WINTER HIKE SCHEDULE (Feb. 2008)

LEXINGTON HERALD LEADER ARTICLE ON LOWER HOWARDS CREEK (June 4, 2006)

Check out this article Lexington Herald-Leader | 06/04/2006 | Ruins of Lower Howard's Creek

PRESERVE RECEIVES ENVIRONMENTAL GRANT (May 10, 2006) - From Columbia Gas of Kentucky Press Release

To commemorate Earth Day 2006, Columbia Gas of Kentucky awarded a local grant in the amount of $5,000 through the NiSource Environmental Challenge Fund to the Clark County-Winchester Heritage Commission for its Lower Howard's Creek Nature and Heritage Preserve Project.

The fund offers an annual grant competition that supports local natural resource and wildlife enhancement projects and related educational efforts in communities across NiSource's market area, which includes 19 states.  Within Columbia Gas of Kentucky's communities, a local Environmental Challenge Fund Advisory Board reviewed and selected the inning proposal from grant requests submitted earlier this year.

EARTHDAY 2006 - 18TH CENTURY REENACTORS TO BE PART OF APRIL 22 WILDFLOWER HIKE

The April 22 hike will have an interesting twist to it. 18th century reenactors, in full period dress, will be on site to greet hikers and to interact with them at different places along the hike. The reenactors will take on roles of settlers from the late 1700s, the period when Lower Howards Creek was a thriving agricultural/industrial complex built around the availability of water powered mills. Add a little history to your Earthday hike; adults and children will find the inclusion of these reenactors and a taste of the frontier experience interesting and informative. Hike begins at 10 a.m.  (see the calendar for information on other hikes)

MARTIN HOUSE STABILIZATION UPDATE (April 5, 2006)

Stabilization work on the John Martin House is underway.  Floor joists have been replaced and floor supports put in place, the back wall of the house that was in jeopardy of collapsing has been taken down and is in the process of being rebuilt.

Click here to see more photos of stabilization work underway.

FOREST ECOLOGY HIKE (March 25, 2006)

Bill Crankshaw, retired forest ecologist, led this hike and explained and showed examples of a succession forest.  Hikers braved cold temperatures and occasional sleet on this hike but all seemed to enjoy the trip and remarked that they planned on doing one of the Spring Wildflower hikes.

GEOLOGY HIKE (March 4, 2006)

David Harris, of the Kentucky Geological Survey, discussed the unique geology of the area and why certain types of limestone made better building material than other types.  David explained how tufas are formed and pointed out Lexington, Tyrone, Oregon, and Camp Nelson limestone layers as we descended the creek valley.  James Miles, the stonemason working on the Martin House, talked about how stone was quarried and split and showed how his splitting wedges fit almost perfectly into holes drilled, probably around 150 years ago, into a huge rock in an old rock wall.

VISIT WITH WILLIE LITTERAL (March 2, 2006) 

 In 1935-36 then 20 year old Willie Litteral lived in the stone addition of the John Martin house with his wife and 1 year old twin daughters.  Today Willie, now 91 years young, visited the site of his former home and shared information about life along the creek in the 1930s.  Willie has a remarkably good memory and was able to describe in detail the building and its surroundings and shared some interesting stories about the people and places of Lower Howards Creek.

HISTORICAL RESEARCH ON THE PEOPLE AND PLACES OF LHC

Harry Enoch has been doing meticulous research on some of the people and places of LHC and has graciously made some of that available to the public through this web site.  Click here to access this body of work.

PHOTOS POSTED OF DRY STONE CONSERVANCY WORKSHOP

The Dry Stone Conservancy led a stone wall building workshop at LHC on June 3-4, 2005.  We have posted some photos showing the sequence of work involved in tearing down a wall that was in poor repair and rebuilding it.  Click here to see the photos.

18th CENTURY RE-ENACTORS MAKE A TREK TO LHC (Jan. 2006)

Thirtyfive 18th century re-enactors visited LHC on a balmy Winter morning.  With everyone dressed in full period clothing it was as if time had been turned back.

Click here to see more photos of this 18th century trek.

Visit Jim Cummings' website to see additional photos and to learn more about re-enacting and living history.

MARTIN HOUSE STABILIZATION CONTRACT AWARDED (Sept. 2005)

A contract has been awarded to James Miles Contracting to provide historic preservation and stabilization services for the John Martin house.  Funds for this work come from a TEA-21 grant, work is expected to take up to five months.

Click here to see more photos of stabilization work underway.

FRIENDS OF LOWER HOWARDS CREEK PICNIC (Sept. 18, 2005)

DRY STONE WORKSHOP A SUCCESS (Sept. 10-11, 2005)

James Miles let another dry stone walling workshop.  Participants completed the "other end" of the stone wall next to the Blue Grass Heritige Museum.

SUSPENSION BRIDGE COMPLETED (April 2005)

The long awaited pedestrian bridge is complete, thus allowing a safer crossing of the creek in all types of water conditions.  This marks a milestone at the Preserve.  Lower Howard's Creek is fed from a large watershed and a little bit of rain tends to make for a swift, deep creek.  Many times we have had to modify a scheduled hike because of rain the night before that made a creek crossing unsafe.  The bridge allows us to have more access, more often, and opens the door to regularly scheduled research work without worrying if the creek can be safely crossed.

The Friends of Lower Howard's Creek thanks Randy Palmer and Palmer Engineering for their many hours of dedicated community service on behalf of the Preserve and with their technical assistance with the bridge project.  They have proven to be a wonderful community partner and we are very appreciative.

John Sensabaugh, left, owner of Sensabaugh Design and Construction Co., Berea, and Bill Turner fasten the steel A-frame to concrete while building a foot bridge over Lower Howard's Creek in the Lower Howard's Creek Nature and Heritage Preserve. The bridge is being constructed at a cost of $50,000, with the funds coming from a Department of Local Government Recreation Trails Grant and matching funds from the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation. (James Mann, Winchester Sun, 4-20-05)

LHC MASTER PLAN DRAFT BEING REVIEWED (May 2005)

A draft of the Lower Howard's Creek Master Plan is being reviewed.  This detailed and comprehensive document identifies key landscape districts and their elements and provides direction on how they can be incorporated into educational programs for the public.

STONE WALLS REBUILT (posted 4-7-05)

A crew led by James Miles has rebuilt a significant section of the rock walls near the Martin Mill and they look beautiful!  There are miles of stone walls within the Preserve, of several different construction techniques.  Come on one of the scheduled hikes and see for yourself.

2000 Article from The Winchester Sun
PRIME FOR PRESERVATION: HERITAGE COMMISSION WORKING TO SAVE LOWER HOWARD'S CREEK'S UNIQUE HABITAT, PIONEER HISTORY
Click here to read the complete story! Our thanks to The Winchester Sun's reporters Cathy Gilkey, Jeff Kerr and staff photographer James Mann for allowing us to use their stories and photographs to aid the preservation of LHC.