THE HOME OF HENRY CLAY FOR FORTY-SIX YEARS
Henry Clay's mother, having married Captain Henry Watkins, moved from Hanover, Virginia, to Woodford County, Kentucky, in 1792. As soon as the future statesman was admitted to practice in the Virginia Court of Appeals, he decided to follow her. Accordingly, in November, 1797, he became a resident of Lexington. Three years later the Kentucke Gazette, the first paper published west of the mountains, told of "an eloquent oration" that was "delivered by Henry Clay, Esquire."
The year before the young lawyer received this flattering notice he married Lavinia Hart, of Lexington. Seven years were spent in rented quarters, but in 1806 he purchased an estate about a mile and a half from town.
Clay took the keenest pleasure in the estate. Once he wrote to a friend:
"I am in one respect better off than Moses. He died in sight of and without reaching the Promised Land. I occupy as good a farm as any he would have found had he reached it, and 'Ashland' has been acquired not by hereditary descent but by my own labor."
However, it was only at intervals that the proud owner was able to enjoy Ashland. After 1803 the longest period of residence was six years, and this was toward the close of his life.
The management of the property was largely in the hands of Mrs. Clay, and the prosperity of the plantation was proof of her capability. From Washington he wrote frequently of things he would like to see done. He was especially interested in blooded stock which he secured in the East and abroad. Once he wrote proudly of the fact that there were on the estate specimens of "the Maltese ass, the Arabian horse, the Merino and Saxe Merino sheep, the English Hereford and Durham cattle, the goat, the mule and the hog." His race horses were famous, and he delighted to handle them himself. He also liked to feed the pigs, even when he was an old man.
There were many slaves at Ashland, and they were all attached to their master. His will provided for their emancipation, under wise conditions. Once, when a friend bequeathed him twenty-five slaves, he sent them to Liberia, by way of New Orleans.
Harriet Martineau, who visited Ashland in 1835, told of her pleasant impression of the place and its owner:
"I stayed some weeks in the house of a wealthy landowner in Kentucky. Our days were passed in great luxury, and the hottest of them very idly. The house was in the midst of grounds gay with verdure and flowers, in the opening month of June, and our favorite seats were the steps of the hall, and chairs under the trees. From there we could watch the play of the children on the grass plot, and some of the drolleries of the little negroes.... There were thirty-three horses in the stables, and we roved about the neighboring country accordingly...."