our nuclear weapons can be delivered by air against any enemy to any part of the year. the weapons this armada can deliver today are capable of even greater destructive force than in this early pacific ocean test. this is part of the military this is the power of retaliation that has made and keeps full scale nuclear ward least probable of any kind of conflict. ♪

>> welcome to lexington, kentucky on american history tv. ♪ located in the heart of the state's bluegrass region, it is known as the horse capital of the world. with the help of our time warner cable partners, over the next 90 minutes, we will look at famous kentuckians with ties to lexington, including the family of first lady, mary todd lincoln. >> this has got to be one of the most evocative plots of all i can think of in america. the family of the first lady of the united states, and yet all these memorials here are to her half siblings who were either confederate soldiers or married to confederate soldiers. >> later, we will learn about

the history and economic history of thoroughbred his -- thoroughbred racing in the region. >> it fits into being the thoroughbred racing capital of the world in a number of ways. we are not only a great race course with pastoral settings and a wonderful spot in the middle of the country, but we are the world's largest urban marketplace from a sales marketing standpoint. >> but first, go inside henry clay's estate and learn about this famous 19th-century statesman. ♪ >> we are at ashland, the henry clay estate, in lexington, kentucky. the mentioned at ashland is a

unique situation. clay pots original home had to be torn down and rebuilt. it fell into disrepair and could not be fixed, so he rebuilt on the original foundation. what we have is a home that is essentially a five-part federal style home as henry clay had it with italian details architectural elements, and an added layer of aesthetic details added by henry clay pots granddaughter and great-granddaughter. it is very much a layer cake, or as i like to refer to it and onion. you can fuel the layers back until you get to henry clay. henry clay was one of the seminal figures of the 19th century. he was of the second generation of great political american

figures. he guided the nation from it nascent to its ultimate test in the civil war. he was a speaker of the house senator, secretary of state, but as important a figure as there was between 1800 and 1850 or so. henry clay originally came from virginia. he was born in hanover county. he was born during the revolution, saw the nation form was growing up as the nation was being created. he came along when our nation was still a toddler taking its first steps. he was seeing that happened and wanting to do everything it could to make sure it's long-term survival and development, etc. his mother and stepmother -- his father died when he was four, relocated here when henry clay was 14. his stepfather's brother is one

of the founders of a city in kentucky. when henry clay obtained his law license, he settled in lexington, which was the biggest city in this area at the time, certainly one of the greatest cities of the western united states. henry clay lived in downtown lexington and bought the property in 1804. he began working on it and we think was residing on it by 1807. in 1809, he places an ad for -- he will offer a reward for it returning. that is the first mention of ashland and the first time he identifies himself as being here at ashland. we are currently in a room we call the study. we know from historical sources

that henry clay had study and it was approximately in the location of the room we interpret as the study today. the study is the place where we tell the story of henry clay possible careers other than politics and henry clay had two careers. he was an attorney for better than 50 years. on the wall is henry clay's law license, dated november 6, 1797. he brought it with him from virginia and that enabled him to have a 50 year career. he was successful at every level from the local level to the united states report. on his desk are some of his supreme court case reviews which he used preparing for cases. he is mentioned in these books because he practiced at that level, so was heard a number of times at the united states supreme court. among other things, he introduced the amicus curiae brief.

this is a brief filed by someone who is not part of the case, neither the defendant nor the light of, but who has a vested interest. it is also known as the friend of the court brief. he was the first to file such a brief and it is now a part of jurisprudence. the thing he enjoyed most was farming. he actually threatened to give up politics and law court several times. he had a farm of which he was very proud. he said that he occupied a farm as good as any. i acquired that farm not by hereditary descent of live my own hard work. that was always very important. he thought a great deal of people made their own way and were self-made. he coined the term self-made man to refer to these folks. his farm was a have a

plantation. that with his cash crop and he grew thousands of tons of it here for making rope and bagging for the cotton industry. we have a textbook in which he wrote a chapter and his advice was so widely thought that people often asked him to write it down on a variety of agricultural topics. in this case, it was published in a textbook on the subject of farming him. this letter is a letter henry clay wrote in a team 37. he is writing to a gentleman who has written for advice on jackson jennings. henry clay bred them to create mules which he sold down south. he explains how to raise them and go about reading and all of that sort of thing. it is a nice example of that sort of advice and features one of my favorite lines -- henry clay says at the beginning of paragraph 3 -- i believe there

are more good passes in kentucky than any other country in the world. that's a fun live there. it shows just how sought his advice was and how good it could be. the volume on the desk next to it is henry clay's stock journal. he kept his love to record stock transactions and record reading records, pedigrees -- all sorts of interesting information in here about the farm at ashland. it is important to us in understanding what he did here and how he did it. the other area in which henry clay made great contributions agriculturally, particularly in terms of making lexington what it was, was horses. henry clay had a number of great horses here. he had a prize bull and two prize mayors. they were all thorough bread.

the females have lines of descent that include 11 kentucky derby winners and numerous other stakes winners. in this year's triple crown races, while we cannot claim american pharaoh, we can claim the minto who ran in the kentucky derby and the belmont against american hero. we are now on the second floor landing. we have one of our most important portraits of henry clay. we have many, but you would rise to the level of importance of this one. the reason is this portrait is a visual encapsulation of his political ideology. this is a copy of an original painted here at ashland in 1842 by artist from philadelphia and was commissioned by the wig party. that was clay's political party and he wanted a visual image to

help him get nominated for the presidency and ultimately elected in 1840 four. is ideology was economic in nature. he felt the best way to ensure the nation remain united and intact with a strong national economy that blended the agricultural economy of the south some of the industrial economy of the north together as one. you can see at the bottom corner, the and shovel representing the industrial and allow and cattle representing the agricultural south. clay called his plan the american system and it has several planks. the first was something he called internal improvements. that would include roads bridges, waterways and other sorts of infrastructure funded by the federal government. today, lexington sits at the confluence of i-75 and i-64. clay would have loved that you could go any direction from his

hometown with equal ease on that type of infrastructure. henry clay had a system of protective tariffs to protect our economy from foreign influence, particularly british influence. finally, he wanted to create a bank of the united states that would lend money to state banks which could be lent out to stimulate industry and agriculture, furthering the american economy. one of the things that is interesting is that this is personal space on the second floor. the room we are in is henry clay's bedroom. it is set up with his bed which he used for about 20 years. he liked this bed so much, he wrote a newspaper testimonial praising its maker and wrote a -- helped him get a patent for its design. for all that, he was not home a great deal. clay traveled a great deal for a variety of reasons. he traveled to politics, for

law, for business, he traveled for pleasure and he often traveled for his health. for reasons that are not entirely clear he seemed to be challenged healthwise and had a lot of health complaints over the course of his life. he would go to places like white sulfur springs, where the greenbrier is today in west virginia to take the waters or engage in other treatments. when he traveled, he used some of the items we have here. we have a hatbox with his name and address that he carried his top hat. this is a lap desk, which was kind of the laptop of his day. the cane along to henry clay and gave it to a fellow tillman would was a common gift during the era. one thing that is interesting about the cane is that there is a little blade inside. we don't know if he ever used the blade, but he was an

immensely popular figure. when he showed up, these someone whose visage was very well known. so people wanted to meet him and get to know him, to interact with this famous and important person. that could create somewhat of a frenzy. for example, the case were he showed up in town and a group of ladies assembled who wanted blocks of his hair as a souvenir. when he got off of the stage, they charged him and chased him down the street clipping their scissors trying to get a lock of hair. eventually locked himself in a hotel until the crowd dispersed. having a little personal protection was probably a little bit of comfort to him. this is the most impressive of all of the artifacts. this is henry clay's trunk. it was made for him -- you can see on the inside, it is pretty

spectacular. we recently discovered in photographing it that it is heavily decorated on the outside and right there is an image of henry clay and above it is a beehive. some stars and drapery around the edges. it is an incredible piece of work in addition to being a very functional trunk. he was a very interesting human being, as interesting as he was politically or as a farmer he was more interesting as a person. people loved him even if they disagreed politically. he loved to gamble, which was not uncommon for people of his social class in the south. lucretia, who you see behind me, asked if he gambles, he -- she said that he almost always wins. usually you can find a way out

without coming out -- he good when something back or get somebody to assuage the debt. on the mantle, we have a tantalus. this is a kit to be used in a carriage. it contains several decanters coming number of glasses, all in the little metal frame. he carried it in his coach and it would be filled with any number of beverages. we know from receipts that he enjoyed a number of good beverages -- sherry, port, and he was a kentuckian, so he drank bourbon. clay was criticized for these habits. anyone who thinks dirty campaigns are a new thing, need only look back to henry clay to see that is not the case. we have a great cartoon on the wall that shows a group of citizens throwing sticks and rocks at him. clay is standing opposite and

has another man by the collar and that is his running mate. he was chosen because he was the most famous political figure or the best qualified but because he was someone who did not drink, gamble, or curse. he was a very religious man. the thought was if that concerns you about henry clay, we have this guy and it will be ok. it is one of the things that challenged him in his campaign and perhaps one of the reasons he lost votes in the campaigns where he ran for president. henry clay's enemies said many things about him. being a card player, they often accused him of being a cheap or a black leg. they basically impugned his character or reputation going to the fact he did play cards and that he might cheat in politics or public affairs. they chastise him for his view

over slavery. people from the north did not like the fact he was a slaveholder and thought it was hypocritical the own slaves and argued for their emancipation. the room we are in now is a bit of interpretive speculation. we don't know that he had this space but as a wealthy man, he likely would have had a room off his bedroom where he would have been able to dress and get ready for the day called the dressing room. that is where we are now. when of the most important issues of clay's time was slavery. clay had to deal with that and dealt with at most personally as a slave owner. he owned anywhere between 30 and 50 people at a time and probably 75 over the course of his life. he was a significant slaveowner in the state of kentucky. the most famous family of slaves

here in ashland were the dupuys. they are well-known because lottie actually sued henry clay for his freedom. in 1829, she filed a lawsuit. he was serving as secretary of state and she had been there for a while, living at the decatur house, taking care of him and became convinced she and her daughter were due their freedom. the suit was heard but unfortunately was unsuccessful. clay ultimately did emancipate them all. he was a slaveowner owner from birth and inherited slaves from his father's will and that colored his view on the subject. clay believe a solution needed to be found to deal with the issue of slavery, something the country could accept as a whole and move forward with and

ultimately resolved once and for all what should be done about slavery. he came up with a solution he believed would avoid social chaos as a result of a sudden abolition of slavery which would result in a massive free african-americans that would not be accept it into society. he came up with the american colonization society. he presided over the founding of that organization and it had as its goal convincing slave owners to emancipate their slaves and colonize them to liberia on the west coast of africa. very few americans bought into it. they had no interest in fleeing -- in freeing slaves. very few americans were left in what he thought was a middle ground so it did not work out.

clay was so sure of it that he did a speech for a friend that he was going to give in public and his friend said after, you can do this. it will never work. you will never get elected with this. he said i don't care i would rather be right than be president. what he meant was it doesn't matter if i get elected. what matters is what's right for the country. what is right for the country is to support this ideology. this will get us through and deal with the issue. unfortunately, we know that it did not, but that is what he believed was the way forward. clay ended his life and washing. he returned in 1949 -- in 1849 to take his place in the senate. he was very sick during that time. he had tuberculosis, something he did not really believe for a long time. it took a further and further

toll on him. he wasn't even in the legislature at the time it was passed. he was the role model in the mid-19th century for those who cited him as an insurance -- as someone who is a great man. most notably, abraham lincoln. he campaigned for clay and voted for clay. he courted him regularly, 41 times during the lincoln douglas bates alone. he thought clay was what one should try to be. would we be what we are, what we can be without three clay? i believe the answer to that is not.

moving forward at a critical time in his development, he's instrumental moving the country from its birth to the ultimate forge which will allow it to emerge into maturity. >> all weekend, american history tv is featuring the city of lexington, kentucky. home to kentucky senator chuck hope, it's only one of three remaining designs by benjamin latrobe. his more notable designs include the white house and the capital. c-span's city tours staff visited many sites showcasing the city's history. learn more about lexington all weekend, here on american history tv. >> welcome to the mary todd lincoln house. we have the distinction of being the first historic site in the

nation to honor a first lady. mary todd went on to marry one of our greatest presidents, abraham lincoln. mary todd was born in lexington in 1818, the fourth of seven children. unfortunately, when she was just six years old, her mother died after complications during the birth of her seventh child. she passed away after childbirth. a year and have later, he had been scouting for a second wife to help care for his large young family. he married a woman named betsy humphrey and she became stepmother to the six young todd children who were alive at that time. in addition to caring for them and raising them she had more.

this house is almost 5500 square feet. it is a brick home, georgian style home. it is quite large but was originally built as then in, not a private residence. so it is appropriate that it has a large space. we are here now and the room we interpret as mary todd lincoln's bedroom. we really don't know -- we know she did not have her own room. sometimes she shared her room with a sister or even with a cousin. in addition to the children they had family members who could that them over the years. she came from an affluent and educated family and that education was provided for the family. she came from a line of educated women and higher education --

not only because her family supported education for women but because of the education opportunities at that time. she began her education at wards academy. they began classes at 5:00 in the morning. then they would have breakfast and continue after breakfast. when mary todd was 13 and the family moved to this home, she was enrolled in an academy that was a school in lexington for young women. it was sort of an institution of higher education but she was there for about 813 to 17.

there, they learn everything that would have been expected of women of that era dancing theatricals, french and by some accounts, they were only allowed to speak french at school. they also learn higher level subjects like math and literature and even the sciences. mary todd became one of the most educated women of her generation. part of that is because of the family support and the opportunities in lexington. when you contrast that with the education of her husband, it is impressive. she had at least nine years of formal schooling but abraham lincoln said if you added all of his schooling, it might account for a year or so.

there are accounts that are for the most part quite flattering, remembering a woman who was attractive, full of life and energy vivacious many accounts of her being quite spirited and stories associated with that. one of those stories was when she was 13 or so, she wrote her pony from here to henry clay's estate. henry clay being the most important political figure in kentucky at the time. she knocked on his door and requested an interview. he was otherwise engaged, but she put her point across that she was there to see him and he needed to come out because she wanted him to give his assessment of her new horse because he was a well-known horseman. he did so and her assessment was her pony seemed as spirited as its diminutive jockey.

mary's home life is sometimes remembered as having contention. she was one of any company children. they had a large household with a lot of children. there are some views that all the children did not receive all the attention they might have wanted. some have speculated her interest in politics may have been so she can garner some of her father's attention amidst all this competition for attention in household. the dining room is quite opulent, set to entertain prominent guests of the era. they did entertain other influential families. one of the most notable persons

they entertain with henry clay. he's arguably one of the greatest statesmen to come out of kentucky and was a member of the same political party as mary's father. it included richard m johnson who became vice president for martin van buren and caches clay, a known and spacious. he was a student at transylvania university and became abraham lincoln ambassador to russia. it was in this home and in this room that mary todd learn those skills under the two lit of her stepmother, that the todd. mary todd's relationship with her stepmother is sometimes remember -- is sometimes are numbered as 10 and there's a lot of drama portrayed around it.

sometimes her stepmother is remembered as a strict disciplinary and, but there is also a take that she did not have genuine affection for her step children. however, within the todd emily, they did not notice a distinction between whether they were step or full siblings. her stepmother, when she married robert todd, she certainly would have known the responsibility she was taking on. she had a very large household and a large number of children. she had nine children of her own and her teen years, so she was experiencing a lot of physical stress due to the endless cycle of having children and managing large households. the room we are in right now is the family parlor.

the adults and children spent time there together. we have the center table that belong to the todds. a center table in the 1800s was representative of the center of family life. the families spent quite a bit of time here playing games and cards. the family was made up of the mother, father and children. the household included in slave african-americans. on average, they had five men and women who provided the domestic labor and child care. mary todd lincoln grew up in a slaveholding family where she was not only exposed to slavery but exposed to all the debates raging about the topic of the day.

the topic of the day being slavery. the county had a population that was 42% enslaved african-americans. she was surrounded by a community of enslaved persons. the topic of the day was very complicated. it was not as simple as being proslavery or anti-slavery. in addition to her father being a supporter of the colonization of african-americans back to africa, she had a step grandmother in favor of gradual emancipation. her stepmother's mother, mary brown freeze, chose nine slaves in her will, but they were to be freed over a time of decades.

there are individuals who are still enslaved at the time of the civil war in the 60's. this is a conservative anti-slavery position they were not radical such as abolitionists, but tended to be along the lines of senator humphries. when mary todd was 21 years old, that was of age. she made the choice to leave lexington and live with a sister who had served as a second mother figure to mary and some of her other siblings. the motivation for doing so is unknown, but there's a lot of speculation around it. speculated motivated by the desire to get away, then home

life was difficult and might have held her toward springfield. it is noteworthy that mary todd was not the only sister. when they live with their older sister, they did the social scene going through all the parties and political gatherings. all of those sisters found husbands and were married in springfield and made their homes with their husbands. it is possible one of the motivation was the opportunity that the west provided. we are in the guest bedroom of the home. it's the largest bedroom in the house and is intended to have the most impressive furniture and wallpaper. it is common in that area.

you want to have the most impressive furnishing for your guests. thus important guests were abraham and mary lincoln. they came to lexington several times as a married couple. abraham lincoln had been elected to congress and they were traveling from their home in springfield, illinois, to washing, d.c. they decided -- they decided to detour and visit their family and lexington. it was the first opportunity for many of the family to meet. she'll have the first opportunity to meet some of her own siblings. they were born after she had moved away to springfield. with the lincoln were there to young sons at the time, robert known as bobby and edward, known as eddie.

they were three and one years old. no recorded impressions from lincoln. there are family stories about his visit. most notable is the story indicating abraham lincoln enjoyed the todd library. they had a very large personal library with all sorts of works within it. everything from politics to poetry. to come up to the second-floor hall way and stretch out to read. mary's upbringing here prepared her for her future. she was educated in lexington and it was a cultured environment where she learned the art of entertaining, conversation, and she began her own political career, becoming

knowledgeable about political affairs and having an interest in them. she set the stage for future marrying a politician and ascending to the position of first lady. >> all weekend, american history tv is featuring lexington, kentucky, home to a horse racing facility that reads and felt thoroughbred horses. king was treated to the growth of kentucky bosworth business and economy and was deemed a national historic landmark in 1986. c-span's city tour staff visited the site showcasing the city's history. learn more about lexington all weekend, here on american history tv.

♪ >> we are in the lexington cemetery. cemetery was originally incorporated on february 5 1848. only 13 years before the civil war. you have a accounting and lexington's most noted people buried in this cemetery. the foremost among them have to be -- has to be henry clay, who lived in lexington and came here in the late 18th century. he's buried in an enormous to erected on the eve of the civil war. also buried here are some prominent people from some very prominent families that migrated

into kentucky from her genia. before, during and after the american revolution. we are in the plot of the todd family. all of them played the men's roles during the revolution. this is robert s todd and his first wife, eliza parker todd. robert s todd and eliza had six children. one of them was mary todd. as we'll know, mary became the wife of abraham lincoln. she met lincoln after her sister married many and edwards, a student here at transylvania university left to be with his parents in springfield. his father was governor of

illinois. she went with him and mary followed. while there she met abraham lincoln and we all know the rest of that story. of those six children of robert todd and eliza todd, most of those children either did not participate in the war or were prounion. robert todd, after eliza died in 18 25, married elizabeth humphreys. elizabeth humphreys is the great granddaughter of john and elizabeth hatton preston of virginia. those are the progenitors of the huge preston family that is going to play and immense role in the civil war in kentucky and in virginia. it is interesting in the center shaft underneath which elizabeth humphreys todd is buried, she

has on her stone "in memory of my voice -- samuel todd, david todd, alexander todd, all confederate soldiers. what is interesting about the children is that not only were all of the sons of that marriage confederate officers or soldiers but nearly everyone of the daughters married confederate soldiers or confederate officers. you can take a look at a few of them. over here is the stone of emily. emily todd married benjamin hardin hell who became a brigadier general and died. emily's sister, catherine, mary william wallace herr, from

jefferson county, kentucky. he joined the confederate effort early and became the aid to benjamin hardin helms. major william wallaceherr took benjamin wallace off the battlefield after he was mortally wounded. kitty todd and william wallace herr were married shortly after the war. the stone here is for samuel riggs todd and alexander todd, both of whom died in the service. samuel todd was living in new orleans when the war broke out and join the crescent regimen and was mortally wounded at shiloh on april 7, 1862 and died in mississippi the next day. captain alexander todd was the aid to benjamin hart held at the battle of that and rouge in 1862

and was killed in action by friendly fire on the battlefield. you can begin to see what this family was like robert todd and elizabeth humphreys taught. there were also three other daughters. one of those daughters married richard henry dawson of selma, alabama. her sister married another gentleman from selma, alabama. both of those girls attended jefferson davis'inaugural. here, you have the families -- these are all the half siblings of mary todd lincoln and they are all at the inaugural of jefferson davis. the boys are going into the confederate service, as are the husbands of the daughters.

i often ask people what was breakfast like in the white house during the civil war? one can only imagine. early during the war, samuel todd is killed in action. what was it like when mary todd heard that? we know when general benjamin hart held dies, president lincoln was said to have received the information and then began to weep out loud. he absolutely loved benjamin hardin hell. after he dies, the lincolns invite him to the white house -- invites emily to the white house and she's there and for weeks raises quite a furor in the city of washington until she finally left. this has to be one of the most evocative plots of all i can think of in america.

the family of the first lady of the united states and yet all the memorials are to her half siblings who are confederate soldiers or married to confederate soldiers. >> we are in one of several different plots of the breckenridge family. curb -- colonel robert preston marries leticia preston and consequently, they are related to the humphreys. mary todd lincoln park stepmother was elizabeth humphreys. these two families are allied by blood. these are of the family of john cabell breckenridge. he was the states rights democrat who ran against abraham lincoln. stephen a douglas during the

election of 18 60. john breckenridge cast and immense shadow over the early and mid 19th century, became a congressman from henry clay's ashland district and the age of 35, he became vice president of the united states. he was the youngest vice president ever. on the eve of the civil war after the buchanan administration went out and the lincoln administration was coming in, the state legislature elected john breckenridge as the senator from kentucky. john breckenridge resigns within the senate votes to expel him for the reason they believe that it was traitorous for him to have been vice president of the united states and now a united states senator and resign to go with a state he believes will secede from the union. from that point, he rises to

major general in the confederate army and becomes the confederate secretary of war. he is literally overseeing the confederate government during its last days and during its evacuation of richmond until many of them were captured in north carolina and georgia. john breckenridge escaped and went to cuba and from there, to mexico and canada until a general amnesty was proclaimed by andrew johnson and then john c breckenridge came back to lexington where he resumed his law practice and became a very influential member of the community. but there is probably nobody in the western theater of war or in the war in general, or few people who cut a bigger shadow in the war effort then john c

breckenridge. we are standing in front of stone marking the grave of general gordon granger. general granger did not come from lexington. he came from new york, graduate of west point, class of 1845. a prominent combatant in the mexican war and the war in the west for the civil war and after, he wins his fame at the battle of chickamauga at the 20th of september, 1863. but that's not what we know him more. at the wars and on june 19, 1865, he was in command of

occupational troops in galveston, texas. it was gordon granger who issued general order number three which proclaimed to all the citizens of galveston and the citizens of texas that those who were previously held in slavery were now free, that they could exercise all the rights of every other citizen of the state of texas and the united states and if they were in slavery today, they would not eat in slavery anymore and would work for those who enslave them for wages that were fair. this is known as june 19, or juneteenth. it is celebrated every june 19 and texas and across the country. but it was warden granger who was the one who issued the famous order announcing the emancipation of all the slaves

from his headquarters in galveston, texas. gordon granger, at one point in time, commanded the department of kentucky. it was probably during his command of the department of kentucky that he met a woman from lexington named maria lecture. it was not until after the war that he and maria were married. they were married in evansville indiana, and from there, these to cut an amazing course of social life in new york city and saratoga. they lived briefly in lexington in 1870, but when gordon granger died, his wife brought israel means back here into the plot of her family. gordon granger is very here, along with his wife, maria and

maria's family. in this cemetery, you have all of the people who helped build this town and build this state and continue to do so. consequently, this is of critical importance to understand who these people were and what they did so you understand where you fit in this world and in this place. we are still a country workplace means something and i hope it will. this is where you find them for lexington and central kentucky in this cemetery. >> all weekend long, american history tv is featuring lexington, kentucky. kentucky statesman henry clay served as house speaker for three terms. as john quincy adams'secretary

of state. he ran for president three times, but never succeeded. he built his estate in lexington in 1811. it includes a collection of his personal items. together, with our time cable partners c-span's staff visited many sites exploring lexington's rich history. >> this house was designed by benjamin henry latrobe, it is only one of three domestic structures designed i him and build better still standing in the country. you might be familiar with him. he's an architect that emigrated to america in the early 1800s and was immediately hired by thomas jefferson to do architectural work on the capital, the u.s. capitol, and the white house.

he never came to lexington. he and senator pope and mrs. pope met in washington. john hope was a one term senator. he picked him because mrs. pope" of england and was familiar with british architecture. she admired his work and talk to him more so than mr. pope about her needs for this house. they did not live in this house very long. they only cap occupancy about five or six years. their situation changed and they moved to other places. they rented the house sell for a while and sold it in the 1830's. this was privately owned. it had a bad fire in 1987. the roof burned all thousand chimney collapsed. the bluegrass trust was able to acquire it in late 1988 and put a temporary roof on the

structure. we continue to work on house today. it is not finished we are taking our time, growing -- going slowly trying to do the right restoration. this is a truly federal style. it's a very unusual house in that it is inverted. it has an english raise basement. the living quarters are on the second floor entirely opposite of almost every other american health from the time. latrobe's influence is obviously go in house. we are now in the front hall of the pope villa and we do call it a villa because it was a suburban property on 11 acres of land. in the front hall, we are looking at this poster which depicts all of the various versions of the house that had gone on through the years. here is the original, as built

design, first and second floor. here's the house in the 1840's after a two-story kitchen addition was built there. then a much later version were there were more additions out back, apartment after apartment. i cannot picture how these 10 apartments came out of a one family house, but they did. we are now in what is known as mrs. pope's parlor or morning office. she would take tea here and perhaps plan the events. she would assign the butler and major cook the duties for the day. anything to do with running the house, mrs. pope handled. we are now entering what is known as the butler's area. this happened during the bad 1987 fire. the staircase would have allowed

the butler to transport the food to the second floor where the dining room is. if you were a visitor to the pope villa in the 1800s, you would not have seen this area. it contained a couple of sermons bedrooms, the kitchen and the butler's work area. all of this was concealed. if you visited here, you would not normally be in this space at all. we are now in a room that used to be two rooms. these are small servants sleeping quarters and they were divided at one time. you can see a faint line in the plaster where there was a dividing wall. only this one room would have had a fireplace.

this area represents something completely different from most american homes. it was highly unusual, especially in the american south to have enslaved african american servants housed in the house itself. often times, servants were housed in separate quarters in the backyards or perhaps in the basement. latrobe, being from england, was not used to the segregation of the races. they had indentured servants in england, but latrobe did not go along with the idea of separating the enslaved african-americans physically from the property of their owners. we are and what is the main hallway of the pope villa.

we might mention a bit about benjamin henry latrobe. he came to america in the 1800s and evidence suggests he moved to the americas to escape a lot of bad debt in england. at the time, the laws that exist to did not really pursue people of a left one country and went to another, so we are pretty sure latrobe escaped his that debts in england and was able to start afresh in america. we might also pause to look at an image we see in the plaster on the wall in front of us. it very clearly illustrates the shadow of a new or post and a railing that you could hang onto as you climb the stairs. there is still some discussion going on about the position of the stair. there is an old story that senator, as a child, had lost his right arm in a farming

accident as a young man in since he was -- a young man. since he was left-handed, this allowed him to climb the stairs with the left hand side of the banister. this came to show that a stair existed against this wall, just the reverse. so we have not come to any concrete, 100% conclusion about which way the stair was positioned. we are now upstairs in the may living quarters of the house. here is the surprise -- the main living quarters of the house. here is the surprise. this room is hidden from the street. you have no idea of this room and to you come inside and come into