Tag: Nelson

Anatok – Bardstown, Ky. (Photo: Courier-Journal)

In 1847, Daniel Rudd was born in Nelson County, Kentucky at the home of his mother’s master, Charles Hayden. (Rudd’s father was the property of the Rudd family whose estate was nearby.)  This slave would go on to establish the American Catholic Tribune and found the National Black Catholic Congress.

The Tribune was “the only Catholic Journal owned and published by colored men.” The Congress, established in 1889, continues to this day with a mission of enriching the lives of African American Catholics.

Anatok, the mansion in which Rudd was born, is directly across from the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral. In 1808, the Diocese of Bardstown was established along with the Dioceses of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston (all carved out of the Baltimore Diocese). Later, the Diocese of Bardstown would be relocated to the more populous Louisville – but the importance of Catholicism is key to the history of this Kentucky region.

Daniel Rudd

Rudd’s slave parents were both custodians at the Proto-Cathedral and Catholicism was a key part of Rudd’s daily life – from cradle to grave.

But the mansion, Anatok, in which Rudd was born is facing possible demolition as the neighboring Bethlehem High School seeks to expand. Though preservationists were successful in obtaining a temporary injunction on demolition, the time is running out. Funds must be gathered today for matching funding so that preservationists can partner with the high school to adapt and reuse the mansion as educational space.

As noted in a press release by Preservation Kentucky, “if preserved, this historic site would be the only site directly associated with the rise of Black Catholicism in Bardstown – known as the cradle of Catholicism in the early 19th century on the Western Frontier.”

AFTERNOON UPDATE: Matching funds to a $125,000 grant have been achieved, so the total raised now has eclipsed $250,000. This is only half way to the finish line of $500,000! (Other contributions (in-kind, tax credit) also help toward the goal.)  The good news is that Bethlehem High School has extended the deadline to July 15 (date deconstruction of Anatok will begin) – if sufficient funds can be raised in the next 45 days, Anatok can be saved!

A JULY 8, 2013 UPDATE: Preservation groups have raised over $300,000, but plans appear to be moving forward toward the demolition of Anatok. [WFPL]

A JULY 30, 2013 UPDATE: A judge has reinstated the injunction preventing the demolition of Anatok. Stay tuned for more details!

Please contact Preservation Kentucky at [email protected] if you can help save this important piece of both Kentucky history.

Visiting Bardstown for a wedding last summer, I knew one destination that I could not miss. Federal Hill, colloquially known as My Old Kentucky Home. Of course, my arrival there was moments before the state park closed so while I toured the grounds, I did not enter any of the buildings.

As folklore goes, it was on an 1852 visit with his cousins (the Rowans) here that Stephen Collins Foster was inspired to write what later became the state song. There is some debate as to the veracity of this story. Foster could have been inspired on an earlier (and well-documented) 1833 visit to Augusta, Kentucky. The song was adopted as the official state song in 1928; its words were revised in 1986 also by legislative fiat (changing the word from “darkies” to “people” after a performance of the song by a Japanese choir upon the opening of the Toyota Plant in Georgetown. It was said that the lyrics “convey connotations of racial discrimination that are not acceptable.”) Also generally eliminated by the 1986 legislation: verses 2 and 3. Verse 3 is below; you can see why it was removed:

The head must bow and the back will have to bend,
Wherever the darky may go;
A few more days, and the trouble all will end,
In the field where the sugar-canes grow;
A few more days for to tote the weary load,
No matter, ’twill never be light;
A few more days till we totter on the road,
Then my old Kentucky home, goodnight.

John Rowan, a jurist and congressman, began construction of Federal Hill in 1795 but the work was not finished until 1818.  According to The Kentucky Encyclopedia, John Rowan’s granddaughter (Madge Rowan Frost) sold the estate to the Commonwealth in 1921 who has since maintained and operated the site.

As I’ve said before, historic Bardstown is great because they have done so much to tell the history of the community and of individuals structures. Nearly every old building has a marker. Which brings me to my favorite: The Yocum Hite House. Its marker reads:

Yocum Hite House. Circa 1792. Early log residence sold for “152 lbs. of merchantable beef cattle” in 1797.

There is something about the bartering of real estate for beef that really made me laugh. The construction of the house was typical of the era, particularly for a “substantial” house such as this. The main portion of the home is a two-story, three-bay, V-notched log building. It utilizes a single, central chimney – a common feature in 18th century Pennsylvania Deutsch homes. It is one of a handful of pre-1800 buildings in Bardstown, the most famous being the old Talbott Tavern.

It might be a stretch to call this post a “no destination.” I was in Bardstown, Kentucky for a wedding this past Saturday and I had about an hour-and-a-half to kill. I headed into downtown, parked the car and began to explore.

Bardstown is best known as the site of Federal Hill, a/k/a My Old Kentucky Home. Relaxing on the grounds of this property, composer Stephen Foster wrote the words and music of the song that would become Kentucky’s state anthem.

Downtown is marked by a large rotary with the old courthouse in the middle. Bardstown, a ville strongly focused on historical preservation, now uses its old courthouse as a visitors center. (The new courthouse is not downtown; it’s next to the Bluegrass Parkway.)

The focus on historical preservation is everywhere – older homes and business are marked with plaques indicating the history of the structures. All in all, Bardstown is a great little ville. I hope to return to see the proto-cathedral of St. Joseph; apparently Bardstown was an important center of American Catholic life.

Without adieu…the pictures (be sure to read the captions):

Oh, and one more interesting fact. The first successful leg amputation (at the hip joint) was performed on a 17-year-old patient in Bardstown in 1806.