Kentucky celebrated its 225th birthday on June 1, 2017, but in September, Kentuckians and visitors can experience a taste of the state’s diverse history represented on foot in the KY History Half Marathon.
Race manager Bob Baney said the Frankfort race, now in its third year, is the only half marathon that celebrates Kentucky’s history.
“The race is a running history of Frankfort and Kentucky,” explained Baney, founder of RaceRise, a central Kentucky-based sports management company that orchestrates fun races that benefit worthy local charities and causes.
The KY History Half Marathon, dubbed “the greatest half in history,” is a charitable event held in the state capital on Sept. 30 this year. Proceeds from the event, which also includes 5K and 10K races, support the programming and services of the Kentucky Historical Society.
The event engages participants in Kentucky’s rich history by taking runners through a challenging course past multiple historic landmarks such as the Old State Capitol, Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort Cemetery, Kentucky State Capitol, Governor’s Mansion and Kentucky Military History Museum, as well as through downtown Frankfort’s historic picturesque streets. No other event in the Commonwealth uses Kentucky history as its theme.
Kent Whitworth, executive director of the Kentucky Historical Society, said practically the only part of the 13.1-mile course that is not historic is the gas station next to Buffalo Trace Distillery.
“Participants run by at least 50 historic sites, by the official definition,” he said. “But virtually every part of the course involves history. Even as simple as the name: People have to say ‘Kentucky history’ when they talk about this race.”
Whitworth, who also is a runner, said his favorite part of the course is the Frankfort Cemetery.
“The cemetery is tough to beat, but I think the state Capitol is hard to beat, too,” he mused. “It’s so beautiful, as grand as those two moments are on the course. It’s a cumulative effect. There’s hardly a place where you’re not encountering impressive residential, commercial or public architecture or a site of something significant.
“Even the back part of that first mile, you run right by the old governor’s mansion and the old state penitentiary, so as you can imagine, there are some fun stories tied to those sites. All over, you see remnants of what this old capital town must have been like 175-plus years ago.”
Race participant Ashleigh Freda, who blogs as The Running Wife, said running through the cemetery is a highlight.
“The race director asked us for a mile of silence and remembrance as they played taps, and the view was breathtaking,” she recalled. “It was awesome and beautiful. And you can smell the sweet mash in the air [from Buffalo Trace Distillery down the hill from the cemetery].”
Freda, who placed as second overall female for the 10K race in 2016, will participate in the event for the third time this year and said she enjoys the hills, beauty and small-town feel of the race.
“If people are considering this race, I tell them to do their hill repeats and get ready to be blown away through the cemetery,” she said. “That view is worth the entire race. The out and back past Buffalo Trace Distillery feels really long, but it’s probably the flattest part of the race.”
She added that it’s opened her eyes to all Frankfort has to offer.
“Since running the race, I’ve become more interested in Frankfort, in general,” she said. “We always run in Lexington or Louisville, but Frankfort is like a well-kept secret … The fact that I can just go to Buffalo Trace for a post-race toast—that’s pretty nice, too.
“I also like that this race isn’t focused on horses as other Kentucky races are. It’s more about showing the views of the city and the streets of our state capital.”
And the Historical Society is happy to show off all that Frankfort has. Whitworth noted that Frankfort has “everything from bourbon to Bibb lettuce and everything in between. And the cemetery is a veritable who’s who.”
He said while race organizers wondered at first if they were overdoing it with the history, runners and fans were asking for even more.
Baney also loves the pass through the cemetery.
“You even have the chance to run past the grave sites of Daniel and Rebecca Boone during the ‘Mile of Remembrance’ portion of the race, which takes runners through one of the oldest public cemeteries in the nation,” Baney said.
There are so many other historical markers along the course—and within easy walking distance for spectators—that Whitworth said, “People sometimes don’t even realize what they’re running by, and we’ve been experimenting with different ways to help the runners understand it.”
Race or not, he encouraged people to visit the capital year-round, since he feels many Kentuckians don’t realize what it offers.
Local businesses are excited about the race so they can show off their town. Race director Mary Cawein said the estimated economic impact on Frankfort during last year’s race weekend was almost $56,000.
Grow the race, yes, but not too big.
“Several women from Cincinnati, they said, ‘We love this race; we want to help you get the word out, but not too much because we don’t want to make it too big,’ ” Whitworth said.
Last year saw 573 participants, and the event features several family activities all held in the easily walkable downtown area.
Whitworth and Cawein called it an ideal “family field trip” timed well with the start of the school year. Special for this year: Sign up to run and enjoy a piece of Kentucky’s 225th birthday cake at race packet pickup.
Tracing the Steps
The first major site the Kentucky Historical Society points out to runners, spectators and visitors participating in the KY History Half Marathon is at the race start in downtown Frankfort: the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History. It has housed the headquarters of the Kentucky Historical Society since 1999.
Next on the route is the First Baptist Church, established in 1833. On High Street, runners pass the Old Governor’s Mansion, which served as the residence of 33 Kentucky governors from 1797 to 1914. A right onto Broadway takes them by the boyhood home of renowned landscape watercolorist and portrait painter Paul Sawyier.
At Broadway and High streets is the old Frankfort Union Station. The 1908 structure, built by L&N Railroad, replaced the Lexington & Frankfort Railroad depot that had been there since the mid-19th century. Continuing down Broadway, runners pass the site of an 1864 attack on Frankfort by Confederate troops. Then, it’s on to the Old State Capitol. Constructed between 1827 and 1829 of Kentucky River marble, a local form of limestone, the picturesque structure was Kentucky’s third capitol.
Runners then pass the site of the Inauguration Elm, where governors took the oath of office until the late 1800s. Next is the location of the infamous shooting of William Goebel on Jan. 30, 1900. Goebel was mortally wounded one day prior to being sworn in as governor, took the oath of office on his deathbed, and succumbed on Feb. 3.
The Old State House is next, where several historical markers dot the grounds, including one honoring Revolutionary War veterans who served Kentucky as governor or senator.
Runners then approach the Garrard-Crittenden House, an early 19th-century building noted for its brick-and-log construction. Its timbers are filled in with brick and mortar, then covered with clapboard—a technique not commonly used in this part of the country.
The next leg has runners passing Liberty Hall, which is a National Historic Landmark; the First Presbyterian Church, organized in 1815; and the home of statesman John Jordan Crittenden, Kentucky’s 15th governor and U.S. attorney general serving three presidents.
The Morehead House follows. The 1810 structure was home to six notable Kentuckians in the decades prior to the Civil War. Runners then pass the John Goodman House. John Goodman moved his furniture factory from Lexington to Frankfort in 1801 and is remembered for producing the first Kentucky-made piano.
Approaching the intersection of Main and Ann streets, runners pass perhaps the most important location in the history of Frankfort—the Weisiger House. A key founding father of the city, Daniel Weisiger served as county clerk, city trustee and the city’s first postmaster, and was a farmer and merchant. Also in this area are the Hiram Masonic Lodge and First Christian Church.
The runners continue past the John Hampton House. Built prior to 1840, it is the oldest surviving stone house in the city. Then, it’s up Capital Avenue toward the stunning 107-year-old “new” Capitol, which cost $1.8 million when it was built (please see the June/July issue of Kentucky Monthly, page 19, for a photo essay depicting the remarkable architecture of our Capitol). As they near the building, runners pass close to a marker honoring Emma Guy Cromwell. Elected as secretary of state in 1923, she was first woman in Kentucky to hold a statewide office.
As the runners enter the Capitol grounds, they come near the site of an infamous Civil War incident, in which four innocent Confederate prisoners were executed. They then pass Kentucky’s beautiful Executive Mansion. The 25-room, limestone home, modeled on Marie Antoinette’s villa, became the state’s second governor’s residence in 1914.
Heading away from the Capitol, runners travel near the site of the Rebecca Ruth candy operation. Co-founder Ruth Hanly Booe is credited as the inventor of the bourbon ball and the Mint Kentucky Colonel.
Runners take a right on U.S. 60 and climb past the old state arsenal, now the Kentucky Military History Museum. Waiting for them at the top of the hill is the historic Frankfort Cemetery and the race’s scenic Mile of Remembrance. Just over 4 miles into the 13.1-mile course, runners enter the South’s first “rural” or “garden-style” cemetery. They then pass near the old Frankfort State Hospital and School Cemetery on Glenn’s Creek Road.
Leaving the cemetery, they head back downhill and travel through downtown to Kentucky River View Park. They take the River View Park trail along the river and then up along Wilkinson Boulevard, past the historic Glen-Willis House. Also along Wilkinson Boulevard, runners pass an area that was formerly active in hemp production. The first crop grown widely in the Commonwealth, hemp’s production in Kentucky peaked in 1850, with 40,000 tons.
Next, runners go by the site of the old Leestown settlement before arriving at another National Historic Landmark, Buffalo Trace Distillery.
Traveling back down the river trail, they return downtown to West Broadway, where they pass the home of a noted early-19th century journalist and politician, Amos Kendall, who was editor of The Argus of Western America.
The history tour comes to a close when runners finish where they started, at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History. The area is easily walkable for spectators to tour sites on their own while runners are on the course.
