Issue With This Marker?
Report an IssueMercer County
1258
Harrodsburg, Courthouse lawn, Main St., US 68, 127
Formed by Virginia Act in 1785, before Kentucky became a state. Included most of present Anderson and Boyle, part of Franklin, Casey, Garrard counties. First permanent English settlement west of the Alleghenies, founded as Harrodstown by James Harrod, 1774. Harrodsburg seat of government of Kentucky County, 1776; Lincoln County, 1780; Mercer County, 1785. Over.
County Named - For Gen. Hugh Mercer, ca. 1725-77. A native of Scotland, he came to America about 1746. Officer in French and Indian War, 1755-59. Served with Washington. Was the commandant at Fort Pitt. Hero in Revolution. Instrumental in success at Trenton, 1776, and Princeton, 1777, where he was bayonetted to death by Hessians. He owned 13,000 acres in Ky. District. Over.