VERSAILLES, Ky. — The Huntertown Community Interpretive Park (HCIP) held a dedication event on Saturday for its new historical interpretive signage trail. The University of Kentucky Landscape Architecture Department was part of this initiative.
93-year-old Josiephine Carr was born and raised in Huntertown, a hamlet or ‘freetown’ that African Americans settled in after the Civil War. She remembers the close community she grew up in and raised her 10 children in.
“Huntertown… I played, I lived, I had a good time, and I was the last one to leave Huntertown and I was the first one to sign for them to have Huntertown,” said Carr.
Huntertown was turned over to Woodford County. The nonprofit Friends of HCIP worked to make the area into a park and partnered with UK to create educational signs along a trail.
“That was part of the idea of our nonprofit is that we tell the story of Huntertown, we do the research, we get the oral histories and so these signs, there’s 14 interpretive signs that are on this one-mile trail, and they tell the story of different parts of the community,” said Sioux Finney, a board member with Friends of HCIP.
Carr contributed to this project by sharing her family’s story and providing photos. She felt honored to be part of the dedication event that celebrates a community that she is proud to have been a part of.
“It’s just a blessing, not a privilege. It’s a blessing to be sitting here today,” said Carr.
Huntertown was purchased by Jerry Gatewood in 1871. He was a former slave and a U.S. Colored Troop veteran. It was a tight-knit community for over 130 years.