| Text |
The recent visit of Elizabeth Petersen to her ancestral home in Radcliff recently gives us a contemporary reason to recount briefly the history of one of this area’s pioneer and most influential families, the Haycrafts.
Without a doubt, the Haycraft Inn located on South Wilson Avenue in Radcliff is one of the most picturesque of the historic structures located in Hardin County. To attest to that fact, when ATHS member, the late Guy Winstead wrote the “Elizabethtown and Hardin County Kentucky – A Pictorial History� in 1989, the Haycraft Inn in Radcliff was shown on page 37, surrounded by text concerning the Haycraft family of Elizabethtown.
The history of this home and family has been well documented in the public records of Hardin County.
The original portion of the house was built by Coleman Lewis about 1814. Lewis had migrated to the Mill Creek area from Culpepper County in Virginia prior to 1812 with his brothers. In 1812, He returned to Virginia and fought in the War of 1812. Upon his return, Lewis constructed the oldest and largest portion of the house. Coleman Lewis exits the story about 1820 when he sold the house and grounds to Daniel K. Haycraft, who was born about 1792 in Hardin County. Daniel married Elizabeth McMurtry (b 24 Apr 1807 in Hardin County) on November 19, 1829.
Haycraft built the addition on the home and started using it as an inn and stagecoach stop on the Louisville – Nashville Turnpike. Construction of the house is solid, boasting walls 16 inches thick. The original floors are said to have been Chestnut, but have been replaced with Poplar.
Mrs. A.P. Latham, in a brief article titled, “Tale Of A Wayside Inn� obviously had information provided by family members when she described the inn with great detail as ‘beautifully furnished throughout with the handsomest mahogany, walnut and cherry furniture, rosewood piano, grandfather’s clocks, mahogany sideboard, divans, tables of all sizes and descriptions, and immense four-poster beds and brass and irons and fender brought over from England. The beautiful secretary that held all Mr. Haycraft’s private and important papers and documents is now in the possession of a granddaughter, Miss Elizabeth Brown of Louisville, Kentucky. Quite a number of those priceless old antiques are still treasured by different members of the family.� (Photo Left: John Emary and Elizabeth Petersen at the “Cool Spring�. ANCESTRAL NEWS PHOTO BY PAUL URBAHNS)
When the Louisville and Nashville Turnpike was built and later operated, the entire route was divided up into various portions each managed by a different local company. Daniel K. Haycraft served as a member of the operating board of the Elizabethtown and Louisville Turnpike Company, which controlled that portion of the road.
We know a little about the personality of Daniel Haycraft because of a portion of the book, At Home And Abroad – A sketchbook of Life, Scenery and Men� written by Bayard Taylor, a nationally known travel writer of the Civil war period. During Haycraft’s time, the inn was known as The Cool Spring Tavern, named after the spring on the property which probably watered many a turnpike traveler’s horses and family.
Taylor in describing his stagecoach journey through our area wrote in his 1866 book: “We stopped for dinner at the Cool Spring tavern. The landlord, who had very much the air of a parson, received us with much ceremony, and then blew dolorously upon a conch-shell until “the boys,� who were at work in a distant field, heard the summons and hurried home to take charge of our horses. We were regaled with Kentucky ham, eggs, excellent coffee and cornbread of that peculiar sweetness and excellence which only a Southern cook can give it.�
Mrs. Latham writes in her own personal style saying, “Many guests were accommodated every night. About dusk the rambling old stage, loaded with passengers, drawn by weary teams, would lumber up to the front door and be cordially greeted by the inn-keeper, Mr Daniel Kelly Haycraft, “A man of ancient pedigree� cousin of “Uncle Sammie Haycraft of “History of Elizabethtown� fame, a most interesting and entertaining gentleman.�
Latham describes Elizabeth McMurtry Haycraft as, “so charming and gracious to everyone that travelers along the Louisville and Nashville pike considered themselves most fortunate when their stopping place for the night chanced to be at Haycraft Inn.�
One story passed down through the generations of the family, comes to mind with the return of Elizabeth Petersen to her ancestral home deals with a Civil War incident.
During the War Between The States, the Louisville and Nashville Turnpike was used extensively by both sides. A related article in this issue of Ancestral News deals with Milton Stith a close neighbor of the Haycraft’s who was robbed blind by the Union Army of General Buell in September 1862.
These armies along with stragglers and rascals, were about the country side and confiscating everything of value which they could lay their hands on. High on their list of priorities were silver and fire arms.
Elizabeth Haycraft decided to take a defensive action to protect a family heirloom, the family’s engraved initialed silver service. Striking upon a plan to bury the silver until after the hostilities had ended, she told the negro farm hands that she was going to make a fern bed and had them dig a big trench. Then after she sent them to the woods in search of rich dirt and ferns, without being witnessed she buried her box of silver under the dirt and planted the fern bed with no one the wiser. The family silver stayed secure from all marauders until she and her husband died.
We are not sure whether the silver was divided among Daniel and Elizabeth’s children upon their death in 1877, or if Clay Haycraft retained the silver as he continued to live in the plantation house following the death of his parents.
We do know that Clay’s daughter Bessie Haycraft inherited a small portion of the silver which she passed to her daughter Elizabeth.
Today Elizabeth lives in a retirement complex in Augusta Georgia with her husband, William. This year, Elizabeth decided she wanted to visit the old Kentucky home that her mother had spoke of many times. Along with her she brought the remaining silver engraved with the initials of D K H and presented it to the current owners of the mansion, John and Jo Emary.
Concerning the surprise visit, Jo Emary says, “Elizabeth's visit was a dream come true for my family. It was a surreal experience when she and her husband pulled up in the drive and introduced themselves, and my knees literally got a little wobbly as the realization sunk in that THIS was an actual descendant of Daniel K. Haycraft, an infamous name in the heritage of our home! The experience only got better as we sat on the back porch and began to talk about her family and the history of the house as Elizabeth confirmed or cleared up various tidbits of folklore surrounding the heydays of the Haycraft Inn. The one that flabbergasted me the most, though, was when she confirmed the story of the 'buried silver' and told me she had what was left of the silver and intended to give it to me, save one piece she wanted keep for sentimental reasons. If I hadn't been sitting down, I surely feel I would have fallen over. I was beyond stunned, and when she actually presented me with the coin-silver spoons with 'DKH' initialed on the handles, it was all just too wonderful to believe. We felt so privileged to spend so much time with the Petersen's over the next couple of days and they are already talking of a return trip--something we just can't wait for. My parents' dream was to preserve and enhance the historical integrity and value of this structure, and Elizabeth's visit only helped to achieve this. They [my parents] would be so pleased to know what has happened at this point in time of this lovely piece of Radcliff history.�
|
RNT Family History