Sitting less than a half-mile off Bardstown Road in the Highlands of Louisville, is a most beautiful hidden historic treasure. My guess is that many Louisvillians don’t know of its existence unless they’ve driven by the sign a time or two. I don’t remember visiting this home with my family or on a school field trip, even though this home is in my hometown. My first visit was as an adult, taking my daughter of course, when she was about four years old. I revisited the home this past Fall to gather photos for a post, and I am finally getting to that writing! Have you visited Farmington? Did you know of its existence? The bigger question… do you know of its historical significance? Let’s do what I do best, let me tell you a little bit of history regarding this impressive hidden gem and the family that built it.
The Speed & Fry Families in Kentucky
Captain James Speed (1739 – 1811) was a Revolutionary War Patriot whom had been badly injured in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in Colonial NC. He came to Kentucky County, Colonial Virginia as a land speculator in 1782, settling near Danville with his family and slaves. He was active in the early conventions of Kentucky, participating in 1783-1785 and again in 1787.
One of his children, John Swift Speed (1772 – 1840), is the focus of our Farmington history, but I’ll get back to him in just a moment.
There is another family that is important to this history and it starts with Colonel Joshua Fry. He was a surveyor and cartographer with Peter Jefferson, President Thomas Jefferson’s father, and later became Thomas Jefferson’s tutor. In addition, Fry commanded Virginia troops in the French and Indian War in 1754. He died in service and was succeeded by Lieutenant Colonel George Washington.
Col. Joshua Fry had a grandson, also named Joshua Fry (born in Virginia c. 1760). He was 14 years old when he volunteered to be a soldier in the Revolutionary War and was present at Cornwallis’s surrender in 1781. Fry moved to Mercer County, Kentucky in 1798 where he inherited large land estates, along with many slaves. He was well educated and was a respected scholar. When he established a school in his home in Mercer County, many distinguished families paid tuition for their children to attend. Several notable students were: 15th Kentucky Governor, Richard P. Letcher, Chief Justice George Robertson, Colonel William R. McKee, General Cassius M. Clay, Honorable Joshua F. Bell, Colonel John Speed Smith, and Chief Justice Thomas A. .Marshall… just to name a few.
Fry married Peachy Walker, the daughter of Dr. Thomas Walker who was the first recorded Anglo-American to cross the Appalachian Mountains into the future state of Kentucky. (Walker also became one of the legal guardians to Thomas Jefferson, after his father Peter passed away.) Joshua and Peachy had two sons and five daughters together. One daughter, by the name of Lucy Gilmer Fry (Mar. 23, 1788- Jan. 27, 1874), is the focus of our Farmington history.
John Swift Speed & Lucy Gilmer Fry
John Swift Speed married twice; first to Abby LeMaster (Colonel John Floyd‘s niece) in 1796. They settled together at Mann’s Lick and had four children together. Only two survived to adulthood, Mary and Eliza. In 1807, his wife passed away and John returned to Mercer County with his family. It was there that he met and married Lucy Gilmer Fry, who was sixteen years younger than him.
William Christian Bullitt of Oxmoor Farm married Lucy Gilmer Fry’s younger sister, Mildred. There are many notable Kentucky descendants of the Fry family.
Raising a Family
John and Lucy had eleven children together, nine of which survived to adulthood. (Remember, during this time period, it was sadly quite common for children to die young.) Their children included: Thomas (died at age 3), Lucy, James, Peachy, Joshua, William Pope, Susan, Philip, J. Smith, Martha, and Anne Pope (died at age 7).
NOTE: There is a discrepancy within the information regarding their children. Both pieces of information are provided by Farmington.
The Speed children were all very well educated attending the region’s best schools located in Bardstown, KY. Music was also an important part of their education. Mary and Eliza (daughters from Fry’s first marriage) learned to compose and give concerts from Anton Heinrich, the famous Bohemian composer and violinist.
A Clever Businessman
In order to care for this rather large family, John Speed had his hand in many different businesses. In 1801, John served on the second Board of Trustees of Jefferson Seminary (later to become the University of Louisville). He also served as a lay judge, becoming known as “Judge Speed.” He ran his farm, owned a salt lick with his brother Thomas near Mann’s Lick, and owned stock in the Louisville and Bardstown Turnpike Company. This company owned and operated Bardstown Turnpike where Speed built his home on land he purchased in 1810. John would become President of the Louisville and Bardstown Turnpike Company in 1832.
In addition to all of the above, John Speed was also involved in many land transactions with his neighbors and partners, William Pope Jr. and David L. Ward.
Even though Speed had a hand in so many business opportunities, he truly made his fortune with his hemp farm. At its height, Speed owned 550-acres located along Bardstown Turnpike, six miles from Louisville. His property was so large it was considered a plantation. The success of this hemp farm can not be given to John Speed alone. While he was a great businessman, the hard labor was completed by the 70 enslaved people that John owned between 1809 and 1840.
The Enslaved at Farmington
John Speed had the largest slave holdings in Jefferson County. The enslaved were responsible not only for the success of his hemp plantation, but also for building and maintaining the section of Bardstown Turnpike that ran by the farm. In addition, the enslaved provided the labor needed to build the home we see on the property today, known as Farmington. The enslaved were also responsible for the successful production of corn, apples, wheat, pork, flax, lamb, mutton, and dairy products on the plantation.
On May 21, 2003, the Board of Regents dedicated Farmington’s Memorial to the Enslaved to commemorate the lives of the people enslaved on this property between 1809 and 1865. Designed to provide a quiet spot to acknowledge the contributions of the people enslaved at Farmington, and to contemplate the local and national impact of slavery, the memorial consists of a bronze medallion set on a landscaped terrace fitted with stone benches. The medallion personifies some of the up to seventy enslaved people at Farmington prior to the Civil War and includes images of David and Martha Spencer, enslaved at Farmington until 1865.
Visit Farmington.org
A Home for the Speed Family
As I mentioned earlier, John Speed purchased land along Beargrass Creek in Jefferson County in 1810. The building of his 14-room federal style home began in 1815 and was completed in 1816. It was designed from plans drawn by Thomas Jefferson and completed by Paul Skidmore.
It is a single story symmetrical home above a raised Italianate basement. There are two octagonal rooms located on the first floor that house the formal dining room and parlor. There are also four bedrooms on this floor. The central hall splits the home down the middle with a front and rear door. The stairs to the attic and basement are hidden behind doors, a well known Jefferson style design. The front entrance of the home displays twelve steps to a tetrastyle portico (or porch) with doric columns.
The basement, with five feet above ground walls and exposed windows, included three front rooms used by the Speeds; a daily dining room, a bedroom, and John’s business office. The rear of the basement housed a large indoor kitchen, three massive storage rooms, and wide hallways for the hustle and bustle of the enslaved people that cared for the home. Originally, the front and back rooms of the basement were separated, requiring access from opposite sides of the home. Today, the sections have a hall leading between the two.
The property also included (but was not limited to) a barn, a blacksmith shop, an icehouse, springhouse, cook’s quarters, an outdoor kitchen, and a carriage house.
A Very Famous Visitor
John and Lucy’s son, Joshua was a very close friend of a young man by the name of Abraham Lincoln.
Joshua Speed first encountered Abraham Lincoln when the latter was running for re-election to the Illinois state legislature. According to Speed, the twenty-seven-year-old Whig politician was one of the best orators he had ever heard. Thus, when Lincoln arrived in Springfield a year later, on a borrowed horse, to begin a career as junior partner to attorney John Todd Stuart, they were not complete strangers.
Visit Farmington.org
In 1837, Joshua was the owner of Bell and Company store in Springfield, IL where Lincoln had come to shop for a few home items. When Lincoln was told the total, he was unsure he could pay the price. It is said that Speed was moved by Lincoln’s expression and offered for him to stay in the quarters above the store. Lincoln agreed, becoming Joshua’s roommate. They roomed together for the next four years and became close friends.
In fact, it was Joshua who helped Lincoln secure acceptance into the elite homes of Springfield, including the home of Ninian and Elizabeth Edwards. Those names may not be familiar to you, but Elizabeth’s younger sister will be! You see, Elizabeth was a Todd and her younger sister, Mary Todd, had come to visit. It was at one of these social gatherings that Lincoln met Mary Todd and then began courting her.
On March 30, 1840, Joshua’s father, John Speed died. Joshua returned home to be with his mother and family. A short time later, he returned to Springfield, sold his shares of the Bell and Company store, and returned to Louisville once more. This time, he had a friend in tow. Lincoln had just broken off his engagement with Mary and was in quite a state of depression. Joshua believed that Abraham could benefit from some time away, so he offered for Lincoln to accompany him on his trip home. Lincoln agreed and in August of 1841, he arrived at Farmington to stay for approximately three weeks.
A Southern Influence
Lincoln’s stay at Farmington is the only known extended stay at a plantation that Lincoln ever made. It is believed that Lincoln viewed slavery first hand while at Farmington, observing the labor and treatment of the enslaved that occurred on the 550-acre hemp plantation. It may very well have been here that Lincoln began thinking about or maybe even solidified his stance on slavery in America.
Also while visiting Farmington, Lincoln developed close relationships with the Speed family. This included James Speed, Joshua’s oldest brother. Lincoln would visit James’s Louisville law office where he would read law books and discuss politics. Lincoln also became close to Joshua’s sisters and mother. It is said they were “like kin.”
Even though Joshua and Lincoln had opposing views of slavery, they remained close friends. In 1864, Lincoln appointed James Speed (whose office he had visited in Louisville) as Attorney General of the United States. James later witnessed Lincoln’s death at the Petersen family’s boarding house in Washington D.C.
If not for Joshua Speed, the history of our country might be quite different!
Farmington’s Fate
In 1843, a man by the name of Austin Peay married Joshua’s older sister, Peachy Speed. Austin then purchased the house and 143-acres from Lucy, his mother-in-law. Peachy would go on to live at Farmington until 1865. It was then that she left the property after selling off plots of her share of the acreage. The home then exchanged hands to the Henry Drescher family, followed by the Bischoff family, William C. Tyler, and later Porter and Violet Smith.
In 1957, local citizens and city leaders formed Historic Homes Foundation (HHF) in order to restore Farmington’s main house. On April 18, 1959, Farmington opened as Louisville’s first historic house museum offering tours, educational programming, preservation directives, and community partnerships.
VISIT FARMINGTON.org
The Speed Legacy in Louisville
- The J.B. Speed School of Engineering
- Named for James Breckinridge (J.B.) Speed, the son of William Pope Speed (Joshua Speed’s brother). J.B. helped shape the city, region, and state through transportation, energy, and infrastructure.
James Breckenridge Speed (1844-1912) was an industrial pioneer in 19th century Louisville, and the scion of an illustrious Kentucky family. He was a major figure in the establishment of Louisville’s street railway system. He developed and operated large coal interests throughout Kentucky, and foresaw the significance of Portland Cement in the future growth of America.
University of Louisville
- The Speed Art Museum
- Founded by Hattie Bishop Speed, in memory of her husband J.B. Speed. Both J.B. and Hattie had a love of music and the arts. The Speed Art Museum opened on January 15, 1927. To read more about the Hattie B. Speed click here.
J.B. and Hattie Speed are buried in Cave Hill Cemetery.
Visit & Reflection
Farmington is absolutely beautiful, and the property is so full of history! It bothers me so few people know it exists. From connections to Thomas Jefferson in its design, to the influence on Abraham Lincoln, and the Speed and Fry legacies in Kentucky and Louisville, this home is a treasure for all of Kentucky. A visit to the home is absolutely worth your time!
As I stated in the beginning, I visited with my daughter when she was quite young. Finding those photos would be difficult, so I visited this past Fall to take new photos and get a refresher on the history. I had the luck to receive the tour all by myself, given to me by two DAR volunteers from another local chapter (not my own). The ladies were just lovely and so knowledgable. Many things I did remember, but there were a few things I had forgotten. Because I was the only one on the tour, the ladies allowed me to peek into the attic space that is not usually on the tour. I could only look up the stairs, not actually walk up them, but it allowed me to see the paneled staircase hidden behind a door and the trusses of the roof. That’s not something you get to see everyday!
The property does have a wonderful little museum where you can read more about the Speeds and Lincoln’s visit. Several letters are on display as well as other family artifacts. If you visit, make sure to spend a few minutes in the museum. That is also worth your time.
Pictures are not allowed to be taken inside the home. This is a rule I can’t quite understand. I have found this rule to be in place at the William Whitley Home in Stanford also, but most historic homes do allow photos to be taken indoors as long as the flash is not used. These homes are of similar age, so why the difference? I’m not sure, but I’m definitely going to ask the next time I come across this rule.
Regardless of photos, its worth the visit. I’m so glad I took the time to visit again after so many years. It is truly a treasure. Just don’t be confused when the directions take you into the Highlands of Louisville. Follow carefully, and you’ll find 18 beautiful acres nestled right in the middle of bustling traffic and quaint neighborhoods.
So, what are you waiting for? Get out and see Kentucky!
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