Future of historic Kentucky log house at stake in potential donation to rural county

Bill Estep
·4 min read

There could be a new chapter ahead for the historic log house where pioneering nurse-midwife Mary Breckinridge lived for decades beginning in 1925 as she ran the Frontier Nursing Service in Leslie County.

Frontier Nursing University, as the organization Breckinridge founded is now known, said in a news release that it has offered to donate the house and other property to a non-profit group in the county.

The donation could create opportunities to use the property a few miles from Hyden for tourism or other development.

The Leslie County Community Foundation and Leslie County Betterment Inc., asked Frontier Nursing last September to donate the buildings.

The groups mentioned perhaps using the property for a bed & breakfast.

“We are exploring every opportunity,” said Joel Brashear, chairman of the Leslie County Community Foundation.

Brashear said Tuesday that the non-profit groups haven’t yet decided to accept the property. There are conditions on the donation that are concerning, he said.

One is a lack of information on the condition of the buildings.

Angela Bailey, chief advancement officer for FNU, said Tuesday that the local non-profits did not request an opportunity to inspect the buildings when they asked FNU to donate them, but that the organization will allow an inspection.

The donation would include the 2-story “Big House,” that Breckinridge had built on a hillside overlooking the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River at Wendover, as well as five adjacent structures.

The house is a National Historic Landmark. FNU operated it as the Wendover Bed & Breakfast and Retreat Center, though it has been closed for some time because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Frontier Nursing said in its release that the property is valued at nearly $2 million.

The assessed value on the property, which includes 21 acres, is $240,600, however, according to the county property valuation administrator’s office.

A Frontier Nursing Service nurse visited an Eastern Kentucky family in the 1930s. In addition to home visits, FNS operated community clinics and a hospital in Hyden. The organization’s primary focus was on the health of young children and their mothers, and its nurses also delivered babies. Today Frontier Nursing University has graduates working in all 50 states and has 1,500 students enrolled in various programs.

Breckinridge started working in Leslie County in the 1920s to provide health care for mothers and babies.

The mountainous coal county was a relatively isolated part of Appalachia at the time, with a high infant death rate and few good roads. Frontier Nursing midwives at first rode horses through creeks and into the steep hollows to deliver babies.

Breckinridge lived at Wendover until her death in 1965, but the history of Frontier Nursing Service looms large in the county.

The hospital is named for Breckinridge, and many residents or their parents can trace being delivered by a Frontier Nursing nurse-midwife.

Susan Stone, president of Frontier Nursing, said in the release that Wendover’s “incredible historical significance is perhaps only outshined by the many wonderful memories our students, faculty, and staff have made there.”

“While we are sad to say goodbye to Wendover, we are very proud to be able to offer this gift to the people of Leslie County,” Stone said. “We hope that it serves them well and that many more fond memories are made there.”

Frontier Nursing has cut ties in recent years with the county where it was founded.

The university bought the former United Methodist Children’s Home property in Woodford County in 2017 to move its on-campus operations there.

There wasn’t room to expand at its Hyden campus, FNU has said.

FNU trains nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners, with what it says is a focus on serving rural and underserved areas.

The move to Central Kentucky didn’t sit well in Leslie County, in part because FNU was a noteworthy employer and brought revenue into the county, but also because many saw it as losing a link to the county’s history.

FNU further angered many Leslie County residents last August by removing a large, 15th Century stained-glass window from a stone chapel on a hill overlooking Hyden.

The window depicts Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers.

The chapel at Frontier Nursing University’s campus was built in 1960 and contains a 15th century stained glass window from France that was given by a school benefactor.
The chapel at Frontier Nursing University’s campus was built in 1960 and contains a 15th century stained glass window from France that was given by a school benefactor.

A cousin donated it to Breckinridge and she had it put in the chapel on Frontier Nursing’s campus in 1960.

FNU said at the time it would have a replica of the window created and installed in the chapel.

The organization donated the Hyden campus to the county, which is considering possible uses for the buildings such as a hub to provide teleworks jobs, Brashear said.

‘Public is furious.’ KY county upset over talk of moving Frontier Nursing buildings.

‘Everybody is so mad.’ Historic stained-glass window removed from Kentucky chapel.