Fox House, sometimes called Jack Richardson House, is the namesake of its first owner, William Fox, who immigrated to Southern Kentucky from Hanover County, Virginia, in the late 18^th Century, along with his wife, Sophia.   At the time, Fox was one of the leading pioneers and largest landowners in early Pulaski County.

       Initially, though, William Fox, who was to become a much respected founding father of the county, lived in a one-room log house log house in the rear of the present First National Bank building, and it was here the first court was held in Somerset on Oct 27, 1801. By this time, Fox had become the county’s first County and Circuit Court Clerk, a post he held from his appointment on June 25, 1799, until he resigned the office 47 years later. After Somerset was chosen as the county seat, Fox kept a tavern for several years there, the first tavern in Somerset. After his clerk resignation in 1846, his son became county clerk for a time, leaving a lasting legacy on Pulaski County.

       The elder Fox’s will, which may be found in the Pulaski Court House, is an intriguing, yet somewhat typical document of its day, dividing his enormous property, slaves, and livestock among his children: Fontaine Fox, William McKee Fox, Amanda Goggin, Jane Pickering Caldwell, Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, and Sophia Ann Kindrick.

       Upon his death, William Fox was buried in the City Cemetery, which was once a part of his substantial estate. The Fox family reserved a part of the grounds for family burial, though some believe that graves in a section of the lot make up a slave cemetery. The plots in question are marked with pieces of stone, but have no other identification. A white stone shaft marks the spot where William Fox rests, and has the following epitaph , barely legible to the modern eye:

His wife, Sophia, was buried by his side.

       Being generally a part of a local landed gentry, Fox amassed much land and real estate during his life. Aside from the small brick home he initially inhabited, Fox built at least two other homes, both of brick, and at his death owned twenty-one town lots. Fox House is one of those residences.

       Built in 1818, Fox House is as much a local home as any. Its contractors built the home of locally made brick on a foundation of hand-cut limestone with elaborate masonry cellars. The main timbers of the large building are hand-hewn, and, although over 150 years old, the building that is now a part of St. Patrick’s parish is still very structurally sound.

       After Fox's death in 1855, the house was sold several times. Eventually, it was acquired by Robert Gibson, a founder of the First National Bank, and after Gibson’s death, it was left to Gibson's daughter, Mrs. Lucy Richardson, the mother of the late Dr. R.G. Richardson, and Mrs. Amelia Dexheimer. Between the years of 1944 and 1963, the property changed hands many times, with some of the spacious yard becoming the D.E. Ledfords subdivision. The Diocese of Lexington purchased the house on September 24, 1963.

       But that’s not all of Fox House’s colourful past.

       By the time of the War Between the States, Fox House was prepared to, once more, take its place in history.

       Within a year of the war‘s outbreak, Fox House was held as the Union Headquarters of Brigadier General Albin Schoepf, whose job it had been to keep Confederate General Felix Zollicoffer from pushing past Southeastern Kentucky into the central part of the commonwealth. At that, he found moderate success.  Later, Union superiors ordered other regiments to meet up with Schoepf near Somerset. The Union army moved slowly across the Kentucky terrain. The infantry averaged only 5 miles per day, and even at that pace, the artillery and supply wagons could not keep up. Since they were lagging so far behind, Union General George H. Thomas of Virginia ordered Schoepf to meet up with the sluggish army in an attempt to disperse the Confederate forces.

       Confederate General George Bibb Crittenden of Kentucky knew the native landscape enough to know that swollen rivers and streams would prevent Schoepf from moving with haste. At a war council, Crittenden proposed that they attack the Union army before they were reinforced by Schoepf. Zollicoffer objected, but the Confederacy, nonetheless, began their advance soon after midnight. The weather was wet and rainy, and the Confederates, too, moved at a slow pace. Both armies were weary when the crack of gunfire rang through the Southern countryside on the morning of Sunday, January 19th at Mill Springs, just west of the city.

       Initially, the Union forces withstood the attack. The usual confusion of battle was perpetuated by a slow, mournful rain, bellows of smoke, and a thick fog that covered the terrain. The forestlands and undergrowth had rendered parts of both armies useless. During the uncertainty, General Zollicoffer rode into Union lines. Because of the mass chaos, he thought he was among Confederates. His raincoat concealed his Confederate gray. “We are firing on our own men,” he said to Colonel Speed Fry. Fry was giving the order of cease fire when a Confederate Staff Sergeant galloped up beside him, saying, “It’s the enemy, general.” Zollicoffer was immediately shot out of his saddle.

       Disheartened by the news of the general’s demise, some Confederates began to drift away from the battle. Some three hours after the first shots, the Confederate left was broken. Crittenden, realizing that the north side of the river was unsustainable, decided to evacuate their ill-chosen position. During a hectic night, the steamship the Noble Ellis assisted the Confederates in crossing the swollen river at Ferry’s Landing. Crittenden, blamed for the debaucle, moved toward Tenneseee, but Zollicoffer was being hailed a hero.

       With the dead and maimed from both armies pouring in, Fox House became a military hospital. It was also the building that the body of Zollicofer was carried, and where Zollicoffer remained to lie in state for three days until his body was transported to his native Tennessee for burial.

       In the modern day, St. Patrick parishioner Bob Thomale is working with the Underground Railroad Research Institute at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky, in documenting that the building may also have been an Underground Railroad Station, helping fugitive slaves escape northward to free states, sometimes as far north as Canada. Upon completion of this documentation, Fox House will be on the register of the National Park Service, and will encourage visitors to this area for the purpose of viewing the historic property.

       So, during its nearly two-century old history, Fox House saw the early days of the United States, the birth of Kentucky as independent from Virginia, and the founding of Somerset and Pulaski County. It may have served as a beacon of freedom for slaves, and survived a war that divided a nation, being used as a headquarters, a hospital, and housed the remains of a Confederate hero. Through it all, the antebellum structure is one of the oldest houses still in use today.

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