Rogers Station Grew from Early Land Deal
Written by David Hall and Published in The Kentucky Standard, April 17, 1985
William BARD put together one of the earliest real estate deals in what is now Nelson County. In 1779, probably the summer months, Bard led a party out from the Falls of the Ohio to view some improvements grouped around the Buffalo Creek area. He was offering these land claims for sale. Among the group was Col. James ROGERS who later recalled some details of that trip.
In the year 1813 he gave a deposition at the age of 70; They came to the this deponent (later) settled his station on … Bard showed … 4 or 5 improvements which he called his … the price was agreed upon and they were to enter into writings. When they returned to the Falls … Bard refused to let this deponent (Rogers) have all the improvements … and only let him have that part which he settled his Station on … (Rogers) was to have had all … Bard’s improvements on the west side of Buffalo Creek.
The cause of William Bard’s change of mind is a mystery. Col. James Rogers still purchased claim to at least 1,000 acres, and William Bard ultimately entered an adjoining improvement he had refused to Rogers for his own personal 1,000- acre plantation. All of these claims were the result of improvements William Bard made in the central Nelson area over the period 1775 – 1778.
James Rogers was likely visiting the Kentucky wilderness in 1779, just long enough to secure a land claim for later settlement. If his family was with him they wintered nearer the Falls at one of the Stations already built. In the spring of 1780 Col. James Rogers took permanent possession of the preemption west of Buffalo Creek, a part of that area then called Bard’s Flat. Rogers Station rose in the wilderness and quickly provided temporary shelter for many settlers pouring into Nelson.
The legendary EVAN WILLIAMS one of Kentucky’s first distillers, was a companion of Col. Rogers during this period. He recalled in a deposition … Sometime in April 1780, he with Col. James Rogers was passing from Long Lick to Rogers Station when … pursuing an old Buffalo Road … crossed said branch and took a direction through the woods to Rogers Station … and after that time … the old … Buffalo Trace was called Rogers Trace.
Even after 30 years, another member of that same party was able to recall they were keeping a close watch for Indian signs. The perilous years of border warfare had left a deep impression.
The original Rogers Station, with a picket wall and tiny cabins within, stood somewhere near the junction of Hwy 62 and Ben Irvine Road west of Bardstown. The hewn log house on the MURPHY farm (torn down in 1959) was too large and sophisticated to be the original Station but was probably built by one of the Rogers in the later 1780s when Indians were still a threat. It may well have been on the site of the first Fort enclosure.
Desirable land all about it gave Rogers Station instant importance. Areas such as Bard’s Flat just opened up by building of a Station attracted land hungry settlers with warrants to fill. The family man left wife and children protected at the Station while going miles distant to survey and locate land claims. Even the single adventurers made the nearest Station a base of operations, where extra supplies would be protected.
Some families lived in Stations for several years before chancing lonely cabins far removed from the support of friends.
Many people lived at Rogers Station, at least temporarily. Besides Col. James ROGERS family, his brothers, Matthew, William and Jonathan were there (Jonathan’s sudden death in 1783 may have been due to Indians) Evan WILLIAMS and William KEITH were probably residents. Atkinson HILL was there for a time. Then he relocated near Goodin’s Station. Mesheck CARTER had his family there and other likely residents were John RAY and Joseph BARNETT. Others remain unknown.
William BARD was also a resident of Rogers Station during 1780. He had married for the first time in 1779 … a widow with children. His new family was probably with him because, like James ROGERS, he had finally come to stay in what would become Nelson County. The next few years would become busy ones.