Thursday, July 4, 2013

An Independence Day Visit to a Historic Home

George Rogers Clark
1752-1818

To celebrate the Fourth of July, Independence Day in America, I am going to visit a historic home, Locust Grove, which was built here in the late 1700s by Lucy Clark and her husband William Croghan. Lucy was the sister of George Rogers Clark who is credited with founding our fair city and who was a hero of the Revolutionary War. He died in 1818 and spent the final nine years of his life with the Croghans at Locust Grove. 

His younger brother, William Clark, is the Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the western part of the country from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Both men stopped at Locust Grove in 1806 after returning from their explorations.

I have a copy of the Journals of Lewis and Clark published as part of National Geographic's Adventure Classics series. I have not read it, but I do like reading journals and diaries. This just may be the year!

I have never visited the house, which is on the National Historic Register, and today the home and the grounds are open and free to the public.  I will take advantage of the opportunity to explore this part of Kentucky and American history.

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