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History of the Ashland Estate
Henry and Lucretia Clay had a home at Ashland from  around 1806 until 1852. At first it was
their country home while they maintained their town house in Lexington, and then in 1809,
they moved their growing family to Ashland where they resided until his death. The Clays
delighted in the pleasure that the grounds near the house provided to their guests, and
Henry Clay frequently invited travelers to visit his farm and grounds.
At its largest the estate covered up to 600 acres. Hemp, tobacco and
grains were grown and livestock was raised. Clay was very interested in stock breeding
and imported pure bred stock, particularly sheep and cattle, from all over the world.
During Clay's long stays in Washington, the farm was usually managed by his wife,
Lucretia, and an overseer. The labor was performed by up to 50 slaves.
After Henry Clay's death in 1852, his heirs sold the
estate to his son, James Brown  Clay. Soon after James acquired Ashland, he had
the original house, which had been in bad repair since the 1820s, torn down and a new one
built. The second house was completed in 1857. It followed the plan of the first one and
is documented to have been built on the original foundation or at least within the
original builders trench. The 1990 archaeological excavations indicated that the second
house was on the identical spot as the first house and that the original foundations had
been rebuilt or extensively repaired.
During the Civil War, James B. Clay and his family moved to Canada
because of his Confederate sympathies. James subsequently died in Canada in 1864 and in
January, 1866, his widow, Susan Jacobs Clay, sold the estate to Kentucky University (the
forerunner of the University of Kentucky) an amalgamation of the private Transylvania
University and the state Agricultural and Mechanical College. At that time the estate
covered 324 acres. From 1866 to 1878, the Ashland house was used as the residence of
Kentucky University's Regent, John Bowman,  and his family, and it was part of the campus. Several new buildings
were constructed at Ashland, including a large Mechanical Hall.
In 1882, Kentucky University was dissolved and the Ashland estate was
sold to Henry Clay McDowell and Anne Clay McDowell, a daughter of Henry Clay, Jr. and
granddaughter of Henry Clay. The McDowells added numerous improvements to the house and
grounds, including indoor plumbing. Henry McDowell died in 1899, and in 1915, the
McDowell's daughter, Nannette, and her husband Dr. Thomas Bullock and their son, Henry,
moved into the house with her mother. Anne Clay McDowell died in 1917. All of the
property except the 20 acres immediately surrounding the house was sold by the McDowell
heirs for "Ashland Addition," a development designed by the Olmsted Brothers' landscape
architecture firm. Nannette McDowell Bullock died in 1948, and in her will she gave the
house, property, and most of the belongings to the Henry Clay Memorial Foundation to be
used as a museum in honor of her famous great-grandfather. She made provisions for her
son to live at Ashland for as long as he desired. The first floor was opened to the
public in 1950, and in 1964, when Henry Bullock moved out, the entire house was opened as
a historic house museum. It is a registered National Historic Landmark.
120 Sycamore Road
Lexington, Kentucky 40502
(859) 266-8581
Email: info@henryclay.org
Support for this site was funded through the
kentucky
humanities council
Published in cooperation with the Kentucky Department of Travel
Development
© 2008, The Henry Clay Memorial
Foundation
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