I stumbled upon the Jack Jouett House a few years ago when my daughter and I were out on one of our excursions. The house was not open on that day, so I snapped a few pictures and we went on down the road. I had intentions of returning when the home was open for tours. It took much longer than I had planned, but finally a few months ago, I returned to the Jack Jouett House to receive that tour and the full history of a man I knew very little about.
The Jouett Family
John Jouett Jr. (known as Jack) was born December 7, 1754 in Abermarle Co., Virginia to John Jouett Sr. and Mourning Harris Jouett. Jack was born into a large family with three brothers and according to Family Search, six sisters. The Jouett family was very patriotic. His father, John Sr., was the owner of a popular tavern called “The Swan” and he provided meat to the state militia during the Revolutionary War. In addition, all four of the Jouett boys served with the Continental Army or the state militia during the revolution.
Both John Sr. and Jack signed the famous Albemarle Petition, which renounced King George and British control of the American colonies.
Jouett House
Jack’s mother, Mourning Harris, was a descendant of Sir William Harris, a signer of the 3rd Virginia Charter and William Claiborne, the first Secretary of the Virginia Colony.
The Revolutionary War in Virginia
The War for Independence began on April 19, 1775 with the exchanging of gunfire at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. By 1779, the British Army was struggling to defeat General George Washington and his troops in the north, so the British turned their attention to the southern colonies, sailing to Virginia and the Carolinas hoping to stop the revolution there. Winning the colony of Virginia, the home of General George Washington and Governor Thomas Jefferson, would be a significant blow to the patriots and their efforts for independence. (To learn more about the British’s southern effort click here.)
In the early months of 1781, the American traitor we know so well, Benedict Arnold, led a raid on Virginia’s capital city of Richmond. The raid included multiple attacks which forced Governor Jefferson and the Virginia Legislature to flee the city and head for Charlottesville, near Jefferson’s Monticello home.
By May, Arnold’s men, along with troops led by Major General William Phillips, had joined a larger British force under Lord Cornwallis.
Monticello.org
On June 1, 1781, General Cornwallis learned of Governor Jefferson and the Virginia Legislature’s move to Charlottesville. Coming up with a plan, Cornwallis sent Lt. Colonel Banastre Tartleton to capture Jefferson and the members of the Virginia Legislature.
Some of the men that were in danger were Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Nelson Jr., and Benjamin Harrison. Those men were quite influential men of the time, and it would have been detrimental to the American cause if they were captured.
Family tree Nuts.org
Enter the “Paul Revere of the South”
During the War of Independence, Jack Jouett served as Captain of the 16th Regiment of the Virginia Militia. He was 6’4” and 220 pounds. He was certainly not one to be messed with!
It just so happened, that on the night of June 3, 1781, around 10pm, Jack was at Cuckoo Tavern where he spotted Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton with 250 British troops that had stopped to water and rest their horses before continuing their ride. Realizing that Lt. Col. Tarleton and his troops were headed for the unprotected Charlottesville, Jack took action.
Assuming Tarleton and his troops would likely take the “main road” to Charlottesville, Jack jumped on his horse and rode an abandoned logging trail with dangerous terrain for 40 miles through the middle of the night to warn Jefferson and the Assembly of the impending danger. At roughly 4:30am, he reached Monticello allowing Jefferson to escape before the British arrived. From there, he rode on to Charlottesville where he warned the assembly allowing most of the patriots to escape. (Unfortunately, seven legislators were captured by Tarleton.) But, the British mission had failed!
Just six months later, on October 19, 1781, Cornwallis and Tarleton surrendered to General George Washington at Yorktown. This marked the end of the major hostilities during the Revolutionary War (although battles continued on the frontier) and guaranteed American independence.
For his bravery, Jouett was awarded a sword and pair of pistols and earned the title the “Paul Revere of the South.”
Explore Kentucky History
Captain Jack Jouett Moves to Kentucky
A year later, in 1782, Jack moved to Kentucky County, Virginia. He was quickly elected as a delegate for Lincoln County to the Virginia House of Delegates where he served two nonconsecutive terms. This was just the beginning of his political career. In 1788, he supported Kentucky statehood as a delegate to the Separation Convention in Danville, and after Kentucky claimed statehood, Jack served in the Kentucky House of Representatives. He first represented Mercer County and then Woodford County.
On August 21, 1784, Jack Jouett married Sarah “Sally” Robards in Goochland County, Virginia. They would go on to have twelve children together; eight boys and four girls. Jack and Sally’s most famous child was Matthew Harris Jouett, born in Mercer County, on April 22, 1788. It is said that the Jouett family only had enough funds to educate one child and Matthew was the chosen one. He studied law at Transylvania College in Lexington, but his true interest was in the arts. He went on to become one of Kentucky’s most famous portrait painters. He completed portraits of Thomas Jefferson, George Rogers Clark, Henry Clay, and the Marquis de Lafayette. (To learn more about Matthew Jouett, click here.)
The Jack Jouett Homestead
The Jouett family moved to the current day “Jack Jouett Home” property along Craig’s Creek in 1797. The property included 530 acres (at that time) with only a stone cottage standing. The stone cottage is said to have been built by the brother of Elijah Craig (attributed inventor of bourbon) around 1765. The Jouett family moved into this cottage while a larger 5-room brick home was built. Upon completion of their home, the stone cottage was turned into a kitchen and is likely where a few of the enslaved people of the Jouett family would have slept.
The home was built with locally sourced timber and brick and includes three rooms on the first floor (a parlor, dining room, and master bedroom) and two bedrooms on the second floor. While this is a simple home today, it wasn’t in the 1790s. A home made of brick showed wealth. The home also included closets, which was extremely rare as space would usually not be wasted on such a thing. Having a wardrobe that required a closet was also rare in the Kentucky wilderness as people typically only had one or two outfits.
The largest room in the home was the parlor. This room would have been used more than any other in the home. It served two purposes; one as an office for Jack’s farming and legislative business and two as a place to host and entertain family, friends, and visitors. Prominent Kentucky families, such as the Clays, would have been regulars to the home and entertained in this room. (To read more about the home click here.)
Running a Business
Jack made money through several avenues; two separate farms (the one he and his family lived on and another 200-acre property at Glenn’s Creek), race horses, and a distillery. The 20+ enslaved people on the property helped to make those endeavors happen. These individuals worked the fields and tended to the orchards, raised and raced the horses, and managed the distillery. While the history of these individuals continues to come to light, little is known about those that were enslaved on the farm. A few names, however, have been identified through wills and other documents. Milly, Molly, Bettey, John, and Giles were likely the names of 5 people enslaved by Jouett.
The Jouett family continued to live in the home until the mid 1810s. Sally died on November 14, 1814, in Fayette County, KY at the age of 49. Jack went to live with his daughter in Bath County, KY where he died on March 1, 1822. He is believed to be buried in an unmarked grave at Tanyard Graveyard, a rural pioneer cemetery.
A Home Lives On
Other Kentucky families called this structure home after the Jouetts. The Morris family was just one of those families. Many members of the Morris family are buried in the cemetery adjacent to the home.
In the 1980s, Woodford County took over the home and what remains of the property in order to restore and preserve it. Today, the home is open for tours with limited hours on Friday – Sunday. Please check their website for more information.
My Visit…
Through a dear friend of mine, I was able to arrange a special tour of the Jack Jouett House outside of the regular tour season. On this particular day in February, the expressway was backed up for miles (surprise, surprise) so I rerouted. With the sun shining bright, I rolled down the windows, turned up the heat, and drove the backroads of Kentucky through several small towns and over many rolling hills to finally arrive at the Jack Jouett House, where I met Sam, who was kind enough to open the home for me.
We started in the small visitor center where Sam gave me the history of Jack Jouett’s Ride. As I stated at the beginning of this post, I knew very little about Jack and really only knew that he was considered the “Paul Revere of the South.” Sam joked that he considered Paul Revere to be the “Jack Jouett of the North.” (The shame is Jack never received the accolades or remembrance that Paul Revere received but his ride was equally, if not more, important.)
Once Jouett’s significance in American History was thoroughly covered, Sam took me to the Jouett home just a few feet from the visitor center. We started in the stone cottage discussing how it was built and who it was built by, followed by discussions of various colonial tools and cooking utensils. We then moved to the home where Sam covered the history of everything from the family, the rooms, and the furnishings to the building materials and the hand-carved initials of a Morris child in an upstairs bedroom. Sam’s passion for history and for the home was quite clear.
…and Reflection
Once the tour was complete, we returned to the visitor center where I had the opportunity to explore the various informational banners and artifacts. I was happy to see information being presented that specifically mentioned and discussed the people who were enslaved by Jack Jouett.
As I have noted on my Facebook page, our historic sites are truly working to bring the enslaved people who were previously hidden into the light. It isn’t an easy task. There’s very little information to find. When it is found, however, the information is finally being included as part of our story… our history. I’m pleased to say the Jack Jouett House is one of these historic sites.
I wrapped up my time with Sam and thanked him for the opportunity. I spent a few more minutes taking pictures around the home and in the Pioneer Cemetery where many Morris family members were buried. (The cemetery is well-kept. A few of the stones are in need of repair and several others could use a good cleaning, which might allow names to be seen again.)
I then made my way back to the car and headed for home, happy to have finally learned about the man who played such a significant role in American history.
This is another trip that I think is absolutely worth your time. I hope that you’ll “Get out and see Kentucky” soon!