by Owen Rouse
Woodford County before the Civil War had a large population of slaves and a high percentage of landowners who had grown dependent upon their labor: in the year 1860, almost half (45%) of the eligible (adult white male) voters of the county owned slaves; and in that same year there were reportedly more than 5,800 black and mulatto slaves in the county – about half the population.
Following the end of the Civil War, the ratification of the 13th Amendment finally freed all slaves in Kentucky. Thus, their emancipation created both a large population of freedmen with no home of their own and a large number of agricultural estates with a vanishing work force.
At that time, some property owners in the Bluegrass region granted tracts of land to groups of freed slaves. The practice was both benevolent and self-interested: it gave the freedmen a place to live with family and friends, while it also provided the estate owner a conveniently located labor pool. The result is that small African American communities sprang up across a wide area of central Kentucky, rather than being concentrated in large cities or industrial centers. It was a step away from coercive servitude and toward a negotiated relationship.
It is believed that a prominent Woodford County landowner named Davis gave a substantial plot of land in the northern end of the county to Lou Guy, an African American woman who lived in the area. She in turn divided the land into separate tracts which were settled by other families with similar histories.
The property which became known as Davistown was located next to the original route of the Lexington and Ohio Railroad and was for many years a convenient whistle-stop on the L&N. It also included a valuable spring which was a reliable source of water for domestic uses. The hamlet was roughly halfway between Midway and Payne’s Depot, and residents could walk to either or both of those communities by following the railroad tracks. Indeed, faculty and staff at the Kentucky Female Orphan School reported that residents of Davistown were often seen walking past the campus on their way to or from Midway.
For many years, the town had its own school, which may have received funding from the Freedmen’s Bureau during Reconstruction. Students from Davistown now attend the Midway and Woodford County schools.
The community continues to be a valued neighbor to Midway in northern Woodford County.
Sources:
James E. Copeland, “Where Were the Kentucky Unionists and Secessionists?” Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol. 71, No. 4 (October 1973)
Marion B. Lucas, “A History of Blacks in Kentucky,” (Kentucky Historical Society 1992)
NKAA Database, “Woodford County (KY) Slaves, Free Blacks, and Free Mulattoes, 1850-1870,” at nkaa.uky.edu
Lucy Peterson, “Miss Lucy’s Story – As She Saw It” (Lexington, Keystone Printery, Inc., © Midway University, Inc. 1960)
Peter Craig Smith, “Negro Hamlets and Gentlemen Farms,” (Ph.D. Dissertation, UK Department of Geology 1972)
Peter C. Smith and Karl B. Raitz, “Negro Hamlets and Agricultural Estates in Kentucky’s Inner Bluegrass,” Geographical Review, Vol. 64, No. 2 (April 1974)
Richard Ulack, Karl B. Raitz and Hilary Lambert Hopper, “Lexington and Kentucky’s Inner Bluegrass Region,” Pathways in Geography Series Title No. 10 (National Council for Geographic Education 1994)
Robert M. Rennick Manuscript Collection at Morehead State University
Illustrations:
Photo of Davistown School, 1892, from Hifner Photo Collection of Woodford County Schools, Kentucky Historical Society Digital Collections
Map of “Black Hamlets of the Inner Bluegrass,” from Karl Raitz Kentucky slides at exploreuk.uky.edu
Sources:
Peter C. Smith and Karl B. Raitz, “Negro Hamlets and Agricultural Estates in Kentucky’s Inner Bluegrass,” Geographical Review, Vol. 64, No. 2 (April 1974)
Peter Craig Smith, “Negro Hamlets and Gentlemen Farms,” (Ph.D. Dissertation, UK Department of Geology, 1972)
Richard Ulack, Karl B. Raitz and Hilary Lambert Hopper, “Lexington and Kentucky’s Inner Bluegrass Region,” Pathways in Geography Series Title No. 10 (National Council for Geographic Education, 1994)
Robert M. Rennick Manuscript Collection at Morehead State University: scholarworks@moreheadstate.edu
Notable Kentucky African Americans database @ nkaa.uky.edu
