BUFORD SPRINGHOUSE (Scott County)

The Abraham Buford springhouse is among the finest springhouses of all the hundreds of springhouses that I have seen in Kentucky. Buford settled on large grant in Scott County in 1792 and built the large brick house known as Richland, seen in the background of the photograph. This house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been unoccupied for some years. He was an avid turfman, who bred and raced many outstanding Thoroughbred horses during the antebellum period. When Buford died 1833, the farm was inherited by his son-in-law James K. Duke, who was also a well-known Thoroughbred breeder, and who enlarged house.

The picturesque springhouse was probably built by Abraham Buford at about the same time as the main house. The springhouse consists of two separate rooms, the spring chamber and the larger section that was used for cool storage of milk and produce. The spring emerges from bedrock in the spring chamber, which is open on both sides with steps leading down to the pool, for convenient dipping of the water into buckets. The water flows through the main section in a channel and discharges to the outside through a horizontal slot. The greenery in the watercourse downstream from the springhouse is watercress, an edible plant (used in salads) that thrives in the cold spring water.

The construction of the springhouse was obviously undertaken by a highly skilled mason. The limestone bedrock from which it was built was carefully shaped and squared off with a chisel, and the lintels over the spring chamber entries are of elegant design. The roof was covered with split oak shingles. When I photographed this springhouse in 1999, the roof was still mostly intact, but on a return visit some years later I noticed that the roof had collapsed. I hope that the property owner will dedicate some funds to restoration of this historic structure.