inn!
Isn’t she beautiful?
According to one origin story, Mr. Stacy had a dream one night in which he was living in a green, goose-shaped house. His wife, Ollie Stacy, described the subsequent design of the dwelling this way: “We cooked a goose, picked the meat off, left the bones together, and scaled the building that way.”*
The Mother Goose in all of her glory.
Native sandstone was hauled to the site from nearby creeks, and the Stacy family lived on the site in a small house while the goose was cooked – sorry, constructed – a five year process.
A plan of the main body of the Mother Goose, from The Well-Built Elephant and Other Roadside Attractions by J. J. C. Andrews.
Although intended as a family home, the Mother Goose House was also an advertising gimmick for Stacy’s store, which sold groceries and ice cream, with gas pumps outside. It joined a developing lexicon of fantastic roadside structures built to look like giant dogs, elephants, ice cream cones – any number of items translated into building materials, and designed to catch the eye of passing motorists.
The front door of the goose.
Not only was the Mother Goose destined to join the ranks of great roadside architecture specimens, but Stacy incorporated certain stylistic details that were showing up on other dwellings in Hazard and across Kentucky at the time – albeit on more traditional single family homes.
Historic view of the Mother Goose, from https://www.nkytribune.com/2019/09/historic-perry-county-mother-goose-house-honking-again-to-open-in-october-as-bed-and-breakfast/
An arched entry door, with a keystone bearing the date of completion, recalls characteristics of the Tudor Revival style, which was still going strong in urban and rural areas of Kentucky in the 1930s and 1940s. The oval windows piercing the sides of the goose may not have an architectural antecedent – but they do look like goose eggs!
This adjacent building housed the store/market.
Green asphalt shingles cover the body of the goose, while the beak is fashioned from sheet metal, painted yellow. I’ve heard conflicting claims on the blue eyes of the Mother Goose – some say they are railroad lights, while other sources insist they are car lights. No matter their parentage, the eyes blink blue, adding another level of delightful fantasy to this most wonderful of buildings.
Another view of the market, the Mother Goose, and the four bay garage (which appears to be original).
When Mr. Stacy’s dream had taken flight and became a reality, Main Street in downtown Hazard was the address for commercial enterprises. Alas, like many Kentucky towns, new roads now bypass the historic core of Hazard.
Hopefully the planned inn will breathe new life not only into the stately Goose herself, but into tourism efforts in Hazard. After all – who wouldn’t want to spend the night in the belly of a 45-foot long and 28-foot wide sandstone and wood fowl?
*The Well-Built Elephant and Other Roadside Attractions by J. J. C. Andrews. Congdon and Weed, Inc, New York, 1984. Page 34.
My hometown!! I love driving by the goose especially around Christmas time! Sometimes they put a bow around her neck