Isaac Ruddell's Station

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Isaac Ruddell's Station (1775-1780) - This station had a short but colorful history. John Hinkston first established a settlement here in 1775 with fifteen cabins but Indians caused its abandonment fifteen months later (1). John Townsend on Townsend Creek and John Cooper on Cooper's Run reportedly raised corn to supply the station's seed for the 1776 crop. Some other early inhabitants included William Kennedy and Thomas Dunn (2). Simon Kenton and Thomas William spent the winter of 1776-1777 and helped to build a blockhouse here (3). Also known as Ruddell's Station.

Arial View of Ruddell's Station Site.
Topo Map of Ruddell's Station Site.


The site was enlarged and fortified by Isaac Ruddell in April 1779 and became known as Ruddell's Station. A great many people lived here and at Martin's Station in 1780 when both sites were captured by the British and Indians under Captain Byrd. Drake (4) lists the following settlers who were among the residents at the time of the attack:



A large number of settlers were taken prisoner and marched to Fort Detroit in Canada. Twenty were killed on the spot and later buried in a mass grave by piling stones over their bodies. Matthias Lair and his brother, John Lair, settled on the property after the Revolutionary War and in 1845 a Lair descendant gathered the bones of the massacre victims and placed them in the Lair family crypt where they remain today.


Location: The station site is located southeast of Cynthiana, Kentucky, on private property, off the old Lair Pike on the east bank of the South Fork of the Licking River in Harrison County, Kentucky. No public access.

Maps & Images

Lat: 38.3351 Long: -84.2749

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  • Maps from Google
  • Elevation: 770'

See Also:

Sources:

  • O'Malley, Nancy, Stockading Up: A Study of Pioneer Stations in the Inner Bluegrass Region of Kentucky, Kentucky Heritage Council, University of Kentucky Program for Cultural Resource Assessment, 1987, rev 1994, 347 pages, page 241-244.

References:

  1. Ardery, Julia Spencer. Bourbon Circuit Court Records. Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. 1939:11; Lafferty, 1957:13; Perrin, William Henry. History of Bourbon, Scott, Harrison and Nicholas Counties, Kentucky. O.L. Baskin & Company, Chicago. 1882
  2. Staples 1934
  3. Kenton, Edna. Simon Kenton, His Life and Period. Doubleday, Doran, and Co. Garden City, N.Y. 1930:76
  4. Drake 1942:2115-216
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