Hidden Spring Farm is the result of several smaller farms 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 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 - Then and Now
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. |