The Batterton House – history and mystery converge on a corner in Millersburg

The house at 1001 Main Street in Millersburg has seen a lot over its century-plus years of existence.

It was built in 1841 for James Batterton, a prominent local merchant. He planned to live in it with his second wife, Mary Alexander. Back in the day, Main Street was a busy thoroughfare on the Maysville-Lexington Turnpike, and Batterton’s bride decided she didn’t want to live so close to the road and have to deal with dust and buggy noise.

So instead of becoming a residence, the Greek Revival structure became a school – several schools, in fact. According to a book about Millersburg history, around 1850, Col. T.F. Johnson started a female seminary there. It was a branch of the military school he had established at Blue Licks Springs. Two years later, Rev. John Miller, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church South in Millersburg, opened a male and female seminary in the house. In 1854, Rev. and Mrs. George Savage took over the school and named it the Millersburg Male and Female Collegiate Institute. It was chartered by the Kentucky Legislature.

The Kentucky Methodist Conference assumed control of the quickly growing institution in 1858. The male component of the school was moved to the town’s north end and became Kentucky Wesleyan College. This institution later relocated to Owensboro, where it remains today. The female component of the school stayed at the Batterton House for a while, but it later moved and became Millersburg Female College. The house also served as a boarding residence for teachers at the different schools.

Perhaps even more significant and historic, there is evidence the house may have been a stop on the Underground Railroad, which channeled enslaved people to freedom across the Ohio River. There is a trap door in the dining room that leads to a shallow windowless cellar. Under one of the steps on the back staircase is another mysterious hiding place.

“As I understand it, what they would do back in the old days, they would lead the slaves into the house and into the cellar until it was safe,” explained current owner Chuck Kiser.

CHARM AND BEAUTY

Chuck and his wife, Andrea, knew about the Batterton House long before they bought it.

“When I was a child we would drive to Millersburg and occasionally we would drive by here,” Chuck said. “I always liked the house, and when it came on the market and I had an opportunity to buy it, I said to Andrea, ‘Let’s go look at it.’ It took us a while to decide to buy it but we did. We loved the history of the house and the community.”

“I always said I wanted a two-story brick house in the country when I was a little girl,” Andrea added. “So we got this, which is close.”

“We liked the large rooms, the tall doors and all the trim work,” Chuck said. “Some of the woodwork and details in the stairway reminded us of Shakertown, the simple lines of it.”

They had to do a fair amount of work to bring the house back into prime condition.

“People said, when we moved in, ‘Oh, those big old brick houses, you don’t even need air conditioning in them,’” Andrea said. “The first night we stayed here, we were like, ‘We need air conditioning.’ So we replaced the heating and air upstairs and downstairs.”

“The previous owners hadn’t done any of the hard stuff like the heating and air,” Chuck said. “The plumbing was not the greatest and the roof was in bad shape. Sixty-seven window panes were broken or cracked.”

Once these and some other repairs were taken care of, the house’s charm and beauty shone through. It’s easy to picture the parlor and the room the Kisers now use as a den as centers of learning with their tall windows, high ceilings and charming fireplaces. The house is a perfect repository for the antiques the Kisers have collected over the years, including a piano that purportedly came from a movie house in nearby Carlisle.

When you walk up the steps to the house, you encounter an entablature supported by pilasters and accented by iconic columns. Open the door and in front of you is an enchanting winding staircase that leads from the foyer to the upstairs, where there are four bedrooms.

HAPPY GATHERING PLACE

Having already purchased a home in Paris’ historic district, the Kisers are preparing to say a fond farewell to the Batterton House and pass it on to someone else they hope will love and cherish it as much as they do. Perhaps the next owners will give it a new lease on life as a bed and breakfast. And if Mary Alexander Batterton could come back and see how much Millersburg has grown, perhaps she would change her mind about living on Main Street.

“Since the bypass went in, it’s more quiet. Before that, a lot of semis went through,” Andrea said. “It’s a quiet neighborhood. We have good neighbors on both sides of us.”

“We’ve enjoyed raising our family here,” Chuck said. “We’ve had a great time with this property. We’ve enjoyed lots of parties. We even had a sit-down dinner for 42 people once. There’s plenty of room for that and plenty of room to entertain.”

The house is well poised to continue living up to its description in the Millersburg history: “A happy gathering place for family and friends.”