Clark County's Lower Howard's Creek valley is a special place. The creek has
carved a deep, narrow gorge into the Bluegrass plateau as it carries water
from the Winchester area to the Kentucky River. This valley attracted some
of the first settlers to move out of Fort Boonesborough.
The area containing Lower Howard's Creek Nature and Heritage Preserve is located
immediately upstream from the creek's confluence with the Kentucky River at
Hall's Restaurant. The area contains a narrow, heavily forested gorge with
numerous cliffs and spectacular waterfalls and the ruins of a historic settlement.
By 1820, the valley of Lower Howard's Creek had become an industrial corridor
with numerous mills, distilleries and manufacturing operations. Industries
harnessed the power of its falling water to produce products for shipment
down the readily accessible Kentucky River to distant markets. Writing in
1923, the Kentucky historian R. S. Cottrell described the area in 1812 "as
one of the largest manufacturing areas west of the Allegheny Mountains".
As long as water powered mills were the most efficient means of processing
agricultural products, the Lower Howard's Creek area prospered. Mills of various
types were built as close together as the fall of the creek allowed. A road
was built alongside the creek, crossing at numerous fords, to allow for the
movement of goods and people through the area. In many places, the road was
shored up by rock retaining walls. Stone fences separated the road from adjoining
fields fro most of its length. These roads and fences provide enduring evidence
of the once thriving community that existed on Lower Howard's Creek.
When water powered mills became obsolete late in the 19th century, mill owners
and their workers began to move out of the area. A few of the houses continued
in use as farmhouses in the early 20th century before being abandoned in mid-century.
For the last sixty years, much of the previously cleared area has returned
to forest. Adjacent to the once cleared valley floor are steep, forested hills.
Today no one lives in the area.
The last two miles of Lower Howard's Creek flow through a fully forested gorge
that is very similar to the Kentucky River gorge. Since the steep hills and
cliffs could not be converted to agricultural or manufacturing uses, native
plant species were able to survive and prosper. These include "Running
Buffalo Clover" which is listed as endangered by the U.S. Government
and "Water Stitchwort" which is listed as threatened by the Commonwealth
of Kentucky. The comprehensive biological survey now underway may well identify
other endangered and threatened species.
The area also features spectacular waterfalls located on side streams immediately
upstream from the creek. One such waterfall can by found within 30 yards of
the ancient wagon road that winds down a steep hill into the gorge.
The historic resources of Lower Howard's Creek are abundant and important.
During the settlement and antebellum eras of Kentucky history, all of the
short streams that carried water from the Bluegrass plateau to the Kentucky
River became the focus of milling, distilling, quarrying, and shipping activities.
Boone Creek, Four Mile Creek, Jessamine Creek, Silver Creek, Clear Creek,
Glenn's Creek and many others were the location of linear manufacturing communities
that played a critical role in the economic development of the region. These
communities converted the bountiful crops produced on the upland plateaus
into products, which could be shipped down the Kentucky River to markets in
and beyond the state. Historic remains of this era in the form of roads, dams,
stone fences, millraces and stone structures are clearly evident in the Lower
Howard's Creek valley.
Due to the obsolescence of water-powered manufacturing and the inaccessibility
of the areas where they were located, most Kentuckians are unaware that the
narrow stream valleys of the Bluegrass Region are an important part of their
heritage. Our state has done an outstanding job of preserving buildings associated
with pioneer settlement, antebellum plantations, religious communes, and the
homes of our outstanding leaders while neglecting the story of our early industry.
Lower Howard's Creek provides an unparalleled opportunity to tell that story.
Martin's Mill and the associated John Martin House, two National Register
listed sites located within the wilderness gorge of Lower Howard's Creek,
are resources that can be used to interpret Kentucky's industrial history.
Thee two stone structures are monuments to our early millers and the skilled
stonemasons. The John Martin House is a unique house complex composed of a
log house built in the 1780s to which two very finely crafted stone additions
were added, the first in the 1790s and the second probably around 1830. Martin
quarried stones from a steep hillside on the opposite side of the creek to
build these additions, which are speculated to be a smokehouse and storehouse.
Upstream Martin used stone to dam the creek in order to shunt water into the
millrace that carried water about one half mile to what was a magnificent
stone gristmill. Some of the walls of this extraordinary structure remain
standing today. The millrace and numerous well-preserved rock fences are other
features of the area.
When milling ceased around the beginning of the 20th century, the Martin House
and Mill were used as farm buildings until the mid 20th century when they
were finally abandoned. Although the area around these buildings has returned
to forest and the buildings have suffered extensive deterioration, the area
is ideally suited for the study and interpretation of early Kentucky industry
and as a nature preserve.
Martin's
Mill
