The Slower Road

Continuing with the carriage-history references that A.J. and I kept finding on our recent “local” vacation …

While we were at Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill (a lovely historic site that also offers fabulous hiking opportunities, delicious food, and unique accommodations), we found a Kentucky historic marker in the parking lot that offers the following nuggets:

Completed by 1839, the Lexington – Harrodsburg – Perryville Turnpike (KY68) ran through the center of Pleasant Hill. The road became part of the mail stage route between Zanesville (Ohio) and Florence (Alabama). Stages were discontinued here by 1877. The turnpike brought communication and trade to the reclusive Shakers, as well as both Confederate and Union invaders during the Civil War.

This is a photo (from our vacation) of the same road mentioned on the marker. For a number of years, the “modern,” paved KY68 followed this same route, right through the center of the Shakers’ village, an area long known locally as “Shaker Town.” When the newer KY68 was built nearby and the historic area restored, this original road was, shall we say, un-paved.

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While on our way to a museum in Bardstown, we drove past a sign describing “The Cobblestone Path.” We were intrigued enough to stop (frankly, because, from the road, the slight clearing in the woods on the hillside didn’t look like much).

Remember when I said that little Bardstown boasts a rather stunning amount of regional, state, and national history?

Here’s what the aforementioned sign says:

The Cobblestone Path is one of the oldest paved roads in all Kentucky. By 1785, this was the original entry to Bardstown from the east and part of the legendary “Wilderness Road.” Congress ordered the Pioneer Trace to be improved as a military road after 1792. The cobbled paving of this hill dates to at least c. 1790. It allowed two-way traffic by heavy freight wagons, and for all wheeled vehicles entering and leaving Bardstown. After serving for more than thirty years as the major entry connector to the east end of historic Arch Street, the steep pathway was relegated to light traffic and mounted riders after the improved turnpike was constructed c. 1830. Cut off from the city’s modern streets after 1925, the path’s isolation allowed it to survive, serving only pedestrian traffic after that date.

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Bardstown's "Cobbled Path" dates from the late eighteenth century

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... for perspective, here's A.J. standing on the path; this road is so steep and narrow that it's hard to imagine two-way freight-wagon traffic here ... what a job that must've been!

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... and a close-up of some of the late-eighteenth-century cobblestones

After Madison, Indiana, our next stop was small (but historical) Bardstown, Kentucky.

Bardstown was one of the earliest frontier settlements in what is now Kentucky, and it boasts an awful lot of national, state, and regional history for such a small town … and a lot of lovely old architecture.

This building is the Old Talbott Tavern. Its original section (on the left) was built in 1779, and it’s still used as a restaurant, tavern, and inn.

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this eighteenth-century tavern is said to be the country's oldest western stagecoach stop

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According to both news reports and legend, several notable figures have stayed here, including Abraham Lincoln, when he was a young boy, and his family; Daniel Boone; and the exiled French King Louis Phillipe and his entourage (they even painted murals on the upstairs walls). Jesse James, who had family in Bardstown, is also reported to have stayed here, and he’s believed to be responsible for the bullet holes in the French king’s murals. Sadly, portions of the inn were heavily damaged in a 1998 fire. The murals have not yet been restored, so we weren’t able to see them for ourselves.