Mount Sterling, Kentucky: Victorian Houses, Mansions, Old Churches & Montgomery County Courthouse

June 28, 2024

Driving through Mount Sterling, Kentucky, the county seat of Montgomery County. The town is also written as Mt Sterling. There are many beautiful Victorian era homes in the town. This video is a short drive through town and does not show the full historic beauty of the town. There are several old churches in the town, especially on Main Street when you first come into the city off of I-64. There are several old Victorian houses, old churches and the Montgomery County Courthouse.

Ancient Indian Native Mound:
***There was once an ancient Indian Mound located in town, but it is said that it was leveled in 1845 to build a house. I was not able to find the street it was once located on. It was paved over at the intersection of Queen and Locust streets.

..."Mount Sterling, often written as Mt. Sterling, is a home rule-class city in Montgomery County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 7,558 as of the 2020 census,[3] up from 6,895 in 2010. It is the county seat of Montgomery County and the principal city of the Mount Sterling micropolitan area.

Mount Sterling is named for an ancient burial mound called "Little Mountain", and for the town of Stirling in Scotland. It was named by the first developer of the area, Hugh Forbes. The Kentucky Assembly passed an act in 1792 establishing the town as Mt. Sterling, a misspelling which was retained.

The area was originally part of the thick wilderness of central Kentucky. Explorers, hunters, and surveyors traveling along a trail called Old Harper's Trace noted a 125-foot-high (38 m) tree-covered mound which they called "the Little Mountain". Later excavations showed it to be a burial site. The site of the mound is now the intersection of Queen and Locust streets in Mt. Sterling.

The first cabin in the area was built in 1779. The first permanent settlement was established around 1790, when Forbes began to sell lots and laid out a road, now Locust Street. In 1796 the town was established as the county seat of newly created Montgomery County. At that time the town consisted of 33 town lots, four retail stores, and three taverns. A courthouse was built, the first of seven to be housed in Mt. Sterling. A jail and a town pump were also installed. A large brick market house where farm produce was bought and sold confirmed the town as the commercial center of the surrounding area. Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist churches were established during the town's first decade.

During the Civil War the town was occupied alternately by Union and Confederate troops on multiple occasions. The Battle of Mount Sterling in June 1864, which ended in a Confederate defeat, was the last of the fighting in Montgomery County.

Mount Sterling is also home to Ruth Hunt Candies, a confectionery store created by Ruth Tharpe Hunt in 1921. Ruth Hunt Candies now sells over 70 different kinds of candy."...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_S...
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https://kentuckyhistorictravels.com/2...

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