Grant County

We didn't have to go very far from our last stop to make it into Grant County.  All we had to do was walk cross the street.  We opted to drive about a half a mile down the road, but we were still in Jonesville, the Grant County side.

Like I've said before the early counties get the long visits and the late counties get the short ones.  I'll tell you all about it once we cover the background.

GRANT COUNTY BACKGROUND

Grant County was formed by an act of the Kentucky Legislature in February 1820 and was the sixty seventh county formed in the Commonwealth.  The county was named for two brothers John and Samuel Grant from North Carolina.  Today, the county seat is Williamstown which was established in 1822.  The town was originally 25 square miles laid out in one-quarter acre lots.  A fire destroyed almost all of the buildings on Main Street in 1856.  County Judge O.P. Morgan traveled Central Kentucky raising fund to rebuild the city. 

I have to stop for a second and confess that the research for the background/history of each county we visit takes quite a bit of time.  I have to sort through all the information, decide what should be included in my post and then put it together in a way that makes some sort of sense.  I have learned quite a bit of information by going through this process.  But when researching Grant County I found something that truly stood out.  In 1876 the United States Congress asked every town and county in the country to write their histories and read them aloud on July 4, 1876 as Centennial celebration.  First off, I had never heard of this so I was surprised when I found Grant County's published online.  If you have further interest in the history of Grant County I recommend you follow this link and read the account written by R.H. Elliston in 1876.

OUR VISIT

We left the Jonesville Store which is in Owen County drove a few blocks and stopped at the Jonesville Park which is in Grant County.  This made our "family" adventure complete for the day, since we had been to Rabbit Hash and Jonesville.

Of course Roadkill wasn't going to let us get out of there without visiting the Williamstown.  Luckily for him we had to go that direction to hit the Interstate.  So we jumped on Highway 38 and headed on into town.

Williamstown is laid out a little differently than most of the other towns we have visited so far.   The streets come into downtown at an angle.  It's a unique design.  The next thing I know we find ourselves at the courthouse.  We take a few minutes to look around and snap a few pictures.  As always, time was working against us, so it was time to head towards home.

We had a full day!  We had seen several unique site and learned a few bits of information that we didn't know.  On the way home we already started planning the next outing.  If all goes well, we will travel east next weekend.  See you on the road.

Owen County

After a filling lunch at Jewell's on Main in Gallitin County we headed down Highway 35 towards Owen County.  We only knew of one thing we wanted to see for sure when we got there but decided to head into Owenton too.  Part of the fun of this odyssey is driving and seeing where the car takes us next.  As soon as we cover the background, I'll tell you all about our visit.

OWEN COUNTY BACKGROUND

Owen County was formed in 1819 from portions of Scott County, Gallatin County and Franklin County.  The county was named for Colonel Abraham Owen.  Colonel Owen was a member of the Kentucky Legislature and was the first Kentuckian to serve under General William Henry Harrison.

Owen County was the 62nd county formed in Kentucky.  The county seat is the city of Owenton.  However the original county seat was the city of Hesler but was moved to Owenton in 1822.

During the Civil War, the county leaned toward the Confederacy and they operated two recruiting camp there.  Although many resident joined the cause, there were no organized battles fought there.

Elk Creek Vineyards is located in Owen County and is the largest winery in the Commonwealth.  Elk Creek was opened in 2003 and offers a deli, an art gallery, a gift shop, live entertainment and a B&B.

OUR VISIT

Like I said before we had only one thing on our list for Owen County and that was to visit Jonesville.  After looking at the map though, to get to the road that took us there, we were only going to be about 5 miles from Owenton, so why not stop?
So stop we did, after waiting for about 200 motorcycles to pull out in front of us on some sort of poker run.  After we got moving again, we went straight downtown and found the courthouse.  Roadkill always wants to see those for some reason.  Needless to say that is where we usually end up.  We didn't really do much else while we were there, other than check out the downtown.  Unfortunately we didn't have much time.  We really want to see Elk Creek Vineyard but the clock was ticking.  Looks like we have another gotta back item.

After we left Owenton, we wound our way out County Road 36 towards Jonesville.  It is a great scenic drive.  For a couple of mile the road run along a ridgetop and you can see for miles.  When we finally got to Jonesville, we stop at the little store to get something to drink.  We knew we were headed to Grant County next, so I ask the girl working in the store how close we were.  She said you'll be in Grant County as soon as you cross that yellow line in the road.  It turns out Jonesville is half in Owen County and half in Grant.  We spent a few minutes on the Owen County side then headed on into Grant County.  Follow me on over to the next page and I'll tell you all about it.