Washington Historic District

About this property

The Washington Historic District in Washington, Kentucky was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, and its borders were increased in 1976. The buildings of Washington range from simple log cabins to late Georgian and early Federal styles constructed of home burned brick laid in Flemish bond. Many houses have double doors at the entrance and a reeded roll length wise under a four light transom. The Paxton Inn (c. 1810), a brick three-story Federal style example of an early Kentucky public inn Albert Sidney Johnston House, representative of simple early frame domestic buildings in Kentucky, is reputed to be the birthplace and childhood home of Confederate States of America Army General, Albert Sidney Johnston Federal Hill (1800), is a two-story brick house with transitional details of Georgian and Federal styles built by Colonel Thomas Marshall and completed by his son. Another son, John Marshall, became the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1801–1835). Marshall Key House (1807), a two-story brick house, has a Federal style main body with a Georgian style doorway. The builder was Colonel Marshall Key, who moved to Kentucky in 1795. Arthur Fox House (also Fox-Bickley House, c. 1785), a two-story frame and nogging clapboarded structure, was built by one of the original trustees of Washington. The rich variety of buildings include a "flat-boat house", the only surviving example of this unique kind of structure, a bank, an inn, row buildings, churches, a school building, a group of log, frame, brick, and stone homes along with several types of outbuildings. The founding of Washington dates back to May 1775, when a group of ten men arrived from farther east in Virginia to survey and improve lands. One of the men, Jonathan Higgs, built a cabin near the present east end of York Street in Washington. The most influential of the group was Simon Kenton, who cleared about an acre of land at a site about 1.5 miles from Washington. In 1785, Simon Kenton sold 700 acres to two Virginians, Arthur Fox and William Wood, who decided to lay out a one-mile square grid-iron site, sell lots, and turn a profit. The town was named "Washington" with the intention that it might become the national capital and was the first town in America to be so named. Washington's early commercial success stemmed from its location. Those settlers who landed at Limestone and who wished to travel to the Kentucky interior had to negotiate a steep hill to the plateau three and one-half miles away where Washington stands. This required a full day to drive a heavily loaded wagon the short distance and therefore most elected to stop overnight at the town before continuing the inland journey.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in Mason County

Historic places, battles, and census history across Mason County.

More historic places in Kentucky

Browse all historic places in Kentucky.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

Kentucky history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.