My Old Kentucky Home State Park
Encyclopedia
My Old Kentucky Home State Park is a state park located in Bardstown, Kentucky
. The park's centerpiece is Federal Hill, a former plantation
built by United States Senator John Rowan in 1795. During Rowan's life, the mansion became a meeting place for local politicians and hosted several visiting dignitaries. Tradition holds that songwriter Stephen Foster
, who was a cousin of Senator Rowan, was inspired to write My Old Kentucky Home
after a visit to Federal Hill in 1852, although some scholars believe Foster never visited the mansion. My Old Kentucky Home was designated the state song of Kentucky in 1928. The Federal Hill mansion was featured on a U.S. postage stamp
in 1992, and it is one of the symbols featured on the reverse of the Kentucky state quarter
issued in 2002.
The Federal Hill mansion was sold to the My Old Kentucky Home Commission in 1920 and donated to the state for use as a state park two years later. It was originally designated a state historic site, but was transferred to the Division of State Parks in 1936 and became a state park at that time. In addition to tours of the mansion, the state park's amenities include a gift shop
, camp site, and an 18-hole golf course
. An amphitheater on the grounds features dramatic performances, including Stephen Foster — The Musical.
-style home. The mansion was built by Judge John Rowan, constructing the back side in 1795, additional space from 1799–1802, and making it the stately mansion it is today from 1808 to 1818, using slave labor and bricks made on site. Rowan directed the brick making himself. The windowsills and mantels on the fireplace were exquisitely carved by a free black craftsman. Three quarters of the furniture exhibited inside the mansion was owned by the Rowan family. The Rowan family coin silver is also exhibited there. With Rowan in residence, Federal Hill was a local power center in the realms of legal, political, and social events. Prominent visitors to the home included Marquis de Lafayette and Henry Clay
.
In 1839, the house suffered fire damage. Alexander Moore was hired to repair the damage, as he had worked on the design elements and woodwork in 1818. Upon the Judge's death in 1843, the house passed to his son, John Rowan, Jr. When John, Jr. died in 1855, his widow, Rebecca Carnes Rowan, inherited the house and lived in it until 1897. The house then passed to their daughter, Madge (Rowan) Frost.
Federal Hill is often cited as the inspiration for Judge Rowan's cousin Stephen Foster
, who wrote a ballad called "My Old Kentucky Home
," now the official Kentucky state song. Tradition recounts that Foster wrote it while staying at Federal Hill in March 1852. The history is murky, and some historians suggest the tradition was manufactured to encourage tourism in Bardstown, especially after Foster became famous. By 1900, a statue of him was displayed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
. By then, Rebecca Rowan had been dead for three years. The Rowans' daughter Madge Frost was said to love being a "Southern belle", and encouraged the story about Foster. It helped her sell the mansion and the accompanying 235 acre (0.9510121 km²) to the "My Old Kentucky Home Commission" at a high price ($65,000) in 1920. The Commission renovated the property and gave the plantation to the state of Kentucky in 1922 for use as a state park, with the official dedication on July 4, 1923. Many of those who do not think Federal Hill the inspiration for Foster's song think he was inspired by the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin
.
There are contributing structures outside Federal Hill. One is the restored law office for Judge Rowan, a wooden structure built on the site of the original springhouse. To the rear of the home the oldest section of residence can be seen. The ell consists of four rooms, two that are currently not open to the public as well as the kitchen and smokehouse. The smokehouse is interesting in that was built as part of an existing structure, and not free standing as is most often seen. This structure served as the first residence for the family while the primary residence was constructed. To the east of the house is the family burial ground. Behind the house is a flower garden. The slave cemetery lies beyond the flower garden.
The property was originally a State Historic Site, but it was passed to the Division of State Parks in 1936, making it a state park.
The house was renovated in 1977 and in 2006. The 2006 renovation was a larger affair, and was paid for by an anonymous donor. It used floor coverings, fancy wallpapers, and window treatments to restore the house to how it may have looked like when Foster was alleged to have visited the mansion. The use of family letters and photos from the 1920s and 1950s helped in the restoration. The 2006 renovation cost nearly $1,000,000. In 2000, the basement of the home faced a termite
infestation. Special Christmas
candlelight tours are offered during the holiday season each year in which tour guides dress in elaborate period holiday costumes and Federal Hill is decorated in a 19th century holiday fashion, and a children's story time hour in the bedroom of the Rowan's twin daughters. The goal of the park manager was for Federal Hill to look like a "Currier and Ives
print".
A gift shop lies between the main parking lot and Federal Hill. Items concerning the park and the state of Kentucky, especially books by Kentucky authors and Kentucky Derby
items, are available for sale. The park also features the Kenny Rapier Golf Course, a regulation 18-hole golf course
named for a previous Kentucky Commissioner of Parks and Bardstown native, that also features a fully equipped pro shop. The 39-site campground is available mid-March to mid-November. Different meeting facilities are available, and allow wedding
s to take place.
On June 1, 1992, a 29-cent stamp was issued honoring the park. The Federal Hill mansion was also chosen to be one of the icons featured on the Kentucky State Quarter
. To the right of the stately mansion, an inscription on the coin reads "My Old Kentucky Home." It was the 15th state quarter, released on October 18, 2001, denoting the fact that Kentucky was the 15th state to join the United States
. The official ceremony revealing the quarter was held in the park, and was said by then-governor Paul E. Patton
that the mansion and the accompanying thoroughbred were: "...the two most visible, beloved symbols in Kentucky."
. It is the longest running outdoor drama in the state of Kentucky, having started in 1959. It was written by playwright Paul Green. Matinees are performed in an indoor theater with air-conditioning. Many Foster songs are performed, with the actors dancing in period dress, in a retelling of Foster's life. The play has seen revisions from Green's original version, either lengthening it, shortening it, removing antiquated dialogue, or redoing the references to slavery to make it easier for modern audiences to enjoy the presentation.
Recently, the theatre has begun doing other musicals in addition to Stephen Foster. In 2008, the theatre produced The Civil War
in celebration of the Lincoln Bicentennial. In 2009, a second musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
, was staged on Tuesday and Saturday nights in July and August, alternating with Stephen Foster. In addition, the amphitheater hosts a summer concert series.
Bardstown, Kentucky
As of the census of 2010, there were 11,700 people, 4,712 households, and 2,949 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 5,113 housing units at an average density of...
. The park's centerpiece is Federal Hill, a former plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
built by United States Senator John Rowan in 1795. During Rowan's life, the mansion became a meeting place for local politicians and hosted several visiting dignitaries. Tradition holds that songwriter Stephen Foster
Stephen Foster
Stephen Collins Foster , known as the "father of American music", was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century...
, who was a cousin of Senator Rowan, was inspired to write My Old Kentucky Home
My Old Kentucky Home
"My Old Kentucky Home" is a minstrel song by Stephen Foster , probably composed in 1852. It was published as "My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night" in January 1853 by Firth, Pond, & Co. of New York...
after a visit to Federal Hill in 1852, although some scholars believe Foster never visited the mansion. My Old Kentucky Home was designated the state song of Kentucky in 1928. The Federal Hill mansion was featured on a U.S. postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
in 1992, and it is one of the symbols featured on the reverse of the Kentucky state quarter
50 State Quarters
The 50 State Quarters program is the release of a series of circulating commemorative coins by the United States Mint. Between 1999 and 2008, it featured each of the 50 U.S. states on unique designs for the reverse of the quarter....
issued in 2002.
The Federal Hill mansion was sold to the My Old Kentucky Home Commission in 1920 and donated to the state for use as a state park two years later. It was originally designated a state historic site, but was transferred to the Division of State Parks in 1936 and became a state park at that time. In addition to tours of the mansion, the state park's amenities include a gift shop
Gift shop
A gift shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collections and other souvenirs....
, camp site, and an 18-hole golf course
Golf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
. An amphitheater on the grounds features dramatic performances, including Stephen Foster — The Musical.
Federal Hill
Federal Hill, commonly called "My Old Kentucky Home", is a historic FederalFederal architecture
Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the United States between c. 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal Period. The name Federal style is also used in association with furniture design...
-style home. The mansion was built by Judge John Rowan, constructing the back side in 1795, additional space from 1799–1802, and making it the stately mansion it is today from 1808 to 1818, using slave labor and bricks made on site. Rowan directed the brick making himself. The windowsills and mantels on the fireplace were exquisitely carved by a free black craftsman. Three quarters of the furniture exhibited inside the mansion was owned by the Rowan family. The Rowan family coin silver is also exhibited there. With Rowan in residence, Federal Hill was a local power center in the realms of legal, political, and social events. Prominent visitors to the home included Marquis de Lafayette and Henry Clay
Henry Clay
Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...
.
In 1839, the house suffered fire damage. Alexander Moore was hired to repair the damage, as he had worked on the design elements and woodwork in 1818. Upon the Judge's death in 1843, the house passed to his son, John Rowan, Jr. When John, Jr. died in 1855, his widow, Rebecca Carnes Rowan, inherited the house and lived in it until 1897. The house then passed to their daughter, Madge (Rowan) Frost.
Federal Hill is often cited as the inspiration for Judge Rowan's cousin Stephen Foster
Stephen Foster
Stephen Collins Foster , known as the "father of American music", was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century...
, who wrote a ballad called "My Old Kentucky Home
My Old Kentucky Home
"My Old Kentucky Home" is a minstrel song by Stephen Foster , probably composed in 1852. It was published as "My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night" in January 1853 by Firth, Pond, & Co. of New York...
," now the official Kentucky state song. Tradition recounts that Foster wrote it while staying at Federal Hill in March 1852. The history is murky, and some historians suggest the tradition was manufactured to encourage tourism in Bardstown, especially after Foster became famous. By 1900, a statue of him was displayed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
. By then, Rebecca Rowan had been dead for three years. The Rowans' daughter Madge Frost was said to love being a "Southern belle", and encouraged the story about Foster. It helped her sell the mansion and the accompanying 235 acre (0.9510121 km²) to the "My Old Kentucky Home Commission" at a high price ($65,000) in 1920. The Commission renovated the property and gave the plantation to the state of Kentucky in 1922 for use as a state park, with the official dedication on July 4, 1923. Many of those who do not think Federal Hill the inspiration for Foster's song think he was inspired by the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman....
.
Architecture
Federal Hill is made of stone and brick native to the surrounding countryside, with its laywork being of Flemish bond. It is mostly in the Georgian style, but defers by having a service court instead of the typical Georgian west side rear room. Federal Hill has two floors and a small attic. The first floor's main rooms are a dining room and parlor, behind which is a small bedroom. The second floor consists of three bedrooms similarly spaced to the rooms below.There are contributing structures outside Federal Hill. One is the restored law office for Judge Rowan, a wooden structure built on the site of the original springhouse. To the rear of the home the oldest section of residence can be seen. The ell consists of four rooms, two that are currently not open to the public as well as the kitchen and smokehouse. The smokehouse is interesting in that was built as part of an existing structure, and not free standing as is most often seen. This structure served as the first residence for the family while the primary residence was constructed. To the east of the house is the family burial ground. Behind the house is a flower garden. The slave cemetery lies beyond the flower garden.
Modern times
The house was renovated in 1977 and in 2006. The 2006 renovation was a larger affair, and was paid for by an anonymous donor. It used floor coverings, fancy wallpapers, and window treatments to restore the house to how it may have looked like when Foster was alleged to have visited the mansion. The use of family letters and photos from the 1920s and 1950s helped in the restoration. The 2006 renovation cost nearly $1,000,000. In 2000, the basement of the home faced a termite
Termite
Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...
infestation. Special Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
candlelight tours are offered during the holiday season each year in which tour guides dress in elaborate period holiday costumes and Federal Hill is decorated in a 19th century holiday fashion, and a children's story time hour in the bedroom of the Rowan's twin daughters. The goal of the park manager was for Federal Hill to look like a "Currier and Ives
Currier and Ives
Currier and Ives was a successful American printmaking firm headed by Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives . Based in New York City from 1834–1907, the prolific firm produced prints from paintings by fine artists as black and white lithographs that were hand colored...
print".
A gift shop lies between the main parking lot and Federal Hill. Items concerning the park and the state of Kentucky, especially books by Kentucky authors and Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
items, are available for sale. The park also features the Kenny Rapier Golf Course, a regulation 18-hole golf course
Golf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
named for a previous Kentucky Commissioner of Parks and Bardstown native, that also features a fully equipped pro shop. The 39-site campground is available mid-March to mid-November. Different meeting facilities are available, and allow wedding
Wedding
A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...
s to take place.
50 State Quarters
The 50 State Quarters program is the release of a series of circulating commemorative coins by the United States Mint. Between 1999 and 2008, it featured each of the 50 U.S. states on unique designs for the reverse of the quarter....
. To the right of the stately mansion, an inscription on the coin reads "My Old Kentucky Home." It was the 15th state quarter, released on October 18, 2001, denoting the fact that Kentucky was the 15th state to join the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The official ceremony revealing the quarter was held in the park, and was said by then-governor Paul E. Patton
Paul E. Patton
Paul Edward Patton was the 59th governor of Kentucky, serving from 1995 to 2003. Because of a 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor eligible to succeed himself in office since James Garrard in 1800...
that the mansion and the accompanying thoroughbred were: "...the two most visible, beloved symbols in Kentucky."
Outdoor productions
The park features an amphitheater that is home to the long-running outdoor musical, Stephen Foster — The Musical, which is staged during the summerSummer
Summer is the warmest of the four temperate seasons, between spring and autumn. At the summer solstice, the days are longest and the nights are shortest, with day-length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice...
. It is the longest running outdoor drama in the state of Kentucky, having started in 1959. It was written by playwright Paul Green. Matinees are performed in an indoor theater with air-conditioning. Many Foster songs are performed, with the actors dancing in period dress, in a retelling of Foster's life. The play has seen revisions from Green's original version, either lengthening it, shortening it, removing antiquated dialogue, or redoing the references to slavery to make it easier for modern audiences to enjoy the presentation.
Recently, the theatre has begun doing other musicals in addition to Stephen Foster. In 2008, the theatre produced The Civil War
The Civil War (musical)
The Civil War is a musical written by Gregory Boyd and Frank Wildhorn, with lyrics by Jack Murphy and music by Wildhorn. The musical centers on the American Civil War, with the musical numbers portraying the war through Union, Confederate, and slave viewpoints. The musical was nominated for a Tony...
in celebration of the Lincoln Bicentennial. In 2009, a second musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly...
, was staged on Tuesday and Saturday nights in July and August, alternating with Stephen Foster. In addition, the amphitheater hosts a summer concert series.