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Ashland’s Star: Henry Clay

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Wendy

If you love Ashland, you’ll love this. Curator Eric Brooks leads a fascinating video tour of Ashland, focusing on Henry Clay. This was done for C-SPAN in June. Ashland has amassed an impressive collection of Henry Clay artifacts and Eric explains them perfectly:

http://www.c-span.org/video/?326946-1/henry-clays-estate

Popular image of Clay at Ashland

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Posted in Artifacts, Henry ClayTagged American architecture, American history, antebellum, Ashland, Eric Brooks, Federal architecture, Henry Clay, Henry Clay Memorial Foundation, historic house museum, historic preservation, Kentucky, Lexington Kentucky, mansion

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Ashland Restoration Raises Interpretive Questions

Giving the Impression that Henry Clay “may return at any moment”

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167 years ago today. "The telegraph made the news of Clay's death instant and therefore indelible. Only hours passed before cities from Maine to Missouri began draping themselves in crepe and men from Savannah to St. Louis began pulling on black armbands. Washington, already slowed by summer's heat, came to a halt. President Millard Fillmore shut down the government, and Congress immediately adjourned. Members scattered to boardinghouses, hotels, and taverns, some to draft eulogies they would deliver the next day in the legislative chambers that Hendy Clay had deftly managed for almost a half century. Even after sunset, the bells continued to ring. Cannon at the Navy Yard were firing.... Losing Henry Clay was a uniquely personal event for the nation because his life had been the mirror of his country and its aspirations. In that, it was an extraordinary life. 'I will forgive your weakness,' wrote a student at Yale, who could have been speaking for the entire country, 'if you bow your head and weep for the departure of his noble spirit.'" ~Henry Clay: The Essential American (2010)

One highlight of a visit to Ashland: Henry Clay's coach. It was a gift from the people of Newark, NJ to Clay in 1833. He used it until his death in 1852, riding the rough roads between Lexington, KY and Washington, DC. The carriage remained at Ashland until after the Civil War when a Louisville wagonmaker bought it. In 1951 his son presented it back to Ashland, where it has been on display ever since. The coach was restored in 1992. #HenryClay #coach #carriage #19thc #transportation #roads #AmericanSystem Ashland, The @henryclayestate

Henry Clay long fought to keep the Union together but after his death, Civil War erupted. It even arrived at his beloved Ashland's doorstep. During the War Clay's Confederate son James had fled the country. His wife Susan and the children faced a frightening event at Ashland in 1862: the Civil War skirmish that took place on the grounds within view of the house. 294 Union troops faced John Hunt Morgan’s 1,800 troops on the morning of October 18th, resulting in four Union deaths, dozens wounded and an unknown number of Confederate casualties. Ashland opened its doors in a way it never had or would again: after the skirmish, the house temporarily served as a hospital for the wounded. Monument on the grounds of Ashland (erected 2006). #CivilWar #Kentucky #HenryClay #American #history Ashland, The @henryclayestate

Henry Clay’s fine French china, likely of the set he purchased while living in Washington, DC in 1833 from W.R. Kerr of Philadelphia. #HenryClay #finechina Ashland, The @henryclayestate #nationalhistoriclandmark

Henry Clay was a serious, scientific farmer. He wrote: "There is a great difference, I think, between a farm employed in raising dead produce for market, and one which is applied as mine is, to the raising of all kinds of live stock. I have the Maltese ass, the Arabian horse, the Merino and Saxe Merion sheep, the English Hereford and Durham cattle, the goat, the mule, and the hog. The progress of these animals, from their infancy to maturity, presents a constantly-varying subject of interest, and I never go out of my house without meeting with some of them to engage agreeably my attention." May 30, 1833 Ashland, The @henryclayestate has a fascinating exhibition in the Smokehouse all about Clay's farming and the enslaved individuals who did most of the work.

Late in his life, Clay was baptized. At home (why?), with this spectacular glass bowl (what?), and it's all here: https://historyofahousemuseum.com/2019/06/10/henry-clay-baptized-at-ashland-5/ Ashland, The @henryclayestate

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