 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
 |
     |
|
16. Camp Nelson Waterworks (J) (RM 130.0) The Camp Nelson waterworks were located on the Kentucky River approximately five miles downstream from Hickman Creek. When Camp Nelson was built by the Union army in 1863, they constructed an elaborate water system to serve the camp. The key element to the system was a steam-powered pumping station on the river that pumped water 470 feet up the cliffs to a 500,000 gallon reservoir on top of the bluffs near the present-day distillery on US 27. The pump house was supported 35 feet above the river on a wooden trestle to raise it above flood levels. From the reservoir water was gravity-fed throughout the military supply depot buildings, including hospitals, barracks, mess halls, and other Camp Nelson structures. Water from the system was also used to create a fountain in front of the camp headquarters building 17. Chimney Rock (G) A candlestick rock column of Ordivician limestone said to be 450 million years old. It was a major marker for early steam excursion boats. 18. Lower Ferry (J-G) (RM 132.1) In an early example of “cluster” development, the large amount of activity at the mouth of Hickman Creek led to a spin-off operation just downstream that came to be known as the Lower Ferry. From its beginning it was a contentious site prone to use the courts or have them used against it. This has left a particularly vivid historical record that is very informative of the nature of these operations. Development of the site began with the construction of a cabin by Samuel Grant, a nephew of Daniel Boone and one of the most active surveyors under Virginia law in what was to become Garrard County. Because this point in the river was a major north-south crossing to Lexington, a ferry was chartered here in 1792. Other competing sites opened and this ferry failed economically. It was reopened in 1818, but all ferries near here were put out of business when the Wernwag bridge opened here in 1838. 19. Wernwag Bridge (J-G) (RM 135.0) This covered bridge was long considered one of the engineering wonders of Kentucky and was a major feature of the turnpike to Lexington from the south. It was projected when the state was interested in the internal improvements, and was lending its credit and its money to the construction of railroads, canals, and turnpikes. The cost of the bridge was $30,000, a princely sum when it was erected in 1838. The length of its single span was 270 feet with two 12-foot lanes, a very substantial mark for that time. Garrard County paid a part of the cost of the structure, with Jessamine county paying the remainder. It was designed and erected by Lewis B. Wernwag, a Pennsylvania native. The wood was poplar and pine, fastened together with wrought iron fittings made at the Red River Iron Works in Estill County. This was one of the two bridges across the Kentucky River at the time of the Civil War and was considered so important to the Union forces, particularly those stationed at Camp Nelson, that it was heavily guarded on both sides by Union troops. After 90 years of continuous service this engineering marvel gave up its ghost: a leaky roof caused the rotting of a floorboard and a heavily loaded truck from Lexington fell through. The bridge was condemned on December 26, 1926. Efforts to preserve the structure were attempted, but not successful and the bridge was removed. 20. Mouth of HickmanCreek (J) (RM 135.2) This site, at the present-day river crossing of US 27, was a crossing point of a fork of the early Wilderness Road into the bluegrass region of Kentucky. There was a ford here that permitted foot and wagon crossing much of the year. The second ferry to be established in Kentucky (1785) crossed here. This point has seen a succession of ferries, bridges, landings, communities, warehouses, taverns, boat-building works, and dwellings. The community of Fitchport existed here until 1865. James Wilkinson used this site as an upstream terminus of his tobacco shipments to New Orleans in the 1780’s. The first steamboat to travel from Kentucky to New Orleans was built here. It was a major packet-boat and showboat stop when boats were the best way to travel in Kentucky and showboats offered the only live enter-tainment. It is chiefly noted as the river loading point for Camp Nelson, a very large Union Army supply base during the Civil War, for which this area is named.
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
