The Old Langford House

After my grandmother and her sister were orphaned in 1920, Tip Langford took the two girls to raise. Grandmom grew up in the old Langford house in Mt. Vernon which has since been destroyed. The Rockcastle County web site states "James McCall built and occupied the big two-story log house (later covered with siding) which later became the home of pioneer D. N. Williams and was still later known as the Tip Langford Place, when this photo was taken." However Langford tradition is that the original portion was built by Stephen Langford. In addition, John Lair [a local historian] says it was the old Stephen Langford house, a stagecoach stop on the Wilderness road.

It was a huge house, split log covered in clapboard siding. Tip told Grandmom that wounded Civil War soldiers were cared for in one of the upstairs rooms. He used to show her certain suspicious stains on the hardwood floor. He assured her that the stains were blood, and that the stains were stubborn, impossible to remove. Maybe that's true, or maybe he was just a great storyteller.

I do know that a copy of the 1810 census was ordered to be kept at the home of Stephen Langford. That's in the official record. Originally I came by this information at USGenweb where that census has been abstracted by Gina Abney in July, 2000, edited and formatted by Kelly Courtney-Blizzard, August 2000. the actual census is preceded by the orders which state that a copy of the record is to be kept "at the house of Stephen Langford." So the house must have been standing as early as that date.

When Rockcastle County was incorporated, the citizens were ordered to meet at the home of Stephen Langford. That information is easily obtained in several places. The state of Kentucky has a site where orders for county formations are online. And the Rockcastle County KYGenweb page has it as well if I remember correctly. I think the Rockcastle County website, which is just general information about the county, also displays a copy. And one of those sites displays a timeline in which the first event listed is: 1790, Stephen Langford leads the first settlers into Rockcastle County.

Lair also said that the house had remnants of the past in evidence in the form of slits through which the Langfords used to fire at marauding Indians. Grandmom never mentioned those, however. Maybe they were covered in wallpaper, or maybe Tip thought that Civil War bloodstains were enough scary stuff for his niece to handle. He did tell her that the house had been a stagecoach stop, so his account jives with Lair's.

 -- Shiron Wordsworth