Hidden Spring Farm grew from 4 Tracts adjoined through time
I found this 1969 satellite image and labeled all the buildings that were visible at Hidden Spring Farm. Below this image, I will show some structures are no longer standing, and include images to emphasize their place in the landscape. For reference, old Bunger house and property is at 6' o-clock, "Mama Elizabeth's" house is at 9' o-clock, and Boone's Spring at 1' o-clock.
NOTE: the Saddleback Barn was actually a Hip Roof Barn, also known as classic Gambrel design. |
The Elizabeth (Bunger) Hamilton Farm, 187 acres
The Robert F. Hamilton Sn. and Elizabeth (Bunger) Hamilton farm, 187 acres, hugged Hwy. 1600, from "Maples Corner" (the intersection with Hwy 333) to the Cotton Wathen property, where the property line turned right to follow the Old Hwy. 333 route up to Bill Clarkson's house. The property line continued past The Spring on Clarkson's side, then turned right 90 degrees for a straight shot all the way back down to Hwy. 333 and included the long hay field with the large Tobacco Barn. Farm entrances included a gate just past Eddie Hobb's barns on 1600, and a gate into the Tobacco Barn field near the top of the rise on 333.
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Farm buildings included a round ear-corn bin sitting atop the ridge above a large cattle pond. It was adjacent to the corner post fence leading from the hay barn. That fence then ran parallel to Hwy 1600 and went all the way to Hwy 333. The round bin is visible in the left-side image below, but it blocked the Bobby's hat in the below image on the right. Years later, the equipment shed (were we dried potatoes) and the Hay Barn with its horse stalls, were bulldozed and burned. The Silo was later dynamited. That's another story!
In the above left-side image, you see part of the Sam J. Bunger farm, with its Hip Roof hay barn and the old apple orchard with a small cattle pond between both.
The Sam J. Bunger Farm
The Sam J. Bunger property included the Bunger house, a smokehouse, external garage, small building behind house, equipment shed in the treeline (center of image above, another unknown structure (remnants of this under the word "Vintage" in image below), large pond, the large 1936 Hip Roof Barn with horse stalls. It was 80 feet long and 36 feet wide in three 12ft sections. A final building, either horse stalls or an equipment shed, stood beside the barn. The apple orchard is out of frame below the small pond beyond the barn. Two small hog sheds were at one time above the far pond.
Bunger Farm buildings captured in pictures - chicken house, Hip Roof barn, Tobacco Barn, Smokehouse
Below, "Daddy Sam" Sam Bunger training horses. Horses were necessary before tractors became readily available and affordable. Sam worked with horses throughout his life, and Bobby said he didn't remember "Daddy Sam" ever once driving a tractor.
A white chicken house, a rubble pile in the Vintage image above, is highly visible under the reins being held by "Daddy Sam". Bobby doesn't recall the original purpose of that building.
Over the left horses back, you can see the "hip-roof" barn built in 1936 when Bobby Hamilton was six. |
I have added a short animation of a Hip Roof Barn, also known as classic Gambrel Design. Of course, the Bunger barn had no windows, as shown in the video, but the changing roof slope is right on the mark!
A long metal track ran the length of our 80-ft barn. As a youth, Dad used to lead the horses that pulled the rope and tackle raising hay from piles off-loaded at the other end of the barn, up and into the barn loft. |
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The big black Tobacco Barn in the long hay field is visible in the background of these photos taken from the old Bunger House front yard. On the the left, it is barely visible behind Mary June Hamilton's head as she sits in a wading pool. On the right, it is clearly visible under the reins as Sam J. Bunger stands beside the horse one of his brothers, either Arthur or Randall, sits upon.
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The Smokehouse
The Bunger House - The final years
Pictured below in 1980, the Bunger House with its smoke house to the right is visible, along with the roof and front side of the large saddleback hay barn to the far left, visible through the trees on the far left. Dad helped me collect lumber from one side of the barn before it was demolished, burned, and buried a few years later when the farm was first leased.
In 2015, I snapped this picture of the Sam J. Bunger and Gertrude (Stith) house from the Woods Lot located on Hidden Spring Farm. Dad reminded me that, sadly, "Daddy Sam" died on the farm. Then, "Mama Gert" moved to a home in Irvington, Kentucky, just down the street from the United Methodist Church. The Irvington house no longer exists.
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Elizabeth stands at the SouthWest corner of the Bunger house. The same corner shown today reveals that "parlor side" of the house began as a 2-story yellow pine cabin frame. As the house continues to decay, we may reclaim these timbers.
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4 generations in The Bunger House "parlor"
Seated L to R - "Papa Ham" Thomas Columbus and wife "Mama Ham" Lena Frances (Ritchie) Hamilton [parents of "Daddy Robert"], Alice (Bandy) Stith [mother of "Mama Gert"] holding Patricia Miller Gail (Hamilton) Miller [2nd daughter of Robert F. Hamilton Jr.], "Daddy Sam" Sam and wife "Mama Gert" Gertrude (Stith) Bunger holding Mary Hamilton[1st daughter of Robert F. Hamilton Jr.] Standing L to R - "Daddy Joe" Joseph Hager and wife "Mama Lillian" Lillian (Medley), and "Mama 'Lizbeth" Elizabeth (Bunger) and husband "Daddy Robert" Robert Hamilton Sn. Photo taken in parlor of the Sam and Gertrude Bunger house, located on Hidden Spring Farm near Big Spring, KY. Property owned by Bobby Hamilton. |
Epitaph - Update from 2022
I was raised not 400 yards from The Old Bunger House and took part in demolishing the home in 2021. My brother, David, and I were able to salvage some good wood for future farm projects! I was able to add to my collection of building material. I will add them to a new farm home to be designed and completed by 2026.
After our father passed in on March 9, 2019, the four or six siblings who retained the farm began salvaging materials from the antiquated buildings around the farm. That included removing recyclable materials from the Bunger house and our parents’ 1951 Bedford stone house. As for the circa 1910 Sam J. Bunger home, my father had me remove the cast door fixtures in the 1980’s, and around 1996, I had collected and had framed some wallpaper fragments from Sam & Gertrude’s 2nd floor bedroom and the wall leading upstairs from the walkthrough foyer. By 2021, outer walls had shifted, due to trees growing wider right against two sides of the home, to the point that one could see exposed logs from the original pre-1900’s cabin over which Sam built. By 2022, deterioration reached the point where it was unsafe to enter parts of the two-story home. That home had to be demolished. Myself and my brother David got to work dismantling the home, carefully preserving the tongue and groove flooring, as well as most of the hand-hewn logs that formed the one-room cabin. The fact that the home contained an old one-room cabin was a huge surprise to many in our family. We still have no idea when, nor by whom, that cabin was built! Regardless, it framed what we had called the Bunger family room for a century! Along with raising the home, I tore down the Old Smokehouse, preserving its’ logs. When my wife and I design our new home, which will sit atop the highest hill on Hidden Spring Farm overlooking the Big Spring Valley of southern Meade County, we shall include Bunger door handles, tongue and groove flooring, and hand-hewn logs. From my parents 1951 Bedford stone house, the stone, flooring, and square nails, will combine with the Bunger materials. Even the weathered wood from the Bunger’s hip roof barn, dismantled in the mid-1990’s, and lumber from our father’s old Corn crib will find their place in our home. And so, traditions live on! As the old timers said, "Use it up, wear it out. Make it do, or do without" - Meade County farm motto |