USA > Kentucky > Historical sketches of Kentucky : embracing its history, antiquities, and natural curiosities, geographical, statistical, and geological descriptions with anecdotes of pioneer life, and more than one hundred biographical sketches of distinguished pioneers, soldiers, statesmen, jurists, lawyers, divines, etc. > Part 38
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Persico Avenue averages about fifty feet in width, with a height of about thirty feet ; and is said to be two miles long. It unites in an eminent degree the beautiful and the sublime, and is highly interesting throughout its entire extent. For a quarter of a mile from the entrance the roof is beautifully arched, about twelve feet high and sixty wide. The walk- ing here is excellent, a dozen persons might run abreast for a quarter of a mile to Bunyan's Way, a branch of the avenue leading to the river. At this point the avenue changes its features of beauty and regularity for those of wild grandeur and sublimity, which it preserves to the end. The roof becomes lofty and imposingly magnificent, its long pointed or lancet arches, reminding the spectator of the rich and gorgeous ceilings of the old Gothic cathe- drals. Not far from this point the visitor descending gradually a few feet, enters a tunnel of fifteen wide. the ceiling twelve or fourteen feet high, perfectly arched and beautifully covered with white incrustations, and soon reaches the Great Crossings. The name is not unapt. because two great caves cross here. Not far from here is the Pine-apple Bush, a large column composed of a white soft crumbling material, with bifurcations extending froni the ceiling. The Winding Way is one hundred and five feet long, eighteen inches wide, and from three to seven feet deep, widening out above sufficiently to admit the free use of one's arms. It is throughout tortuous, formning a perfect zig-zag.
Relief Hall, at the termination of the Winding Way, is very wide and lofty, but not long ; it terminates at River Hall, a distance of one hundred yards from its entrance. Here two routes present themselves. The one to the left conducts to the Dead Sea and the Rivers, and that to the right to the Bacon Chamber, the Bandit's Hall, the Mammoth Dome, &r., &c., &c. The Bacon Chamber is a pretty fair representation of a low ceiling, thickly hung with canvassed hams and shoulders. The Bandit's Hall is a vast and lofty chamber, the floor covered with a mountainous heap of rocks, rising amphitheatrically almost to the ceii- ing. From the Bandit's Hall diverge two caves, one of which. the left, leads you to a mul- titude of dones ; and the right to one which. par excellence, is called the Mammoth Dome. This dome is near four hundred feet high, and is justly considered one of the most subimie and wonderful spectacles of this most wonderful of caverns. From the summit of this dome there is a watertall. Foreigners have been known to declare, on witnessing an ulu- mination of the great dome and hall, that it alone would compensate for a voyage across the Atlantic.
The River Hall is a chamber situated at the termination of Relief Hall, which has been already mentioned, and through which the visitor must pass in approaching the greatest won- ders of the cave, the Dead Sea and the Rivers. We despair of giving any adequate descrip tion of this subterranean lake and rivers. " The River Hall descends like the slope of a mountam ; the cetling stretches away-away before you, vast and grand as the firmament at midnight." Proceeding a short distance, there is on the left " a steep precipice, over which you can look down, by the aid of blazing missiles, upon a broad black sheet of water, eighty feet below, called the Dead Sea. This is an awfully impressive place, the sights and sounds of which do not easily pass from memory. He who has seen it, will have it vivid's brought before lum by Atfieni's description of Filippo. 'Onty a transient word or act giver us a short and dubious glimmer that reveals to us the abysses of his being-daring, lurid, and territic as the throat of the infernal pool.' Descending from the eminence by a ladder .f about twenty feet, we find ourselves among piles of gigantic rocks, and one of the last por- turesque sights in the world is to see a file of men and women passing along those wild and scrappy paths, moving slowly-slowly that their lamps may have time to illuminate ther sky-like ceiling and gigantie walls,-disappearing behind high cliffs-smking into raviies- their lights shining upwards through fissures in the rocks-then suddenly emerging from some abrupt angle, standing in the bright gleam of their lights, relieved by the towerits black masses around them. As you pass along, you hear the roar of invisible water falls. and at the foot of the slope the river Styx lies before you, deep and black, overarched wids rocks. Across (or rather down) these uearthly waters, the guide can convey but four | LA sengers at once. The lamps are tastened to the prow, the images of which are reflected in the dismal pool. If you are impatient of delay, or eager for new adventure, you can have your companions lingering about the shore and cross the Styx by a dangerous bridge of
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precipices over head. In order to do this you must ascend a steep cliff, and enter a **** above, three hundred yards long, from an egress of which you find yourself on !! ! Anh # the river, eighty feet above its surface, commanding a view of those in the boat and d. waiting on the shore. Seen from this height, the lamps in the canoe glare like therye balls; and the passengers sitting there so hushed and motionless look like shadows. The scene is so strangely funereal and spectral, that it seems as if the Greeks must have withchri it, before they imagined Charon conveying ghosts to the dim regions of Pluto. If you boy your eye from the parties of men and women whom you left waiting on the shore, you will see them by the gleam of their lamps, scattered in picturesque groups, looming out in Foil relief from the dense darkness around them."
Having passed the Styx, the explorer reaches the banks of the river Lethe. Descending this about a quarter of a mile, he lands, and enters a level and lofty hall called the Great Walk, which stretches to the banks of the Echo. a distance of three or four hundred yards. The Echo is wide and deep enough, at all times, to float a steamer of the largest class. At the point of embarkation the arch 19 very low ; but in two boats' lengths, the vault of the cave becomes lony and wide. The novelty. the grandeur, the magnificence of the surrounding scenery here, elicits unbounded admiration and wonder. The Echo is three quarters of a mile long. It is in these rivers that the extraordinary white eyeless nsh are caught. There is not the slightest indication of an organ similar to an eye to be discovered.
Beyond the Echo there is a walk of four miles to Cleveland's Avenue, in reach- ing which the visitor passes through El Ghor. Silliman's Avenue. and Welling- ton's Gallery, to the foot of the ladder which leads up to Mary's Vineyard. the commencement of Cleveland's Avenue. Proceeding about a hundred fort from this spot, you reach the base of the hill on which stands the Holy Sepulchre. Cleveland's avenue is about three miles long, seventy feet wide. and twelve er fifteen feet high-more rich and gorgeous than any ever revealed to man, abound- ing in formations which are no where else to be seen, and which the most stupid cannot behold without feelings of admiration. But a detailed description of these wonders would not consist with the plan of this work. In this Avenue ate sitg- ated Cleveland's Cabinet, the Rocky Mountains, Crouhan's Hall. Serend's Aber, &c. &c. There is in this vast cave another avenue. more than three miles long, lofty and wide, and at its termination there is a hall which the gohe thinks larger than any other in the cave. It is as yet without a name.
Captain JOHN EDMONSON, from whom this county derived its name, was a na- tive of Washington county, Virginia. He settled in Fayette county, Kentucky, in the year 1790. He raised a company of volunteer riflemen, and joined Col. John Allen's regiment in the year 1812, and fell in the disastrous battle of the river Raisin, the 22d of January, 1813.
ESTILL COUNTY.
EsTILL county was formed in 1808, and named in honor of Cap- tain James Estill. It is situated in the eastern middle part . i the State, and lies on both sides of the Kentucky river. Bounded on the north by Montgomery, east by Breathitt. south by Clay, and west by Madison. The face of the country is generally bar ken and mountainous-the settlements being mostly contimed to the valleys on the water courses. The growth of the bottom land is oak, walnut, hickory, cherry, and sugar free ; that of the upland, oak and poplar, and along the river banks, some pine and cedar. Iron ore and coal are found in great abundance in the mountains.
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The taxable property of the county in 1846 was valued at $633,- 834; number of acres of land in the county, 189,765; average value of lands per acre, $2.15; number of white males over twenty-one years old, 903; number of children between five and sixteen years of age, 1,361. Population in 1830, 4,618-in 1840, 5,535.
The Red River Iron Works is located in this county. It is an extensive establishment, wielding a heavy capital, and employing a large number of hands. A large quantity of bar iron and nails are manufactured at the works. The proprietors and all the op- eratives in this establishment are temperance men, ardent spirits having been altogether banished from its precincts. The Estill steam furnace is situated ten miles east, and Miller's creek salt works eight miles above Irvine. Three or four miles from the county seat, hydraulic lime has been found in great quantities.
IRVINE, the seat of justice, is seventy miles south-east of Frank- fort. It is located on a beautiful site on the northern bank of the Kentucky river-contains a brick court-house and jail, and sem- inary ; (the court-house and seminary being used for religious worship,) four lawyers, four physicians, four stores and seven mechanics' shops. Population two hundred. Established in 1812, and named in honor of Colonel William Irvine, who is noticed under the head of Madison county.
Capt. JAMES ESTILL, in honor of whom this county received its name, was a native of Augusta county, Virginia. He removed to Kentucky at an early period, and settled on Muddy creek, in the present county of Madison, where he built a station which received the name of Estill's station. In 1781 in a skirmish with the Indians, he received a rifle-shot in one of his arms, by which it was broken. In March, 17-2, with a small body of men, believed to be about twenty-five, he pursued a similar number of Wyandotts across the Kentucky river, and into Mont- gomery county, where he fought one of the severest and most bloody battles on record, when the mumber of men on both sides is taken into the account .* Cap- tain Estill and his gallant Lieutenant. South, were both killed in the retreat which succeeded. Thus fell (says Mr. Morehead in his Boonsborough address), in the ripeness of his manhood, Captain James Estill, one of Kentucky's bravest and most beloved defenders. It may be said of him with truth, that if he did not achieve the victory. he did more-he deserved it. Disappointed of success-van- quished-slain, in a desperate conflict with an enemy of superior strength and equal valor, he has nevertheless left behind him a name of which his descendants may well be proud-a name which will live in the annals of Kentucky, so long as there shall be found men to appreciate the patriotism and self-devotion of a martyr to the cause of humanity and civilization.
The Rev. JOSEPH PROCTOR, of this county, was one of the intrepid band of Cap- tain E-till, in the bloody battle noticed under the Montgomery head. His cool- ness and bravery throughout the battle, were unsurpassed. A savage warrior having buried his knife in Captain Estill's breast, Proctor instantly sent a hall from his rifle through the W vandott's heart. His conduct after the battle, cheated the warmest approbation. He brought off the field of battle his wounded triend, the late Colonel William Irvine, of Madison, who is noticed under the head of that county.
In an engagement with the Indians at Pickaway towns. on the Great Miami. Proctor killed an Indian chief. He was a hrave soldier, a stranger to fear, and an ardent friend to the institutions of his country. He made three campaigns into Ohio, with the view of suppressing Indian hostilities; and fought side by side
*See a full account of this battle under the head of Montgomery county.
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FAYETTE COUNTY.
with Boone, Calloway and Logan, He joined the Methodist Episcopal chart in a fort in Madison county, under the preaching of the Rev. Jantes Hawert : and was ordained in 1809, by Bishop Asbury. He was an exemplary www. .: 4 the church for sixty-five years, and a local preacher upwards of half a century. He died at his residence on the 2d of December, 1844, and was buried with the itary honors.
FAYETTE COUNTY.
FAYETTE county was formed in 1780 by the State of Virginia, and is one of the three original counties that at one time com. prised the whole district of Kentucky-and included all that ter- ritory beginning at the mouth of the Kentucky river, and extend- ing up its middle fork to the head, and embracing the northern and eastern portion of the present State. It received its name as a testimonial of' gratitude to GEN. GILBERT MORTIER DE LA FAYETTE -the gallant and generous Frenchman who volunteered as the CHAMPION of LIBERTY on this side of the Atlantic, and proved to the world, that although a nobleman by descent, he was a republican in principle, and was more ennobled by nature than by all the titles of hereditary rank.
Fayette county is situated in the middle portion of the State, and lies on the waters of the Kentucky and Elkborn. It is boun. ded on the north by Scott, east by Bourbon and Clark, south by Madison and Jessamine, and west by Woodford ; being twenty- five miles from north to south, mean breadth eleven miles, and containing 275 square miles. It is fair table land-all the streams rise and flow from the centre of the county, and empty into their common receptacle, the Kentucky river. The centre of the gar- den of Kentucky, the surface of this county is very gently undu- lating, and the soil is probably as rich and productive as any upon which the sun ever shone. It is properly a stock raising county -horses, mules, cattle, and hogs, in large numbers, being annu- ally exported ; but corn and hemp are produced in great abun- dance -- the latter being generally manufactured in the county.
The taxable property of the county in 1846, was valued at $16,007,020 (second in amount only to Jefferson, including the city of Louisville) ; number of acres of land in the county, 193. 061 ; average value of land per acre. $33.95 ; mumber of with males over twenty-one years of age, 3.588 ; children between five and sixteen years old, 2,233. Population in 1830, 25.174. 1 1840, 22.194.
LEXINGTON, the county seat of Fayette, is a remarkably neat and beautiful city, situated on the Town fork of Elkhorn river, 25 tutte + south-east from Frankfort, 64 miles south-west from Maysville, miles south-east from Louisville, 55 miles from Cincinnat .. and 517 from Washington city. Latitude 389 02' north. longuede Si' 20' west. It was founded in the year 1776. About the best of April, 1979, a block house was built on the site now on experd by Mr. Leavy's store, and the settlement commenced under the
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influence of Col. Robert Patterson, joined by Messrs. McConnels, Lindseys, and James Masterson. Major John Morrison removed his family soon after from Harrodsburg, and the lady of that gen- tleman was the first white female that graced the infant settlement. Being settled during the revolution,* it received its name in com- memoration of the battle of Lexington, where the first blood was shed in the great cause of human liberty. Lexington was incor- porated by Virginia in 1782, and was for several years the seat of government of the State. The first improvements consisted of three rows of cabins, the two outer serving as a part of the walls of the fortification, which extended from the corner now known as Leavy's corner, to James Masterson's house on Main street. The block house commanded the public spring, and a common field included the site of the present court house.
The streets of Lexington are laid out at right angles, and are well paved. Main street is one mile and a quarter long. Few towns are more delightfully situated. Its vicinity has a softness and beauty about it, and the city itself presents an appearance of neatness, that rarely fails to strike a stranger's eye with ad- miration. Many of the private residences, and several of the public edifices, are fine specimens of architectural taste; while the surrounding country, rich and highly cultivated, is dotted over with elegant mansions. (See note on p. 265.)
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TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY, LEXINGTON, KY.
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VIEW OF LUNATIC ASYLUM, LEXINGTON, KY
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CITY OF LEXINGTON.
The public buildings are-a court house; a masonic hall erected by the grand lodge of Kentucky; Morrison College, and Medical Hall, both imposing and costly edifices belonging to Transylvania University ; eleven churches, embracing one Episcopal, two Presbyterian, one Methodist. one Catholic, one Reformed or Christian, one Baptist, one Independent Methodist, one Seceder, and two African : a city free school, established in 1834, and amply endowed. containing from three to five hundred scholars ; the city hospital and work house is a plain brick build- ing, erected in 1836; the Lunatic Asylum, first erected by the city, but afterwards taken under the care of the State, and greatly enlarged, containing upwards of two hundred rooms, and capable of accommodating from three to four hundred patients ; the Northern Bank of Kentucky, a beautiful and finely finished edifice ; and the Orphan Asylum, erected in the year 1833, for the benefit of the destitute orphans who were deprived of their parents by cholera, which raged so fearfully in that year.
There are two newspapers published in the city, which are ably edited and widely circulated, viz :- The " Kentucky Gaselle," established in 1787, by the brothers, John and Fielding Bradford, the first number having been issued on the 18th of August. with the title of "Kentucke Gazette.+ This is the oldest news- paper west of the Alleghany mountains, with the exception of the Pittsburgh Ga- zette. The " Lexington Observer and. Reporter." originally called the " Lexington Reporter," was established by William W. Worsley, nearly forty years since, and is now published semi-weekly and weekly.
There are in Lexington between thirty-five and forty of each of the two pro- fessions-law and medicine, sixty or seventy stores and groceries-many of them wholesale, four book stores. six drug stores, ten taverns, and about seventy mechanical and manufacturing establishments. embracing blacksmiths, saddle and harness makers, painters, tailors, carriage makers, silver smiths, gun smiths, platers, copper and tin manufacturers, boot and shoe makers, iron and brass foun- ders, carpenters, cabinet makers, hatters, and morocco, looking glass and brush manufacturers. Capital invested in dry goods, $1,500,000-groceries, $700,000 -manufactures and banks, $12,000.000. Taxable property in the city, $3,039 .- 608, in 1845. Annual importations same year, 8597,415 ; stock in trade. = 170 .- 568. The manufacture of hemp is carried on very extensively in Lexington and the county of' Fayette. In the city there are fifteen hemp establishments, work- ing six hundred hands. running ninety looms, and making annually 2,500,000 yards of bagging, and 2,000.000 pounds of rope. In the suburbs of the city there are four factories, manufacturing 680.000 yards of bagging and 400,000 pounds of rope. In the remainder of the county there are fourteen factories, working three hundred hands, running fifty looms, and turning out 1,250,000 yards bagging and 1,000,000 pounds of rope. Thus, in the city and county, there are thirty-three bagging and rope establishments, working one thousand and fifty hands, running one hundred and sixty-five looms, and making 4.430,000 vards of bagging and 3,400,000 pounds of rope. Population of Lexington in 1845-whites, 4.999; blacks, 3,179; total, 8,178. The population in 1847 is supposed to be about 9,000.
TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY was established by the legislature of Kentucky in 1798, by the amalgamation of the two institutions known by the name of the Transylvania Seminary and Kentucky Academy. Until within a few years. it was properly a State institution. In the year 1512 it passed under the supervi- sion of the Kentucky conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. and is now, like all the other colleges of the State. a denominational institution. It his passed through many vicissitudes. but is at present in a flourishing condition, and bids fair. under the patronage of the Methodist Episcopal church south. to rival its palmiest days.
Morrison College (the literary department of Transylvania University has six professors and teachers, with about three hundred students. including the pre-
* In the year 1775. intel gener was received by a part of hunters, aby were presentan'y en- camped on one of the branches of Hear that the first battle of the report on had been was to the venty of Boston, between the Best and provide al forces ale comme Ca of evrim they cand the spot of the Fen ammon: Lexington. No seulement as they made The spot is now covered by one of the most beautiful cities on the continent -turernor Morehead's Address.
t The first and about half of the second volume of the Gazette was printed with the name of the " Kentucke Gazette." Afterwards the y was substanted for the ein Kentucky.
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MASONIC HALL, LEXINGTON, KY.
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MEDICAL HALL, LEXINGTON, KY.
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TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY.
paratory department. The Rev. Henry B. Bascom, D. D., is president. The alumni numbers about 650. The number of volumes in the library 4.500.
The Medical School is under the supervision of eight trustees, and was founded in 1819. It has eight professors, and an average, for several years, of about one hundred and seventy-five students. The number of graduates, up to January, 1947, exceeded fifteen hundred. Connected with the institution is a fine museums, a very valuable library, and an extensive chemical apparatus for experimentg. The professors are able and generally distinguished men, and the institution, until recently, has had no rival in the west.
The Law School, like the Medical college, is connected with the Transylvania University. This department has three professors, (Judges Robertson, Woolley and Marshall), who are distinguished for their learning and legal acquirements.
The Lunatic Asylum is one of the noblest institutions of Kentucky, and re- flects immortal honor upon the city which founded and the commonwealth which sustains it. The buildings are very extensive and commodious, the rooms large and well ventilated. warmed by flues which conduct the heated air through the house. The grounds connected with the asylum embrace an area of thirty acres, and are handsomely improved and ornamented with a variety of beautiful shrub- bery. The garden is cultivated entirely by the patients themselves, and affords sufficient vegetables for the supply of the institution. Dr. ALLEN, who has been for many years the superintendent, is eminently qualified for the important and very responsible position he occupies : and the cures effected under his supervi- sion and treatment. bear as large a proportion to the number admitted as appear in the reports of any other insane institution in the United States. The admirable adaptation of the architectural arrangements-the complete classification of the patients-the moral and well-educated attendants, and the judicions system of treatment pursued by the superintendent, happily adapted to every form of the dis- ease, ensure the attainment of as complete success as is possible in this branch of the medical art, and must be felt and acknowledged by all who have had an opportunity to observe the excellent plan upon which the institution is conducted.
ATHENS is a small but handsome village, situated ten miles from Lexington, on the Boonsborough road, and in sight of Boone'a station-surrounded by a rich and fertile country, with an intel- ligent, industrious and moral community. It has two churches, two physicians, one lawyer, three stores, one school and twenty mechanics' shops-population 350.
Bryant's station, about five miles north-east of Lexington, was settled by the Bryants in 1979. In 1751, Bryant's station was much harassed by small par- ties of Indians. This was a frontier post, and greatly exposed to the hostilities of the savages .* It had been settled in 1779 by four brothers from North Caro- lina, one of whom, William, had married a sister of Colonel Daniel Boone. The Indians were constantly larking in the neighborhood, waylaying the paths, steal- ing their horses, and butchering their cattle. It at length became necessary to hunt in parties of twenty or thirty men, so as to be able to meet and repel tudse attacks, which were every day becoming more bold and frequent.
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