ASHLAND
Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky
Original built 1790 · Razed and Rebuilt 1850's
Source: Old Houses of Lexington, C. Frank Dunn, typescript, n.d., copy located in the Kentucky Room, Lexington (Kentucky) Public Library.
Version One - (Also See Version Two)
Henry Clay was not the first resident of historic "Ashland," deeds to the property reveal.
The deed of Major Thos. Bodley to Mr. Clay, recorded September 11, 1811, read as follows: "Beginning on the side of Boon's Road, nearly opposite the house formerly occupied by Thomas Irvine for a still house, thence South-west 86 poles to a stake on the line of Mansfield Tract, a corner to the land formerly the property of George Nicholas, dec'd (now said Clay's), thence with a line thereof South-west 192 poles to a locust post, thence North-west 64 poles to a stake, thence North east 65 poles to a stake on Boon's Road, thence with said Road South-east to the beginning, being the same land conveyed to said Bodley by Thomas Hart and wife April 2, 1800, and was sold by said Bodley to Cuthbert Banks who transferred it to said Clay, together with the premises." The consideration was 1,000 pounds.
Thomas Hart, Sr., and wife, Susannah, in their conveyance to Major Bodley said it was a tract "conveyed to said Hart by Elisha Winters and wife February 1, 1800, together with all improvements." Elisha Winters (not to be confused with Elisha I. Winter, merchant and first president of the Lexington and Ohio Railroad) announced October 22, 1795, that "The Co-partnership of ELISHA WINTERS & CO. will expire on December first next" and that he "expects to leave the country soon after the expiration."
He had issued the following defi (sic) to Robert Barr three years earlier (November 24, 1792) in the Kentucky Gazette:
"To the Commonwealth of Kentucky, TAKE NOTICE: That the subscriber is now in Lexington where he expects to reside a few months and then to depart, notwithstanding the notorious exertions of a certain Robert Barr. ELISHA WINTERS.
Elisha Winter and Hannah, his wife, in their deed February 1, 1800, to Colonel Hart said it was a "tract lying on the south-west side of the road leading from Lexington to Boon's Station, being the tract whereon the said Elisha at present resides."
The deed book records of the old Town Fork Baptist Church (now First Baptist Church) show Elisha Winters was one of the trustees when the church was granted its lot in Lexington in 1789, and that at the church trustees' meeting to appoint his successor March 19, 1806, "Lewis E. Turner was appointed in the room of Elisha Winters, who has removed out of the State."
"Elisha Winters" was in a list of uncalled-for letters advertised by Postmaster John W. Hunt in July 1799, so his deed of February 1800 may have been belated and Winters gone.
It is said that the architect of the national capitol, Latrobe, designed "Ashland" and that L'Enfant, who laid out Washington, D.C., drew the plans for the grounds. Latrobe's journal mentions plans for "Ashland."
However, in view of the fact that the original building was razed and rebuilt after Mr. Clay's death, the foundation being considered insecure, it is most likely that Latrobe's plans were used to remodel the house in which Elisha Winters lived. The fact that it was declared unsafe within 50 years after Mr. Clay was said to have "built it" would lead one to believe that Latrobe was a poor architect, whereas many of his buildings of that date and earlier survive today, as do a great many here in Lexington built by those of less fame than Latrobe, in the very year 1806 or sooner. Nevertheless, the date is of no consequence, since the present structure is not the original, though built along the same beautiful lines.
Across the road from "Ashland" a century ago, Richard Pindell occupied a fine mansion that later was known as "General Wm. Preston's" and still later as Barney Treacy's. It was known as the Carlisle place, and was called by that name when Colonel James Morrison's widow willed it to Pindell, she saying that it was jointly owned by Robert Wickliffe and Colonel Morrison.
The 1838 Directory lists "Richard Pindell, Carlisle Place, Richmond Hill, 1 1/2 miles from Lexington" and "Henry Clay, Ashland, 1 1/2 miles from Lexington." The "hill" is still there but the old mansion has been replaced by a modern sub-division. The "hill" may be observed as almost directly opposite the entrance to Henry Clay's home--Sycamore Road--and is on either side of Lincoln Avenue.
Mr. Clay's deed to "Ashland" mentions "Thomas Irwin's still house, nearly opposite" the Ashland estate. Patrick Owens and his wife, Jane, conveyed 50 acres across the road, to Thomas Irwin August 1, 1796, for a consideration of Ten Pounds. The conveyance was for "all that tract lying in the County of Fayette bounded by the tract called and known by the name of Mansfield tract, containing 50 acres and being the place whereon the said Patrick Owens and Jane, his wife, now reside." The deed carried the following memorandum: "It is stipulated and understood by the parties to the within indenture that the said Patrick Owens and Jane, his wife, having never obtained a deed for the within 50 acres of land, as they only received General Todd's survey for the same, the deed for the same to be made when Mary O. Todd comes of age, they do hereby convey to said Irwin all their right, title, claim and interest against the Estate of John Todd, dec'd, as well as to the within mentioned 50 acres as to any other lands they may be entitled to in the State of Kentucky from the Estate of John Todd, dec'd, expressly reserving to themselves the use, possession and enjoyment of all and every part of said land during the natural lives of said Patrick and Jane, his wife. It is further stipulated and understood notwithstanding the before mentioned that the said Irwin shall have the liberty and privilege to erect a Distillery on said 50 acres and to occupy and enjoy such quantity of land for the convenience of said Distillery as may suit his convenience, and that the said Thomas will pay to the said Patrick and Jane, his wife, the sum of 10 Pounds at the expiration of every year during their natural lives.
Thus, Thomas Irwin's "still house nearly opposite" Ashland and Richard Pindell's "Carlisle Place" on the same tract of land.
My. Clay planted most of the trees seen here today and had his "favorite walk" laid out near the residence, where he strolled in the shade of their branches composing his speeches to be made in Congress.
A visitor to Lexington in 1816 said: "There are between 50 and 60 villas, or handsome country residences, in the vicinity of Lexington, and that of Henry Clay, Speaker of the House of Representatives, may be pronounced one of the most delightful. It is situated about one mile east of the town, on an agreeable rise, and is nearly surrounded with poplar and locust groves."
Mr. Clay was one of the first to import blooded stock into "the West." He was a breeder and racer of thoroughbreds. The track on "Ashland" remained until a few years ago when the rapid growth of the surrounding subdivision enveloped it. The Clay family conducted the thoroughbred establishment at historic "Ashland" for a century and a quarter, which, the late Captain Thomas Clay remarked shortly before his death, "must be a record."
"Ashland" was a battleground for one short, sharp engagement October 18, 1862, when General John Hunt Morgan made a surprise attack upon the main body of Federals occupying Lexington, stationed at "Ashland" and captured five or six hundred men, whom he delivered of their equipment and then dashed away again. This followed the occupation of Lexington alternately by Federals and Confederates the month before, when the Federals had been driven out of the city and in turn had forced the Confederates to leave.
The following "Lost" ad on the front page of the Lexington Observer and Reporter, December 6, 1862, lends a humorous side-light to the above engagement:
"When the Federal forces were burning their baggage near Lexington September 1st, the subscriber handed a dark blue dress coat with shoulder straps, dark blue vest and light blue pants, all rolled in a U.S. blanket, to a light mulatto with a request that he keep them until called for, which he promised to do. He was standing with another colored man on or near Henry Clay's old farm.
"The one who has kept them faithfully and returns them to the office of the Observer will be liberally rewarded.
"Friends of the Union please take the trouble to enquire for the articles, especially in the vicinity of Ashland."
It was signed Jarvis N. Lake, 1st Lieut. Co. H, 93d Regt. O.V.I.
"Ashland," the historic home of Henry Clay, which was razed after Mr. Clay's death and rebuilt on the same plan, has been accredited to the architect of the nation's capitol, Latrobe, and as having been built at various dates between 1806 and 1814.
The facts are that Elisha Winters, early merchant, manufacturer and shipper, erected the house in 1790, sold it before 1800 to Col. Thomas Hart, father-in-law of Mr. Clay, from whom Major Thomas Bodley purchased it in 1800. Mr. Clay bought his "ready-made" house September 11, 1811, from Major Bodley and wife, ______, after having sold his Mill street residence to James B. January late in 1808 and removing to the south-west corner of Second and Upper streets, according to deeds to the latter property.
To dispose of the claim that Latrobe built the house, which is sustained by some historians with an entry in Latrobe's journal to the effect that he drew plans for "Ashland" while in Pittsburgh, it is probable that the plans had to do with the erection of the wings to the house, noted in old pictures of "Ashland" and which are duplicates (if not the originals) of the ones to be seen today. History records the fact that James B. Clay, after his father's death, razed "Ashland" on account of insecure foundations and rebuilt it. It does not say whether part or all of the structure was torn down. It is inconceivable that the noted Latrobe, whose many works of that period stand substantially and majestically today as a memorial to his genius, built or even designed a "shoddy" home for Mr. Clay--who was no "mean" builder himself. And to declare a Latrobe structure "unsafe" to the point of destroying it, when it had been erected but a mere fifty years before, would have been an irreverent sign of les majesty in Henry Clay's day or afterward.
However, traditions aside, the record perfectly clear as to the origin of the house and estate that served Mr. Clay throughout his last forty years of life and fame, is as follows:
A grant of 400 acres on Boon's Road" designated as "between Lexington and Mansfield" was made to Jane Todd, Col. John Todd's widow, January 9, 1783 (Fayette County, Surveys C, page 42). The surveyor's sketch shows it as extending along "Boon's Road" (U.S. Highway No. 25 today) 305 poles from John Maxwell's land to "John Todd's settlement and preemption land" (Mansfield), with Robert Poage's settlement of 400 acres bordering it on the south-west side.
Elisha Winters in 1789 bought part--later "Ashland"--of Jane Todd's 400 acre grant from her relative, John Hawkins--and "told the world" about it in the Kentucky Gazette February 23, 1793, as follows:
"NOTICE--Whereas John Hawkins and Anna Gabriella, his wife, did on the 11th day of September, 1789, execute a deed to me for a tract of land on the road leading from Lexington to Boon's Station, and it has since been represented that he never gave me a deed for same, and that he was willing to make another conveyance of that tract; this information is given, to whom it may concern, as a caution against bargaining for that land, for they will thereby purchase a law suit. ELISHA WINTERS."
Thomas Hart, Sr., bought this tract from Elisha Winters and wife, Hannah--"tract lying on the south-west side of the road leading from Lexington to Boon's Station, being the tract whereon the said Elisha at present resides"--by deed dated February 1, 1800. Elisha Winters already had sold his mill, store and other properties and removed from the State--Postmaster John W. Hunt advertised an uncalled for letter for him in July, 1799. He had been one of the founders of the old Town Fork Baptist Church--the first Baptist Church its successor today--when the church was granted its lot in Lexington in 1789, and the minutes of the old church show that the trustees "appointed Lewis E. Turner in the room of Elisha Winters, who has removed out of the State."
Colonel Hart and wife, Susanna, conveyed the tract (123 acres) to Thomas Bodley April 2, 1800, and Major Bodley sold it to Henry Clay September 11, 1811, for 1,000 Pounds. The letter deed described the estate as follows: "Beginning on the side of Boon's Road, nearly opposite the house formerly occupied by Thomas Irvine for a still house, thence South-west 86 poles to a stake on the line of Mansfield Tract, a corner to the land formerly the property of George Nicholas, dec'd, now said Clay's (see "Mansfield"), thence with a line thereof South-west 192 poles to a locust post, thence North-west 64 poles to a stake, thence North east 65 poles to a stake on Boon's Road, thence with said Road South-east to the beginning."
Mr. Clay the same year bought 255 more acres of Jane Todd's grant from the heirs of Col. George Nicholas--"a farm near the Town of Lexington, purchased by George Nicholas of Charles Wilkins, beginning at a corner to Elisha Winters' land," etc. it was the property above referred to and adjoined "Ashland" on the south-west.
Charles Wilkins, prominent merchant, manufacturer and owner of "Mammoth Cave," had bought the 255-acre tract August 11, 1795, from Thomas Irwin and Jane, his wife, "late Jane Todd," and John Hawkins, of Scott County, Ky., Mrs. Irwin's relative. The deed said it extended to "a corner to the heirs of John Todd's settlement and preeemption land" (Mansfield) and in the opposite direction to "a corner to Elisha Winters...a part of the tract of 400 acres granted to Jane Todd and sold by her but not conveyed to John Hawkins." (Presumably this is the same John Hawkins whom Wm. Murray, Jr., donor of Lexington's first Masonic lodge at Walnut and Short Sts., challenged to a duel in 1789 following a dispute over a "town lot.")
Mr. Clay, by the above mentioned transaction, evidently had acquired all of the 400-acre grant. In 1828 he mortgaged his estate to Transylvania University as part security for Col. James Morrison's $20,000 legacy to erect Morrison College, or establish the Morrison Professorship. His description of the estate at that time was both interesting and puzzling: "All that tract near the Town of Lexington between Tate's Creek and Todd's Road, known as 'Ashland,' the late residence of the said Clay, containing 400 acres, it being Jane Todd's 400-acre survey. The statement that the estate extended from the Tate's Creek Road to "Todd's Road" was understandable, as a deed (Bodley heirs) to Mr. Clay in 1837 for an adjoining part of "Mansfield" said it was on "the road to Cleveland, commonly called Todd's road," (U.S. Highway 25 today) but the reference to "Ashland" being "the late residence of said Clay" is puzzling. This may have been one of the fine examples of Mr. Clay's high sense of honor, as in the 1837 purchase he referred to "Morrison's land" as the boundary on the side where "Ashland" is and the record shows he did not raise the mortgage on "Ashland" until December 1, 1844, when he gave the trustee of Transylvania University "the store and dwelling house occupied by Messrs. D.W. and E.W. Craig, on Main Street in front of the Court House" (No. 216 W. Main St. today) in exchange for a release.
Transcribed January 2001, by pb