Ashland: Henry Clay's home returned to elegance
Ashland, the 19th century plantation home in Lexington of Kentucky statesman Henry Clay, still exudes the elegance and comfort enjoyed by generations of Clay's descendants.
Clay, a legendary orator known as the Great Compromiser, served as the longtime Speaker of the U.S. House and later in the U.S. Senate. He was Secretary of State from 1825 to 1829 and ran unsuccessfully for president five times. A Democrat turned Whig, Clay is widely credited with staving off the Civil War for several decades.
Clay began building the two-story Federal-style mansion in 1806, and he lived on the 600-acre hemp plantation with his wife and family until his death in 1852. The wings of the original building, added by Clay in 1811, were designed by Benjamin Latrobe, architect of the U.S. Capitol.
A son, James Clay, bought the house, but found Ashland in disrepair due to porous brick and the 1811 and 1812 New Madrid, Mo., earthquakes. The younger Clay had the house razed and rebuilt, following closely to the house's original blueprint.
Although James Clay meant the house as a memorial to his father, the new Ashland, finished in 1857, sported Italianate and Victorian architectural elements as well as Federal ones. Henry Clay's granddaughter, Anne Clay McDowell, who moved in in 1882, further modernized the house, adding, among other amenities, an indoor kitchen, gas lighting, indoor plumbing, a conservatory, a sleeping porch and the telephone. Henry Clay's descendants lived in the house, off and on, until Ashland was turned into a historic house museum on the remaining 20 acres in 1950.
Ashland became a National Historic Landmark in 1962.
Visitors can view the mansion's 18 rooms, including the formal drawing room with its prized portrait of George and Martha Washington and Clay's library, an octagonal room in one of the home's wings with a domed ceiling.
Guided one-hour tours begin on the hour. The mansion is closed in January, and opens for tours of 15 or more by appointment only in February. Teachers wishing to bring field trips of 10 to 60 can learn more here. Students on field trips pay $3 to $5, depending on the tour.
Because of Clay's prominence, the Ashland name has been bestowed on cities and counties across North America and, since 1939, on a horse race at Keeneland Race Course, the Ashland Stakes. The U.S.S. Ashland is named after Clay's estate.
- by Ivonne Rovira, Lexington Reporter for HelloMetro
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