The Advocate-Messenger from Danville, Kentucky • 22

22 THE KENTUCKY ADVOCATE Danville Kentucky Sunday November 3 1985 Looking back Paint Lick boasts long illustrious 200 years By BRENDA EDWARDS Staff Writer colonial red brick house that stands where the first permanent Staff Photos by Daniel Price The George Denny house at Paint Lick was built prior to the Civil War Mr and Mrs Joe Adams now own the house ilM I MU' biHnw Hi II 3 1 II Hii I lfli a I 1 1 1 PAINT LICK The Kennedy Miller Adams and Denny families were among the first people to set tle in the Paint Lick community over 200 years ago Lt Col William Miller came here in 1776 and raised a crop of corn He actually settled the com munity according to historical documents Miller's gravestone states he settled the community in 1776 Other sources say he actually came to Kentucky in 1775 surveyed the land in 1776 and set tled the station in 1781 The land grant dated Jan 29 1780 states that Miller and George Adams claimed a settlement and preemption to a tract of land 400 acres where he probably built his station Adams was guardian to Miller and his brother John who were orphans The two families knew each other before they settl ed in Paint Lick Paint Lick was settled before Kentucky became a state The town runs along both sides of Paint Lick Creek at the Garrard Madison county line The small stream is usually calm but on numerous occasions has spilled over its banks sweeping through the town and taking whatever gets into its path Legends handed down in the community say that the name Paint Lick was given to the settle ment because about the time the first settlers arrived the Indians had marked salt licks along the creek by peeling tree trunks mak ing them appear painted Another legend states that two hunters killed an Indian squaw One hunter got away but the other was hung by his heels his throat cut and his blood caught The blood was later splashed on the white sycamore trees The body was left as a reminder to others who might try the same thing The town near the deer lick might have gotten its name from the gory ar tistry of the Indians Alexander Denny William Champ and other pioneers also were at the fort about the same time as Miller The late Anne Burnside Brown a local historian wrote an article about the Millers that was publish ed in the Central Record Lan caster in 1977 In the article she said that William Miller brought his bride Nancy Yancey to the fort in 1780 There their first child Isabella was born She was the first child born at the fort and was one of five girls borr to the Miller couple Margaret one of the Miller children first married William McLean of Tennessee and after his death she came back to Paint Lick with her five children and a slave She married George Denny and they had twins Margaret and George Young George built the settlers lived (The house is now owned by Joe Adams) Another daughter Jenny was killed by Thunder an Indian chief in 1791 apd her grave in the fort cemetery became the first one to have arnarker Stones from the graves were later moved to the Old Cemetery that opened in 1784 William Miller helped Daniel Boone mark the trace over Cumberland Gap when the men were bringing their families here William lived to be 96 years old and was described as a kind man according to Mrs Brown's article Gen Thomas Kennedy another of Paint famous citizens came to the wilderness in the late 1770s and purchased land from the Henderson Company in 1776 He was appointed 1779 as one of the first trustees of the town of Boonesborough He built his sta tion Stove ort at Paint Lick in 1780 Early history states the personal prowess of the noted four Kennedy brothers was much assistance in securing the country from the Indians" In 1781 while Thomas was away the fort was attacked and set on fire The valor of his wife Agnes Ross in putting out the fire and successfully defending the fort besieged by howling savages is cited in history as an example of great female courage Thomas was the first man sent from Madison County in 1788 and again in 1791 to the Virginia legislature He also was elected as the first state senator from Madison County Kennedy was known as ag gressive warm and generous and he held absolute power over a great estate and hundreds of slaves He was described as "a large fine looking man with a striking looking face a bold pioneer and Harriet Beecher Stowe who wrote visited the Kennedy home to gather data for her novel Paint Lick has seen many changes over the years The first Paint Lick community was settled about two miles west of the pre sent town When the Louisville and Nashville Railroad came through in the late 1880s the town moved to its present location After Kentucky was declared a state and the counties were established the town became located in two counties Garrard on the west sie of the creek and Madison on the east The older part of town is in Madison County and the Garrard County side of town became known as the newer section At the time Milford Madison first county seat was moved to Richmond in 1796 the townspeople of Paint tick became angry because Milford was closer to their community by four miles A history of Paint Lick written by Dr JB Kinnaird states that the day the records were to be moved the committee left Milford before daylight and took the records to Richmond before the Paint Lick people had time to get to town The group of angry people in cluding Thomas Kennedy and Dave Kennedy arrived too late to stop the move Dave known as a bully said he would whip any man who approved of the procedure A Mr Kerley stepped out The two men fought and Dave was defeated The result of this inci dent was the forming of Garrard County Presbyterian Church has served town for 200 years MANSE The Paint Lick Presbyterian Church founded in 1784 by David Rice has been serving as a worship place in the com munity for over 200 years It is one of the oldest churches in Ken tucky having been established while the area was still a part of Virginia The first church was a log building built at the site of the Paint Lick Cemetery The second church was built in 1830 on the same site where the present church building was built between 1873 and 1875 on Ky 52 in the community of Manse just west of Paint Lick The log church that housed the first Presbyterian congregation in the Paint Lick area was located at the present cemetery site Records from the original log church have been lost and the year the first building was constructed in not known The con gregation decided that the second building would be built along the highway A bronze plaque was placed at the site of the first church and dedicated in June 1957 It was unveiled by Patricia Henderson a descendant of Alexander Henderson one of the organizers of the church in 1784 A deed in the Garrard County courthouse states that in 1829 the 23j acres of land on the east side of the road was conveyed to trustees James Henderson Oliver Terrill Alexander Reid James Reed and rancis Hord by Samuel Reid A large brick structure was built there About that same time the Manse a one story brick structure was built on land near the cemetery Some years later the second story was added accor ding to the late Annie Burnside Brown who wrote the church history on the 175th anniversary of the church The second meeting house was much larger than the present church and accommodated the largest congregation in the state before the churches were divided during the Civil War Mrs Brown wrote The roof of the building was supported by interior Greek columns The bricks for the church were kiln on the grounds as were the ones for the Manse built about 1848 The Rev Robert A Johnston and his family were the first to occupy the old Manse according to Mrs Brown The youngest daughter Alice told Mrs Brown the family lived in the two room log school building in the cemetery while the brick parsonage was being built The church was known to be a wealthy church before the Civil War an article in the Madison County Newsweek July 12 1975 states During the war and some years afterwards Paint Lick was one of few churches that had two separate congregations and pastors since Kentucky was divided in the war The Southern sym pathizers held services one Sunday and the Northern congrega I inn 1 ft' Hs nTi The present Paint Lick Presbyterian Church building is the third in the history tion conducted services the next The marker in front of the church states that there were several skirmishes near the Paint Lick church during the Civil War Then in 1873 the old church was razed and replaced by a new and smaller one that still stands The present Paint Lick church was completed in 1875 It was referred to as the because it was spon sored by the young men of the congregation and was their achievement The architecture is Gothic with a balconey across the back inside ew changes have been made in the structure of the church ex cept for the addition of electric lights A new home for the pastor has been built in the churchyard The old Manse was sold in 1950 Some of the early preachers at the old Paint Lick church in cluded Dr Rice Matthew Houston Samuel inley James Barns John Brown Anderson Woods Cary Allen Wylie Thomas Clelland EE Irvine William Crowe Winslow Osborne Cochran WD Huddleston AD Crawford JC McClung WM Eldridge WA Ramsey Dr TC Vinson Dale Ratliff and James A Booth note: Information for this article also was taken from clippings published in The Central Record newspaper in Lan caster and from an interview with Ruth Mahanes of Paint Lick) As more settlers moved into Paint Lick the town grew A history of the area by Martha Jo Allen states that after the Civil War in 1868 the Rowland branch of the Louisville and Nashville railroad was built It ran from Stanford through Lancaster to Richmond The Rowland branch added another stop at Paint Lick The railroad was abandoned a few years later with the arrival of bet ter transportation A depot and post office were established The Walnutta Academy was established in 1875 so students could get a better education and prepare for college The Academy was sold in 1892 to the Methodists for a church Other businesses sprung up Rusker's flour mill was built and a few years later a creamery was built The People's Bank was established in 1901 with EL Woods as president and Garnett Kemper as cashier An article in the Lancaster newspaper states that in 1878 Paint Lick had two dry goods stores one drug store two blacksmith shops two physicians a wagon maker a carriage shop a leather finishing shop a district schoolhouse a post office a depot and one church There were about a dozen houses for the 75 residents A consolidated high school was established in 1912 The school is now an elementary school Paint Lick has been connected by bridges throughout its history A covered bridge spanned the creek for a number of years and was replaced in the 1900s with an iron bridge In recent years a con crete bridge has been built The community has seen its share of floods and fires that have destroyed many of the early buildings ew of the older buildings remain in the communi ty but most of the early houses re main in tact Share old photos in The Kentucky Advocate invites readers to send old photographs to us for publication in Looking back Any photograph of people or places of interest to readers will be accepted Photos should not be torn or too faded Please include any information you have about the photo Send photographs to The Ken tucky Advocate PO Box 149 Danville Ky 40422 or bring them by the office at 330 ourth St keep them here until they are picked up after publication or if you include a self addressed stamped envelope mail them rom the files 75 years ago 1910 Col EW Lillard was going to Washington DC to be a private secretary to Sen William nell Bradley Bradley was elected largely through influence of Col Lillard and owes him a great debt of gratitude an article said A steep grade in the pavement in front of the new government building had citizens upset An ar ticle called it a and ad ded: pavement is so much inclined that in certain places it looks like an effort was being made to stand the concrete end The article also pointed out that it was not the fault of city of ficials grade was furnished by the US Only five teachers attended a monthly meeting of the Boyle County Teachers Association teachers are so poorly paid that they are in reality looking for other work to said an article Those sponsoring the dinner had prepared enough food for 150 people 50 years ago 1935 AB Chandler won the race against Republican King Swope Ken tuckians also voted overwhelm ingly in favor of repealing prohibi tion in what was proclaimed the heaviest voter turnout in the history The Centre College football tam was given a game cock to use as a mascot The rooster was named the because it was the third mascot the college had had in its football history The first had been a Boston bull pup the second another game cock which was given to Roberts in 1923 has said an article the fowl ended up as one of the two chickens promised for every pot by former President Herbert 25 years ago 1960 Mayor Roy Arnold and Advocate Messenger Editor Enos Swain were to debate the city manager versus mayor council form of government on radio The debate had been taped at a meeting of the Danville Rotary Club Voters were to go to the polls the following day to decide whether the city would keep the mayor council form or adopt the city manager system Suzi Gearhart was named homecoming queen at Danville High School Betty Bohon and Martha aye were the other candidates George A Chauncey assumed his duties as the new minister at irst Presbyterian Church in Dan ville The Memphis native was succeeding Bruce Compton Laurence Hollander presi dent of Junior College was named comptroller at Centre Col lege Hollander was a lay member of the Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky.