House Sitting Day 6 . . . William Whitley

Whew . . . our last day of house sitting.  The William Whitley House State Historic Site . . . the oldest brick house in Kentucky.  The estate was known as Sportman's Hill because of the racetrack William Whitley built in 1788.

Whitley was an Indian fighter and hater of Tories.  In fact, Whitley hated the British so much that he ran the races on his track counterclockwise, which became the standard in the America.

The house was designed with Indian raids in mind.  There were a couple of secret hiding places, and most of the windows are made with what amounts to as gun slits.

Cantankerous to the end, Whitley, at age 64, was killed at the Battle of the Thames during the War of 1812.  There is some speculation that it was Whitley, and not Johnson, who killed Tecumseh at that battle.  It is said that Whitley exclaimed that "the death he craved to die was in his country's defense."