Tatham Springs Hotel: The Final Chapter

[soopageek]

Tatham Springs Hotel: The Final Chapter

What follows is an epilogue to a series I originally posted here in the summer of 2005. If for some reason you missed the original series and would like to view it, here are the links.

Part I - The Exterior of the Hotel
Part II - The Pool  & Bath Houses
Part III - The First Floor Interior, A
Part IV - The

Comments

[maubast]

Thanks for the epilogue. V. sad.

[moodymuse19]

I cannot tell you how sad this makes me. I've a love for old buildings and the Tatham Springs Hotel was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.

My grandfather's turn of the century house is likely to be bulldozed soon, so I know the pain.

[yaochi]

A tear for the bit of nostalgic history annihilated so somebody could have some grins.

The past is so ephemeral.

The idiots who would destroy it, so eternal

[volare]

damn.
thank you for finishing the story for us... even if the ending was sad.

THE FINAL CHAPTER

[babarambob]

Excellent documentary reportage! You should continue your research by interviewing old-timers and digging into old newspaper archives... the State Library may have something in their "Special Collections"... Good Luck!

Re: THE FINAL CHAPTER

[soopageek]

Finding anyone who actually remembers it when it was a hotel might prove impossible, but there should be plenty still around who remember its life as a 4-H and church camp.

A friend and I are toying with the idea of creating a website devoted to photo-documentaries of this type about Kentucky abandoned sites, of historical and not-so historial importance. If/when we ever get around to it, I probably will try to make the time to do some additional library digging.

Re: THE FINAL CHAPTER

[aellura]

I grew up near here and loved this place. My mom went to 4-H camp here in the 40's-50's. My grandmother grew up on Tatham Ridge. As a child, I always had grand plans of renovating it and turning it into an artists' colony or the like.

One story you may be interested in - it was family history that my great grandfather, Estill Hardin, died from complications of an injury he received at the old hotel. It seems that in summer, I guess this would have been in the early 1910's, they used to have baseball games in the flood plain there between the hotel and the river. Supposedly, Es was sitting on his horse there watching the game when a stray ball struck him in the throat. He never recovered from it and died of consumption (TB) not long after leaving a wife and three children under the age of 10.

Anyway, thanks for the record of the hotel. I always wanted to do something similar, but never seemed to find the time. Now the time has run out, but at least these remain.

Re: THE FINAL CHAPTER

[soopageek]

Thanks for the story, that's great. I bet your mom had some memories of the place, too. Maybe you never had a chance to get pictures, but you have access to frist-hand stories of the place.