Beech Tree News Network

A few weeks ago, Garey and I ventured to Bardstown, Kentucky, to see what we could see.  We stopped in at My Old Kentucky Home.

                It’ an interesting place, not just because of Stephen Foster and the famous song he wrote about the place, but also because of the family that built the place and lived out their lives there.  The mansion was commissioned by the patriarch, John Rowan, Sr., and completed in 1818.  The home and adjoining land (325 acres) was referred to as Federal Hill, in honor of the Federalist Political Party.

                The house remains intact, just the way it was constructed, with 13’6” ceilings and 22’x22’ rooms.  In 1841, a lightening strike caused a fire that destroyed the third floor, but it was repaired and reconstructed exactly as it had been, per Rowan, Sr.’s instructions.  The furnishings are all originals, except for the upholstery, which has been refurbished with materials that remain true to the period.

                In 1843. John Rowan, Jr., took possession of the mansion, along with his wife, Rebecca, and their ten children (visitmyoldkyhome.com).  If you continue to read on while visiting the website, you will find out that John, Jr. fell from a windowsill in an upstairs room and died from a broken neck in 1855.  If you take the tour through the mansion, you will find out why he was sitting on the windowsill in the first place. 

                According to the tour guide, one of the children became very ill.  John vowed to stay by her side until she recovered.  The upstairs room where the little girl slept was stifling hot.  John opened a window then sat astraddle the sill in order to cool down a bit.  While there, he fell asleep, and upon awakening, he became disoriented and stepped out of the window instead of into the room. 

                His daughter recovered.  Her father did not, dying only a day after his injuries.  Rebecca was left alone with ten children.  God only knows how she carried on, yet she did, passing on in 1897, at the age of eighty-four.  The house was left to the remaining children.  Madge Rowan Frost was the last of the family to own the mansion.  She transferred ownership of the house and its contents to the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1923.

                Sometimes we forget that our knowledge of diseases and their causes come at the expense of those who came before us.  One of the most tragic events to happen to the Rowan family, while at Federal Hill, was the Cholera outbreak of 1833.  In a matter of days, the disease took eight family members and eight servants, all due to contaminated water.  There is a small cemetery on the grounds, where most of the family members are buried.

                Today, there is a statue of Stephen Foster on the grounds, near the mansion.  I had Garey take my picture next to it.  I felt a sadness there.  I think, I’ve always felt a sadness for him.  It couldn’t have been an easy profession, that of musician and songwriter, in a world of businessmen and soldiers.  In the mansion, on the piano, there is a copy of the sheet music to “My Old Kentucky Home,” in actuality, called “My Old Kentucky Home Goodnight.”

                The tour guide announced that she was going to sing the song and invited anyone who wanted to sing along with her.  I did.  I sang to honor the songwriter who wrote about my home, my old Kentucky home.