Page 76 - washington state wine

us. When the spoiled younger Joseph Among Hunt’s descendants was John er, so imagine the charged atmosphere
marches to war as a Confederate, “they Hunt Morgan, called “the Thunderbolt in this bucolic neighborhood during the
sent him back!” of the Confederacy.” This flamboyant Civil War.
leader of Confederate guerrilla fighters
He set up two horse-racing tracks on the known as “Morgan’s Raiders” would do “This was never a crude frontier town,”
hemp plantation that were its — and his anything they could to disrupt — or rob said Jason Sloan, director of preserva-
— undoing. “Joseph Henry was so profli- — Union soldiers. tion of the Blue Grass Trust, which owns
gate with money, within three years he the Hunt-Morgan House. “It was always
had lost $2 million; in 1894 wealthy and cultured.” He add-
the place was sold out from un- ed that Lexington had an opera
der him,” Bryant told us. house before Chicago and some
Joseph Henry’s children of the first Beethoven sympho-
bought most of the home’s fur- nies were played here. “There
nishings back from auction so was a lot of opportunity and
the home today displays most- commerce here.”
ly original pieces.
The push to save the Hunt-Mor-
Waveland’s slave quarters have gan House from demolition in
also been restored. It’s worth 1955 formed the beginning of
noting that after the Civil War the Blue Grass Trust, the city’s
and abolishment of slavery, preservation organization.
“the slaves all stayed here; they Stroll down 2nd and 3rd ave-
were treated well here,” said nues right outside downtown
Bryant. where splendid old homes are
restored or undergoing resto-
The Civil War deeply divided Kentucky. The Hunt-Morgan House is located on ration.
The Hunt-Morgan House really show- a corner of Gratz Park, a lovely histor-
cases that division. ic neighborhood where virtually every This city’s devotion to its historic past
home is on the historic register. Right has resulted in many magnificent neigh-
It was built in 1814 for the first mil- across the park from the Hunt-Morgan borhoods that make architecture devo-
lionaire west of the Alleghenies, a hemp House was the home of General Thom- tees swoon around every corner. Drive
merchant named John Wesley Hunt. as Bodley, a staunch Union sympathiz- yourself around the areas of Ashland

76 Wine Dine & Travel Summer/Fall 2015