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County: Jefferson

Farmington

Marker Number: 

2231

Location: 

3033 Bardstown Road, Louisville

Historic residence completed 1816 for John and Lucy (Fry) Speed. The Jefferson-inspired plan by Paul Skidmore includes octagonal rooms, rare in 19th c. Kentucky. As many as 64 African Americans enslaved at Farmington worked the 550-acre hemp plantation. Abraham Lincoln spent three weeks here in 1841 as guest of the family of his closest friend, Joshua Speed.

Reverse Description:

After his visit, Lincoln described a group of shackled slaves he saw on his steamboat trip home. Later he called the memory a “continual torment to me.” During the Civil War the Speeds supported the Union and Joshua’s ties to Lincoln helped secure Kentucky for the Union. Lincoln appointed James Speed Attorney General in 1864.

Erected 2007.

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