‘Possibilities are endless.’ Historic property donated to Eastern Kentucky county
Leslie County hopes to find a future in an icon of Eastern Kentucky history.
Local leaders announced Friday that Frontier Nursing University had donated 253 acres and several buildings at Wendover to a community development organization.
The donation includes the “Big House” that Mary Breckinridge — who founded what became Frontier Nursing — had built on a steep hill overlooking the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River in 1925.
Community leaders believe the property can be used to help boost the economy of the county, hit hard in recent years by a loss of coal jobs.
“This is huge for Leslie County and its people,” said Republican state Rep. Derek Lewis, who represents Leslie County and spoke along with Republican state Sen. Brandon Smith and local leaders at an event to announce the donation.
The Big House, where Breckinridge stayed until she died in the 1960s and which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has been used as a bed and breakfast, and has a commercial kitchen to support a restaurant.
Other buildings include an event space and a cottage that has been listed as an Airbnb.
Organizers have discussed using the property for dining, history-based tourism and other events to create jobs.
Joel Brashear, who is involved with the non-profit that took title to the property, called Leslie County Betterment Inc., said Wendover won’t fix the economy of the county all by itself, but can be big part of that effort.
“The possibilities are endless of what can happen here,” Brashear said.
The initial plan is to host events such as weddings and to book rentals at the cottage. It will take money, time and a full-time director to expand and create a bigger economic impact, Brashear said.
The first step will be to seek donations and grants. The complex is not generating revenue yet, but faces utility bills, insurance premiums and other costs.
The Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky is working with a local non-profit to accept donations at https://appalachianky.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create?funit_id=1183.
Breckinridge started working in the mountainous county in the 1920s to improve health care, particularly for mothers and babies.
The county was relatively isolated at the time, with poor roads and a high infant-death rate. Nurses working under Breckinridge initially rode horses through creeks into the narrow hollows to deliver babies and provide care.
The program became known as Frontier Nursing Service, which evolved into what is now called Frontier Nursing University.
The service was integral to the history of the county over the last century, with many local residents helped into the world by its nurse-midwives.
There’s been some strain in recent years in the relationship between local residents and Frontier Nursing University (FNU) as it reduced ties with the county where Breckinridge started it.
The university bought the former United Methodist Children’s Home property in Woodford County in 2017 to move its on-campus operations there. The reason was the need for more room to expand operations, university officials have said.
The move cost Leslie County some jobs and revenue, but many residents also felt like they were losing a link to the county’s history.
The university rubbed salt in the wound last year when it removed a large, 15th Century stained-glass window from a stone chapel on university property on a hill overlooking Hyden.
The window depicts Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers.
A cousin donated it to Breckinridge and she had it put in the chapel in 1960.
Local people protested that FNU had taken the window without notice, and even U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, a Republican who represents the county, waded into the controversy to ask FNU to return the window.
It didn’t, but said at the time it would have a replica created to install in the chapel. The university donated the chapel and other property in Hyden to the county.
The university said in a statement this week that it was pleased to donate the Wendover property as well.
“While we are sad to say goodbye to such a significant part of our history, we are extremely happy that the residents of Leslie County will be able to continue to enjoy the beauty of Wendover,” Susan Stone, FNU president, said in the statement. “We are thankful for the wonderful home that Wendover provided us for so many years and for the memories we will carry with us always.”
The statement said FNU has finished construction at the Versailles campus, providing more space to serve the university’s more than 2,500 students.
FNU valued the Wendover property at almost $2 million. It is assessed at $640,000, but the university placed a higher value on it based on the insured value and the size of the property.
Several people at Friday’s news conference said they believed Breckinridge would be happy that her historic home will be in local hands.
Breckinridge wanted to help people in Leslie County, and the Wendover property can do that, said Yalanda Scalf, a nurse who trained at FNU and is vice-chair of the Wendover Preservation Council, which will oversee the property.
“I think that it brings back part of our heritage,” Scalf said.
