NEWS: Former Mayor buys Historic Tavern & Spring, 1957, Bullitt Co., KY

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Submitted by: Melody spinner35@excite.com
Date: 31 Jan 2001
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The Courier-Journal, Sunday Morning, September 8, 1957

Former Candidate for Mayor Bys 73-Acre Farm That Is Site of A Historic Tavern and 
Spring

Little Spring Farm of 73 acres on Bardstown Road, the site of a historic spring and 
taver, has been bought by a former Louisville candidate for Mayor, James F. Kane.
Kane has paid $48,500 for the suburban property of Roscoe Williams, former 
sign-company executive, who is moving to Arizona. The property fronts for about 1,500 
feet on the southwest side of Bardstown Road 4 1/2 miles southeast of Fern Creek, and 
includes an 18-year-old residence, barns and other outbuildings. The original route 
of Bardstown Road, dating back to the 18th Century, winds through part of the 
property. Known earlier as the Hays farm, it once was the site of Hays Inn, on the 
old Bardstown Road, with a large limestone spring nearby. Williams said a 
neighborhood legend tells how one of the Hays owners grew disgusted during the Civil 
War with the constant use of his spring by large groups of Confederate or Union 
cavalry. The owner then tried to close up the spring by blasting out a large ledge to 
cover the opening. The gunpowder hole is still there. So is a large boulder that was 
much too small to cover the hillside cavity leading into the spring.
 
Another legend has it that the old Bardstown Road, which zigzagged down a hillside on 
the Hays place, was known as Devil's Elbow at this point.  "People came from miles 
around to watch the 20-mule teams negotiating the sharp turns," Williams has heard.
The house was built in 1937 according to plans of architect Elliot Lea.  Williams 
bought the peoperty in 1945 from its former Detroit owners. The house is a seven-room 
structure of unususally high quality workmanship and materials. Realtor Roscoe dalton 
represented the purchaser, and the Kirchdorfer Company the seller in the recent 
purchase. The new owner, whose Louisville residence is at 2408 Douglass Boulevard,
said the diary operations on the farm will continue under the management of Thomas 
Simpson.