(This article first appeared in the July print edition of the Hendersonian.)
More than 250 years ago, in the days when our nation’s Patriots were fighting at places like Lexington and Concord to establish a new nation, the first settlement in the Kentucky territory took hold.
It would be nearly two decades more before Kentucky became the 15th state, carved out of the western part of Virginia.
Old Fort Harrod, which is now a focal point in the central business district of Harrodsburg, can be traced to 1773 when Capt. James Harrod felled a tree to be used for construction of a remote and isolated fort on the frontier.
The following year, settlers that included Harrod, Abraham Hite, Jacob and James Sandusky, Capt. James Ray, Capt. William Pogue, and 30 other men built Fort Harrod and the community of Harrodstown (now Harrodsburg) surrounding the fort.
Those were tough times for the pioneers as they worked to establish themselves on what was then the Western frontier. They were frequently challenged by indigenous people who had their own claims on the land, and as the war for independence began in the east, conflict also erupted in the west between Patriots, Loyalists and alliances that formed and reformed.
Today, Old Fort Harrod State Park (originally dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as Pioneer Memorial State Park) shows what those times were like in a setting that features a reconstruction of the original fort.
The fort contains several log structures representing various aspects of military frontier life, including a militia blockhouse, a family blockhouse, a school, the minister’s house, several cabins and a garden.
On Wednesdays through Sundays, interpreters in period dress offer their knowledge about pioneer days to visitors. On a recent day topics being presented by interpreters included blacksmithing, weaving and basketmaking, woodworking, musical instruments on the frontier, cartography and rifle making.
Once a year on Father’s Day weekend, in an event called Old Fort Harrod Settlement and Raid, frontier re-enactors inhabit the grounds and the fort to set the scene for pioneer life in Kentucky.
The two-day event includes a daily skirmish between frontiersmen, the British and their native allies that features a lot of musket fire, some hand-to-hand combat and lively hurling of verbal insults during a raid on the fort.
Other special events include Pioneer Days in August and a Jazz Festival in June. In the summer months, an outdoor drama about pioneer days is presented in the amphitheater.
But this year, during the 250th anniversary of our nation’s independence, a visit to Fort Harrod would be timely any time.
In addition to the replica of the old fort, the park has the Mansion Museum, the George Rogers Clark Federal Monument (not to be confused with the National Historic Site in Vincennes), the Lincoln Marriage Temple and Pioneer Cemetery said to be the oldest cemetery west of the Alleghenies.
The 1813 Mansion Museum is a historic Greek Revival home that contains American Civil War artifacts, a McIntosh gun collection, paintings, documents, music collections, Abraham Lincoln memorabilia and Native American artifacts.
The Lincoln Marriage Temple is a brick structure that encloses a reconstructed log cabin where the president’s parents, Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, were married in 1806. The original location was in Beechland, Ky.
As for American military officer George Rogers Clark, he was the highest-ranking officer on the northwestern frontier during the Revolutionary War and used Fort Harrod as a base for planning his operations. He served as leader of the Virginia militia in Kentucky before it became a state and also was a leader in the push for statehood.
A quirky feature of the park is the “Big Ole Tree,” the largest Osage Orange tree in the U.S.
If you go:
Old Fort Harrod State Park is located at 100 S. College St. in Harrodsburg. Park grounds are open every day of the year from dawn to dusk. The fort and gift shop are open from March through November from Wednesday-Sunday. Tickets: Adults $8, Seniors $6, Children 6-12 $5.
