On this site stood Kentucky Academy one of the two first institutions of higher learning west of the Allegheny Mountains organized by the Presbytery of Transylvania in 1794 by donations received from George Washington, John Adams, John Jay and others. It was preceded by a school established in 1785.
Marker placed 4th July 1949 by Kentucky Society, Sons of the Revolution
Photo credit: C. Mathews, 2022
And there is more to this story. Pisgah Academy, Kentucky Academy – there are more than a few names used in reference to this institution of learning that ultimately joined with an early Transylvania University. Another nearby marker at the corner of Pisgah Pike (KY-1967) and Lexington Road (US-60) states:
Pisgah Church
3/4 Mile —->
Pioneer Presbyterian Church
Organized in 1784
Here Kentucky Academy opened
in 1797. The school united with
Transylvania University in 1798.
Pisgah Church Marker
My 3rd-great grandparents, John Mathews and Sarah Mathews Price, are buried in this church cemetery. I suspect their homestead settlement was somewhere in the vicinity of the church and am working to identify the specific location. The deed references South Elkhorn Creek and both Woodford and Fayette counties.
The three children of John & Sarah – my 2nd-great grandfather William and his two brothers – attended this school (in some iteration) around the 1820s. Would it be safe to assume the family attended this church? Was this the place John Mathews’ mourners gathered in 1814?
A paternal cousin I never knew was married at this church. Apparently a distant McDowell relation served as a minister at this church in the early 1900s. There are many more lines of inquiry to pursue here and I look forward to uncovering more.
Chalk it up to whatever, but for the many years of traveling to and from family visits in the Bluegrass, I have felt something when passing along US-60 where the Kentucky Castle prominently sits at that intersection. When very young, I would light up at seeing my birth year on the highway signage and there is no denying the impact of a castle on the hill. Beyond what is shiny, so to speak, the feeling is something I cannot explain. I have a connection to this area that my conscious mind has yet to identify but my soul already knows. Have you ever experienced this?
that Kentucky girl 