11-10-10 —      The Mill Springs Battlefield Association, Inc., which has led the restoration project, recently announced that the historic West-Metcalfe House has been stabilized and preserved for the  interpretation and enjoyment of visitors and citizens of the community.

    The project would not have been possible without the generous gift of the house and land to the association by Nick Cooley, a $250,000  

grant from the Governor’s Office of Local Development secured by  

State Representative Ken Upchurch, and the skilled workmanship of Ed  

Wolf of Hollow Works whose untiring efforts saved the building from  

irrevocable collapse.

    The West-Metcalfe House is an important landmark in the county which 

was close to disappearing.

    The West family settled in the Mill Springs area of Wayne County 

before it became Wayne County.

    The house was built in 1799 and would have been the finest structure of its time for this area of Kentucky.

    A center of hospitality and commerce in the frontier, the house and family entertained and hosted many famous people from the local  community and nation. Pastor “Raccoon” John Smith, one of the  

principals of the “Great Awakening,” preached multi-hour sermons and  performed weddings at the house; during the period of the Civil War  

Confederate General Felix Zollicoffer (leading an army of 6,000  Confederate soldiers poised to invade central Kentucky) used the  house as a headquarters (although the West family were Union folk).

    After the Battle of Mill Springs in January, 1862, the West-Metcalfe house again served as a refuge for the Confederate Army and field  hospital.

    Reporters with the Union Army in pursuit of the Confederates 

observed numerous Confederate soldiers dead or dying in the front  

yard of the West home. Today several simple stones with no engraving  

mark grave sites just on the edge of the West family cemetery a short  

walk from the house; even in death the West family remembered that  

the young men who died there were sons, brothers or husbands whose  

release from this mortal coil should be accompanied with great respect.

    During the restoration project school children in the local 

community had the opportunity to participate in archeological digs  

and discover several artifacts that would have been appropriate to  

the time including several arrowheads.

    The Wayne County Museum’s Executive Director, Rev. Harlan Ogle 

supplied numerous photographs and background information which  

assisted in the restoration. Mudpuppy and Waterdog served as the  

onsite managers and consultants for the project.

    “It is a source of great pleasure that we can now open the West-

Metcalfe House to the community,” said Bill Neikirk, President of the  

Mill Springs Battlefield Association, Inc.

    Anyone interested in seeing the inside of the house should call 

(606) 340-1656 for an appointment.

    In addition to the West-Metcalfe House, in the past five years the 

association has purchased for preservation the Brown-Lanier House,  

nine acres of land adjoining Mill Springs Mill and over 70 acres of  

land containing fortification and Confederate encampment sites, all  

in Wayne County.

    Preservation of these sites, is important for its history but also 

for the income it generates for the community from tourists who visit  

the sites and stay.