Bryan Station Monument Restoration and Rededication
August 4, 2019.
The octagon-shaped monument, commissioned by the Lexington Chapter and dedicated on August 15, 1896, was restored and rededicated in a ceremony at the site.
The Bryan Station monument was in desperate need of cleaning and mortar repair. Some of the distinctive name plaques were replaced. A stonemason specializing in historic preservation was contracted to complete the project this summer.
Bryan’s Station, located about three miles north of New Circle Road, was an early Kentucky fortification and the site of an Indian siege in 1782. The siege was notable for the heroism of the Bryan’s Station women.
“The Bryan Station Monument is a permanent reminder of the courage of the pioneer women of Kentucky,” said Clara Wilson, Regent of the Lexington Chapter at the time of the rededication.
The rededication.
Four short years after the Lexington DAR Chapter was established, the monument celebrating the courage of the Bryan Station women was erected. The names of the defenders are memorialized on the Indiana limestone monument.
While Lexington Chapter Treasurer Susan Mullins worked with Stuart Joynt to restore the monument, Chapter Registrar Amelia Wisner headed the team to plan the rededication. Balancing the logistics of this springs torrential rain with the landowners availability, Mrs. Wisner managed to remain and calm and effective leader.
The Stonemason.
Stuart Joynt restored the Bryan Station monument, an octagon-shaped Indiana limestone structure commissioned by the Lexington Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution and dedicated on August 15, 1896. The monument creates a sanctuary over a spring running off North Elkhorn Creek. The spring still flows, clear and cool, as it did when the women of Bryan Station risked their lives to obtain the water needed to save the fort when it was attacked by Native Americans and Canadian rangers, led by British Capt. William Caldwell and Simon Girty.