Farmington Historic Home (Louisville-Jefferson County, Kentucky)

 house, interesting place

Farmington, an 18-acre historic site in Louisville, Kentucky, was once the center of a hemp plantation owned by John and Lucy Speed. The 14-room, Federal-style brick home possibly based on a design by Thomas Jefferson and has several Jeffersonian architectural features.

The Farmington site was part of a military land grant given to Captain James Speed in 1780. His son, John Speed, completed Farmington on a tract of land in 1816. Built in the Federal architectural style, the house is based on plans by Thomas Jefferson, which are now in the Coolidge Library in Massachusetts Historical Society.

Speed built the house for his wife, Lucy Gilmer Fry, daughter of Joshua Fry and granddaughter of Dr. Thomas Walker, the guardian of Thomas Jefferson. Her aunt and uncle's home in Charlottesville, Virginia was called Farmington and had an addition designed by Thomas Jefferson.

Their son, Joshua Fry Speed, was an intimate, life-long friend of Abraham Lincoln. While courting Mary Todd, Lincoln spent three weeks at Farmington in 1841 while recovering from mental and physical exhaustion.

John and Lucy's son, James Speed, was appointed Attorney General of the United States by Lincoln in 1863.

Farmington has been restored as a tourist attraction and a re-creation of a 19th century plantation. The house itself had been altered little at the time it was purchased by the Historic Homes Foundation for preservation in 1958. The only substantial change in its interior or exterior appearance since construction was the installation of a tin roof in place of the original wood shingles, which was done for fire safety reasons.