On Saturday, everyone is invited by the Friends of the Holt House and Breckinridge County Fiscal Court to the 15th annual Holt Home Community Day where visitors can enjoy the transformed Judge Joseph Holt Home.
The celebration will be from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Holt served as President James Buchanan’s Postmaster General and briefly as Buchanan’s Secretary of War. Holt is perhaps best known, though, for serving as President Abraham Lincoln’s Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army (JAG), a position Holt held in the Lincoln administration from September 3, 1862, until Lincoln’s death on April 15, 1865. Holt was the first-ever JAG in U.S. history.
After Lincoln’s death, Holt continued to serve as JAG under Presidents Andrew Johnson and Ulysses S. Grant.
Holt also served as chief prosecutor in the trial of eight conspirators involved in Lincoln’s assassination.
The Judge Joseph Holt Home, built in 1850, has undergone an extensive transformation, according to President of the Friends of Holt Home Inc., Susan B. Dyer.
“Visitors will view restoration of the third floor; historic tinting of the front windows; newly installed beautiful draperies for the Centre College Room designed by Kevin Hereford; and newly installed stainless-steel appliances for the warming kitchen from the Kentucky Colonels Good Works Program,” Dyer said.
Attendees at Saturday’s event will also see the unveiling of Holt’s portrait, donated by Andrew Melrose.
“Holt Family Cemetery guests will be entertained as President Lincoln, Larry Elliott, General Ulysses S. Grant, Michael Baete perform a skit,” Dyer stated. “If you come, you will learn of a story of a community that had strong will-power and has turned a decaying piece of its heritage into a community treasure.”
The keynote speaker at the event will be Lindy Casebier, a Louisville native who, in December 2019, was appointed by Gov. Andy Beshear as deputy secretary for the Kentucky personnel cabinet after many years as a public school educator, administrator, legislator, and non-profit director.
Casebier, according to Dyer, previously served in senior roles within the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet. For 18 years, Casebier represented Louisville in the Kentucky General Assembly where he chaired the Senate Education Committee. Prior to joining the Beshear administration, he served as executive director of Louisville Visual Art.
Other highlights of the event include the firing of the 14th Kentucky Light Artillery, a vintage baseball game played by local talent, a presidential wreath laying ceremony at Holt’s monument, patriotic and period music, the Kentucky Home Guard Band, the Breckinridge County High School Band, and the Breckinridge County JROTC, among other attractions.
A book written by Dyer about the mansion’s restoration, Joseph Holt Mansion: Saving and Restoring the Home of Lincoln’s Judge Advocate General, will be available for purchase.
“Donations are much appreciated and needed as the Friends of the Holt Home Inc. and volunteers work hard to bring the yearly event free to the public,” Dyer said.
The historic Holt Home is located at 6205 Hwy 144 in Hardinsburg. Call 270-756-0268, 270-756-2269, or visit www.josephholthome.com, or Save the Judge Joseph Holt Home on Facebook.
(Photos courtesy of Judy Nottingham)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
