In 1983, almost 900 acres of farmland and associated historic buildings was listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The Lane’s Run Historic District, named for the tributary of the North Elkhorn Creek that runs through the area, is located northeast of Georgetown, Kentucky, long one of the fastest growing areas in Central Kentucky. I was conducting some “aerial reconnaissance” (on another project entirely) from my computer screen when I noted the familiar geometric zig-zags of modern housing developments and idly directed my mouse in that direction. One thing led to another (I tumbled down the rabbit hole) and I had to trace the chopped up landscape visible from Google to its rural origins.
A rural scene within the district, once characterized by a “feeling of remoteness from the nearby urban situation.” Circa 1983 photograph by Ann Bolton Bevins, from the NRHP files.
It wasn’t a happy journey. The rural countryside is, unsurprisingly, mostly gone. Perhaps about one-third of the district, once comprised of four large farms, remains undeveloped.
It appears that when the district was listed in the NRHP, the hope was that it would serve as a “greenbelt” against future development. But while the NRHP can serve as an important planning tool, it really has no teeth without local zoning to support its honorific designations.
The Lane’s Run Historic District today.
Two of the main houses are gone, along with their barns, corncribs, granaries, and of course – the land has been scraped, paved, and transformed into a sea of blacktop. The other two houses appear to be still standing, one on the west side of the Old Oxford Road, and the other on the east side.
The Hugh Emison House, an early 19th century brick hall-parlor plan house, is no longer standing. Circa 1983 photograph by Ann Bolton Bevins, from the NRHP files.
The very interesting Reuben Flournoy Ford and Mary Webb Ford house was a circa 1840s dwelling. It is no longer extant. Circa 1983 photograph by Ann Bolton Bevins, from the NRHP files.
Perhaps one of the saddest sentences in the NRHP nomination is once about the Ford House (above): “The dwelling, unoccupied for several years and in deteriorating condition, is to be thoroughly restored.”
A detail of the cornice inside the now-demolished Ford House. Photograph by Ann Bolton Bevins, from the NRHP files.
The prime farmland noted in the NRHP nomination is no more. The district, once described as conveying a “unique sense ‘of earlier days’ with its rich pasturelands and early manor houses, gently undulating topography dotted with agricultural buildings dating from the early l800s era to 1932, and surprising quietude,” has given way to the insatiable appetite for more housing, more services, and wider roads. It has been consumed and its quietude erased.
Ann Bolton Bevins, Lane’s Run Historic District, listed in the NRHP in 1983.
Thank you for the posting. Sad to see the destruction industry’s relentless machine at work.
I am 86 now and have given up on KY. I appreciate and agree with your values and priorities but this has happened in my home county (Madison) and prime farm land is taken for granted too. We really are so stupid!
Janie-Rice Brother,
I found this article to be especially personal and a spur in my side to finally contact you for advice and help. I live on Swigert Avenue, Lexington, KY 40505. I love this last rural slice of heaven at the edge of the LFUCG Urban Service Boundary. I have tried to get my few (abt 40) neighbors/homeowners to work towards an Neighborhood Design Overlay status, but few wanted to do the work that involved. My research led me to discover all the houses on Swigert are listed as being part of the Hayland Farm subdivision. Hayland Farm was owned, managed and operated by Elizabeth Dangerfield, the first woman to manage a stallion, Man O’War. To me, that in itself is enough reason to preserve this neighborhood. I’ve been told by one homeowner that Man O’War might have lived on her farm, in her barn, for a period of time. She has no proof. Here’s where my knowledge ends. I would love to find out where exactly Hayland Farm’s boundaries were. What structures on Swigert, or nearby, were part of the original farm and how might we get recognition and something I can use when I go before planning to stop a development that may cause destruction of such a valuable place in equine history. I’m sorry this comment is not about this post but it is about attempting to save important history from being razed and turned into shopping malls, subdivisions, etc…This post saddened me so much.
The Ford house must have been fascinating…..any other documentation on it?