By Scott White
Woodford Sun Staff
Report for America corps member
The last time the Sun checked in on the progress of the restoration of the historic Crittenden Cabin, it had been moved from the interior of the Red Barn and reassembled at its new site near the fishing pond and dog park at the Woodford County Park.
Just a month or so ago, the cabin got a new roof . . . a critical need that now opens the door to finish interior and other work before it can open to the community. Fundraising is the key to that door.
First, to catch everyone up.
The Crittenden Cabin was built in 1786 by Major John Crittenden, a Revolutionary War veteran, on land he was given as part of his service to the founding of the United States in the Revolutionary War. He built the cabin, returned home to Virginia, married Judith Harris, came back to Woodford County, where the couple raised eight children who were born in there, including their second child and first son, John, in 1787.
This is the cabin now sitting at Woodford County Park, having been moved their in the fall of 2025 from property now owned by the Frontier Nursing University on Lexington/Versailles Road.
The younger John went on to became the 17th governor of Kentucky in 1848, while also serving as a U.S. senator, U.S. congressman (during the Civil War), U.S. attorney general, and who now rests just 16 miles from his birthplace in the historic Frankfort Cemetery.
A committee of the Woodford County Historical Society chaired by Winfrey Adkins with Bill Phelps as vice chair, with the help of Woodford County Magistrate Liles Taylor and former Lieutenant Governor Crit Luallen (a direct ancestor of Gov. Crittenden, and who lives on her homeplace on the Franklin-Woodford County line), has been fundraising and overseeing the complete project of moving and restoring the cabin. As the Sun has reported in three prior articles, this project is being done in three-phases all dependent on fundraising.
The big news to share is the cabin has a new roof thanks to a generous donation of $6,000 of in-kind labor by Langham and Sons Commercial Roofing in Garrard County. The total cost was $24,1000, but with Andy Langham’s donation of $6,000, the committee was able to move forward with the new roof.
As Phelps explained to Carlee Langham in an interview on the company’s Facebook page, “the cabin, so far as we can tell, is 50 pt 60 percent original to the 1780s, so as we have needed to add things, we wanted it to look like it did when it was originally constructed.”
The original roof, like nearly every pioneer cabin of the time was a wooden shake roof – a type of sloped roofing system built using wooden pieces split from logs taken by whatever trees were in the area, preferably cedar, rather than sawn smooth.
And, Langham was able to meet that need.
“Preserving history without worrying about deterioration using modern roofing systems is the best solution,” Andy Langham said.
According to Phelps, the committee was presented with three options, “One was with original wood shaped shingles. One with just asbestos roof. And then what’s called “virtual shake,” a composite material. But it’s guaranteed for 50 years. And that’s the one we went with.”
The current phase is focused on “chinking and daubing” the space between the logs, and interior work including finishing the chimneys and hearths. “Basically, what we’re looking at right now, is for us to be able to open up to the public, school groups, all that kind of stuff is, we got to finish the chinking and the daubing. Then, we need to do the stove and the chimneys. Windows, doors and the floors.”
If local groups and individuals step up, then this iconic, irreplaceable Woodford County treasure will be ready for another generation to appreciate the courage and tenacity needed to lay down the very foundation of Woodford County.
To join in the effort, reach out to Winfrey Adkins or Bill Phelps via email woodfordkyhs@gmail.com or visit the Woodford County Historical Society’s museum at 121 Rose Hill Avenue, open 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. Bill and Winfrey would love to take you for a personal visit to the cabin, tell you its history, and make you grateful you live in a county as consequential, historically, as Woodford.