Lexington, KY

Ashland, Henry Clay Home

Jean at rear of Todd Home

We arrived in Lexington, KY on October 19 in the rain and had planned to stay four nights.   However, when we arrived, we learned we could only stay the 19th and 20th, and must leave on the 21st because the campground was full due to Halloween festivities :-(    That called for a careful decision as to which sites we would be able to visit with our one day.   We decided that the girlhood home of Mary Todd Lincoln was a must see, as well as Ashland, the home of Henry Clay.   

Thursday was a miserable day as you can likely see from the way I'm bundled up in the picture at the Todd home.   It was 43 degrees, rainy, and with a brisk wind with gusts to 40 mph the wind chill was in the 30's!   The Todd home was the first we visited and we were not disappointed!  

The home opened in 1977, after being saved from the wrecking ball by Mrs. Beula Nunn, a First Lady of Kentucky.  The fourteen room home contains period furniture, family portraits and items belonging to both the Lincolns and the Todds.   Mary was born in Lexington in 1818 and spent many of her teen years in the house.   It was the family home from 1832 until 1849.  After Mary's marriage to Lincoln in 1842 the Lincolns visited Lexington on several occasions.   Unfortunately only the house remains.   The kitchen and other buildings were no longer on the property when Mrs. Nunn fought to save the home.   The Todd Lincoln House is the first house museum in America to honor a First Lady.

Our second tour was at Ashland, home of the Henry Clay family.   The house was built by Mr. Clay and remained in the family until 1950, when it was given to the Henry Clay foundation for its preservation.   Henry Clay was a great statesman and was known for his ability to forge compromises between faction in the Congress.    Besides his Congressional responsibilities,  Henry Clay was also a lawyer, a slave holder, a farmer who was an authority on cattle and thoroughbred horses.   His horses sired 11 Kentucky Derby winners over the years.   Henry Clay imported 15 different species of trees and various breeds of cattle.   His farm grew hemp and after the war tobacco.   The house has a two story central area and two wings added by his son after his death.  

Tomorrow we will camp 60 miles south of Lexington in the Renfro Valley area.