History of the Hiestand House

The stone house and detached kitchen were part of a plantation which included a spring house, meat house, distillery, log servant quarters, barns, and other outbuildings. Although the traditional German colors of red, blue, and green were used by the Hiestand’s to trim the house, the floor plan is Scot-Irish, demonstrating the cultural assimilation of Germans in a predominately Anglo-Irish setting. The house is an example of the best houses in the region in the settlement period of Kentucky.

Jacob Hiestand was born in York County, Pennsylvania, and married Eve Landis in Botetourt County, Virginia. After living in Highland County, Ohio, he moved to Kentucky about 1816 and built this home in 1823.

The Hiestand plantation eventually grew to over 1,000 acres. Jacob Hiestand rejected his pacifist upbringing and became a colonel in the 99th Regiment of the Kentucky Militia Parents of ten children, Jacob and Eve Hiestand were bilingual, still able to read their German Bible.

Three of the Hiestand sons became physicians, as did one of the grandchildren, Dr. C.V. Hiestand, who practiced in Taylor County for 65 years. Another son served as postmaster and sheriff of early Campbellsville. A daughter, Araminta, married Joseph H. Chandler, attorney, and state senator. They were living in the house when it was raided by Confederate General John Hunt Morgan. They continued to dwell there until 1873. During the next 100 years, the principal owners of the house were the Gilmore family.

Son of Jacob, Dr. Josiah Landis Hiestand laid out a town in Grayson County, Texas, first called Ann Eliza, but later known as Kentucky town.

In 1988, the house was threatened by the development of Green River Plaza. The house and cemetery were moved a one-half mile north to their present site and reconstructed.