Gilkey - Christian county, ky

PIONEER LOG CABIN. An unknown elderly couple with their grandchild portrays a humble home as they sit before their one-room log cabin. A fishing pole and the chair (at left) reveal an enjoyable pastime. The cabin included a loft above, and a lean-to was added later. Heat was generated from a log fireplace within a chimney built of stone, brick, or wood and clay. Notice that a fair amount of the chinking is missing.

A SPECIAL OCCASION. On an April day in 1909, an unidentified family gathers before their rural log and board-and-batten house. The home was covered with a wood shingle roof and featured a dogtrot. Dressed in their Sunday finest, at least three generations are preparing for a special occasion. The lone guitarist adds a festive touch, and the image always generates speculation about the event.

SHINGLES, LOGS, AND STONE. An unidentified familypa, ma, and sonare posed in their best threads to record a place in time. The house, constructed with half-dovetail corner notches, reveals one of the methods of log home construction. The double stone chimneys and whitewash application to the front porch wall, along with the front of the smoke house (at right), portray a step up from the common one-room cabin.

ONCE IN A LIFETIME. An unidentified family gathers for a photograph in front of their story-and-a-half, square-notch log house with a dogtrot. The warm weather called for open windows, and the women added a touch of decoration with the featured flowerpots. The house is new in this image, as the chinking appears in fine condition.

LOG CABIN GOTHIC. Bachelor brother Jim and old-maid sisters Lizzie (left) and Emma Turner pose in front of their nearly century-old, two-story, square-notch and half-dovetailed log home around 1900. The three lived in this home of their parents west of Bainbridge store in northwestern Christian County. The log pen (at left), with the existing doorway, was the original part of the house. Another dogtrot separated the main house from the kitchen (at rear right).

THE SAFFARRANS HOUSE. Coppersmith John Saffarrans and his wife, Kitty, occupied this one-and-a-half story log house around 1810. William Price operated a hotel here during the Civil War. About 1890, Robert Torian remodeled the house by raising it to two full stories, covering the logs with weather boarding, and adding a two-story front porch. It was located on the northeast corner of Ninth and Virginia Streets facing west until it was torn down in the fall of 1901.

SHAW-MCCLELLAN HOUSE. William Shaw of South Carolina built this double-log pen, dogtrot house around 1820. Both pens were v-notched, but the differences in timber size suggest that the two pens were built at different times. Later occupants included Milton Shaw, John G. McClellan, his son Samuel, and Clyde Lacy. Located on the Butler Road eight miles from Hopkinsville, it was destroyed by fire on October 21, 1996.

THE SETTLE ROCK HOUSE. Oral tradition relates that this rock house, known as an animal trappers rest, was constructed between 1800 and 1815. The house consisted of two rooms originally, one 20 feet by 10 and the other 20 feet by 20. The massive stone chimney, placed between the two rooms, had two fireboxes. This house was located on Carter Road in the Thompsonville community.

PRESIDENTS BIRTHPLACE. Samuel and Jane Cook Davis built this wayfarers rest when they settled in the present community of Fairview around 1793. Their son, Jefferson Davis, the future president of the Confederate States of America, was born in the house on June 3, 1808. In October 3, 1809, explorer William Clark slept under this roof. The landmark was torn down in 1885 and was replaced by the Bethel Baptist Church.