Historian:  Speaking of local ties to the Corps, aren’t Lewis and Clark mentioned on a historic marker near Gratz Park?

JLM:  Historian:  The home of Dr. Samuel Brown is marked at the southeast corner of Market and Second and is an  important tie.  He was the first professor of chemistry, anatomy and surgery at the Transylvania University medical school.  Before coming to teach at Transy, Brown had taught Meriwether Lewis in Philadelphia.  Later Thomas Jefferson recruited Brown to advise the expedition on Indian lore since the entire success of the venture depended on the explorers’ ability to get along with the many Indian tribes they would encounter on their long trip across the continent where white men hadn’t been.  The fact that they managed to avoid fighting the Indians is a major factor in their success.

Dr. Brown’s later accomplishments included analyses that led to the use of Kentucky cave nitre in the manufacture of gunpowder as well as the idea of applying steam distillation to the manufacturing of whiskey.

Historian:  As someone whose interest has lead to years of  study of Lewis and Clark is there more to learn about Bluegrass connections?

JLM:  I hope so; and by the way I applaud the Museum for establishing a committee to foster study of local ties during the Bicentennial.  I know we will find other ties that ought to be investigated.  As an example, the excellent “An Evening With Our History” event, “York” that the Museum hosted brought out the fact that after Clark’s manservant was eventually freed, he was given a team and six horses with which he established a cartage route from Richmond, Kentucky to Nashville.  Knowing more about the challenges a free black man would have faced is worthy of research that can start right here in Madison County.

Historian:  Then we can count on you as a key participant in our Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Committee?

JLM:  Absolutely (but don’t tell my wife I’ve taken on another Lewis and Clark activity)!  I hope we’ll find a lot of your members who want to spend a bit of time during the coming years becoming more familiar with the Corps of Discovery.

Historian:  Thank you, Jim, we hope Historian readerswill write, call or e-mail us about their interest.