Agricultural and Domestic Outbuildings in Central and Western

4
Fencing, from the Western
Farmer’s Almanac (1835). In the
background, a large farmhouse,
stacks of hay, and a smokehouse
are visible.
OUTB OUTBUILDINGS OUTB OUTB UILDINGS IN IN CENTRAL CENTRAL & & WESTERN WESTERN WESTERN KENTUCKY
KENTUCKY
KENTUCKY
the occasional sinkhole. As could be imagined, settlement was more
rapid in areas with better quality soils. The Inner Bluegrass, then,
was peopled first, followed by the other regions based upon the potential
for productive agriculture. It follows that the rate of settlement
was not uniform for all of Kentucky. The time period in which farmers
were able to make a comfortable living depended largely on when
a settler arrived in Kentucky and in what region he/she obtained land:
these factors in turn affected the types of buildings they constructed.
Thus, the late settlement and antebellum time frames are used to show
a general sketch of farming in central and western Kentucky.
The Late Settlement Period
Farming in the first decades of the nineteenth century was, in general,
at the subsistence level. The early farmer had much work to accomplish
before the land could reach even partial productivity. The first
task that farmers in all regions of Kentucky faced was clearing the
land of trees and brush. This could be a very arduous undertaking.
Trees had to be girdled, that is, the bark and the cambium had to be
cut away, in order to kill the tree. Then, the roots had to be cut and the
stumps pulled up. It could take several years of hard physical labor to
prepare a medium sized lot for cultivation. In the meantime, farmers
grew small plots of corn, beans, and squash for their own consumption.
Game caught in wooded areas, along with various breads, provided
the remainder of their sustenance. (Harrison and Klotter 1997,
137).
Fencing was also a priority during this period. From trees removed
from the fields, farmers shaped and placed wooden fencing around
the perimeter of their holdings. More fencing followed, enclosing
crop fields and pastures as they were improved. In early Kentucky,
fences were used to keep stock from wandering off the property and
from destroying agricultural yields. Bourbon County tenant farmer
Martin Davis wrote to landowner Green Clay, of Madison County,
about this difficult process in 1825, “We are all well and at work on
our fence as hard as
we can I have got
about 3 hundred
paniels done ten rales
high I am determen to
have the best fence in
the nabourhood before
I quiet” (Murray-
Wooley and Raitz
1992, 111).