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EXPLORING
KENTUCKY - October 2004 by Katherine Tandy Brown Boo-ti-full Frankfort
In 1780, Indians killed Lexingtonian Stephen Frank on the banks of the Kentucky River as he camped with a party traveling to Jefferson County to manufacture salt at various licks. Afterwards, settlers referred to the area as “Frank’s Ford,” which, with a slight alteration, became its permanent moniker in 1830. Though no reports of Frank sightings have surfaced through the years, a number of other restless spirits have met their demise in the area, and – rumor has it – have hung around to add a bit of local color. Between 1820 and 1914, 30 people were murdered in a four-block area of downtown Frankfort. Master of the macabre, Edgar Allen Poe even wrote his only play, a bizarre recounting called Politian, about one of them. Come October, Russ Hatter, assistant curator of historic sites for the city of Frankfort, tells about that crime while leading evening “Murder and Mayhem Tours” each Tuesday through Halloween. Dressed as a 1910-era policeman, this lively historian relates a number of unfortunate incidents, some in gory detail, while winding through alleys to actual scenes of crimes. Because of that, the tour is for adults. “We’ll go no matter what the weather,” Hatter says. “All those umbrellas glistening in the rain add a wonderful mystery.” Because this river town has such a fascinating past, its Ghosts of Frankfort tours on Halloween weekend focuses on history and unlike many spooky attractions, not on the “jump out and scare ‘em” quotient. Encompassing two diverse locations with colorful pasts, they’re definitely family-friendly. Right downtown in the old quarter, Liberty Hall Historic Site includes a pair of stately Georgian homes – Liberty Hall itself and the 1835 Orlando Brown House – just up Wilkinson Street from the “Corner in Celebrities,” so-called because so many justices, senators and even presidents lived here in the decade following 1820. Built a bit earlier, Liberty Hall, circa 1796 and a National Historic Landmark, was the home of lawyer and reluctant politician John Brown, Kentucky’s first U. S. senator, and his wife Margaretta, who began the first Sunday School west of the Alleghenies. According to treasured family letters, famous houseguests included Aaron Burr, French General Lafayette, President James Monroe and his aides, Zachary Taylor and Andrew Jackson. “Our resident ghost, the Gray Lady, isn’t frightening,” says Sarah Harger, director of Liberty Hall Historic Site. She simply tells how her story became a part of Liberty Hall’s tradition.” Reports of ghost sightings and/or hearings seem almost common around Civil War battlefields, and though not a major siege, Frankfort’s late-war skirmish on Fort Hill had its casualties. Here, two preserved earthworks forts mark the site where a detachment of John Hunt Morgan’s raiders-turned-bank-robbers met resistance to their plan to flee across the river in the form of 140 townspeople, who defended the Union stronghold. Surrounded by 125 acres of forest, you’ll bump past historic dry-laid stone fences built not by slaves but by Scots and Irishmen. (Freed slaves took up the trade after the war.) Though rascal Johnny Rebs come up and hassle folks on the wagons during Ghosts of Frankfort, “it’s not your regular scary Halloween experience,” says Hatter. “We take what actually happened and bring it to life. It’s educational and fun.” Stay late hobnobbing on Fort Hill, then spend the night downtown at The Meeting House Bed and Breakfast, where you just might witness a real spirit or two. And it isn’t that of the Civil War-era owner who hid his horse in the living room from marauding soldiers. According to current proprietors Rose and Gary Burke, two children died here and people have heard them crying. Yet whether or not you believe in “haints,” Rose’s scrumptious breakfasts will soothe your soul…and tummy.
Katherine Tandy
Brown is a staff writer for The Lane Report. |
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Copyright 1996-2004, by Kentucky Business Online. All rights reserved. Editorial content
is copyright 2004, Lane Communications Group The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
With well over 200 years under its belt, Kentucky’s capital city has had plenty of time to nurture its share of historical haunts. Even the town’s name grew from a tragic incident.
Another visitor to the handsome brick home, Margaretta Van Varrick, her namesake’s beloved aunt, passed away while visiting to comfort her niece after the death of a child. During Ghosts of Frankfort, actors portraying the Browns, one of their slaves Hannah and Van Varrick’s spirit, or “The Gray Lady,” take you back to their own time. 
A Shaker Breakfast