Pearce Cabin

Also known as The James Pearce House, or the Pearce-Capito House, this is not only the oldest building in New Castle but specifically the first structure built there - circa 1790 or 1791.

Mr. Pearce and his brother erected this home and settled here back when Kentucky was still part of Virginia. It originally was twice the size it is today, but a portion of the home in the rear deteriorated away long ago. It has something of a reputation for being haunted, with frightening sounds and moving objects reported by some who have stayed here over the years.


However, much of New Castle in general has similar ghostly experiences, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's just something that comes with the land in general. Or perhaps it's all emanating from spirits who are displeased at how shoddily their cemetery has been treated.

Corn Grave?

When I took these photos of a tipped-over gravestone in Henry County, I initially thought that what we're seeing here is a row of ears of corn, with a small corn plant sprouting in the foreground.

It still looks like that to me, but someone else suggested that this may actually be depicting a weeping willow tree, albeit an oddly-rendered one.

Opinions?

Abandoned Buildings of Henry County

There's a million of 'em, and you're gonna love 'em.

Ruined Cemetery in New Castle

I'm not sure what this graveyard in downtown New Castle is called, but it's just a couple of blocks from the town square, and it's a disaster.

I've ranted about the sorry state of many Kentucky cemeteries in the course of this blog before, but this one is perilously close to being past the point of no return. Many of the beautiful ancient headstones are utterly and completely destroyed, and more are well on their way to oblivion. Some of the graves even show possible signs of graverobbing, or at least currently stand as open invitations to it.

How can people drive by this mess every day - including local government officials - and not do something about it? Are people really so spooked by cemeteries that they avert their eyes and whistle past them without bothering to notice that their city's history is being destroyed? Evidently.



In 2011 I plan to push for state legislation that requires cities, towns, municipalities and county governments to follow Cave Hill's example of historical preservationism and security. Cemeteries - all cemeteries - should be fenced in and locked at night to keep idiot kids and sociopathic thieves out, and someone should be designated the official caretaker and groundskeeper of each. This will create jobs as well as put a stop to the historical desecration that has been steadily sweeping the state.

Drennon Springs

Drennon Springs, KY was founded by George Rogers Clark, who discovered a wild game path leading to a salt lick at the mouth of Licking River and decided to go into salt production right there on the spot. (I like how people just up and did things in those days.)

The area had already been staked out by Matthew Bracken and one Jacob Drennon, but Clark managed to get settlement rights from the state of Virginia (at that time, Kentucky was just a huge county of Virginia, thanks to the illegal Transylvania land grab. In addition to the salt business, Clark also immediately began farming corn there in 1775 and built a huge log fortress which became a popular way-station for fellow travelers.

Unfortuately, it was not so popular with the Native Americans, who captured the station, killing two and kidnapping another. This, combined with dwindling salt production there, pretty much spelled the end of the settlement for a time.

But then in 1817, the reputation of the curative properties of the area's seven sulphorous springs caught the public's attention, and people began traveling from all over the country to be healed by its waters. Suddenly hotels and hospitals began popping up, and exaggerated rumors of the water's power attracted droves of desperate people, including the terminally ill, invalids and disabled people who believed that the waters would enable them to walk again.

In 1849, the fickle finger of fate flicked Drennon Springs once more. The cholera epidemic broke out, and when people learned that even the denizens of the springs were not immune to cholera, its reputation as an all-healing balm went south.


Centuries before Clark, however, tribes of ancient mound-building Native Americans dwelled here. According to a newspaper article in 1832, "Drennon's Lick has bones and mounds." What became of those people, and why did they disappear from here? No one knows. By the time Clark showed up and claimed this land in the name of himself, the property was considered by the Shawnee (as well as three other tribes) to be their own, and Clark wasn't invited.

Nowadays, compared to the national fame and dangerous days of old, not so much goes on at Drennon Springs - but there's the great Smith Berry Vineyard and Winery nearby, and every year the Historic Drennon Springs Festival is held, with storytelling, arts and crafts, historical reenactments and costumes, horseback riding, and bluegrass music.

The Disciples of Christ have had their Drennon Christian Church here for many years, and it also has a long and interesting history. You can see old photos on their site here.

Haunted Meat Locker

An event I regrettably missed out on...

1877 E. Howard Tower Clock

One from my blog Revelation Awaits an Appointed Time:


Last week I spotted this clockwork wonder in the lobby of the Henry County courthouse in Kentucky. It was the original courthouse tower clock, which had been abandoned when it ceased to work many years ago, but then some enterprising soul rescued it from whatever guano-encrusted shed in which it had been stored, and coaxed it like Frankenstein's Monster back into renewed life.



The clock was manufactured in 1877 by a Boston, Massachusetts company specifically for the Henry County courthouse's original incarnation. I was thrilled to discover such a Steampunky find out in the glory lands of rural Kentucky, but the locals seem jaded about it, and found it a source of considerable mirth that I was taking pictures of it like a foreign tourist.

More Weird Mailboxes

So I haven't noticed any interesting mailboxes in quite a while, and suddenly yesterday I spot three of them, all on the same stretch of highway 157 between Newcastle and Sulphur.


We have a bull, a hot rod, and one festooned with horseshoes (unfortunately turned the wrong way for the traditional luck superstition).

Pig Stump

Somewhere in the vicinity of the Oldham County - Henry County border, this pink lipstick-wearing pig was seen in someone's yard, apparently sculpted from a tree trunk.