History

Formerly Glenn Springs Distillery

This stone structure is located on Glenn’s Creek just downstream from the McCracken Mill and 4 miles from Versailles, Kentucky.  Named Glenn’s Creek Distillery, it was the first distillery in America to employ Dr. James C. Crow.  Dr. Crow studied medicine and chemistry at Edinburgh University before immigrating to Kentucky in 1823, where he applied his genius directly to whiskey.  First at Glenn’s Creek distillery, and later at Old Oscar Pepper distillery, he took what had been a haphazard procedure and applied to it a scientific method.  His methods were adopted by other big distilleries, and by his death in 1856, it had become commonplace in bourbon distillation, as it still is to this day.  So great was Crow’s influence that the New York Times, nearly a half-century after his death, would write that “to him, more than any other man, is due the international reputation that Kentucky whiskey enjoys.”
At some point prior to 1903, the distillery was sold and shortly thereafter it was closed and dismantled.  There is no mention in the Kentucky tax records after 1900.

Referenced from:
“Bourbon:  A History of the American Spirit” by Dane Huckelbridge
“Bourbon in Kentucky:  A History of Distilleries in Kentucky” by Chet Zoeller

Renovation

Ron and Elise purchased the property in 2010.  With the help of several very skilled contractors and laborers over a hard work-filled three years, the current structure was completed. The Ruin Bed and Breakfast was opened in 2015.

Since the structure had been derelict for several years, the stone walls had to be repointed and the interior totally gutted. The interior was built re-purposing a lot of the old lumber in addition to wood and materials from other reclamation projects. Some of the material used includes old fence boards, old tobacco barn siding, beams from a railroad warehouse as well as the flooring from an old tobacco warehouse in Louisville. Hand-hewn logs and flooring from a 1780s cabin on Pisgah Pike make up one of the most stunning interior features.

Phil Gerrow of Midway Preservation was the main craftsman behind this project along with Wilmes Architects who designed the rooms and guest house.

Quiet and secluded, the property is located across the road from Ashford Stud, home to Triple Crown winner and Champion American Pharoah, three miles from Woodford Reserve and four miles from downtown Versailles, Kentucky. The famed Glenn’s Creek runs along the front of the eight acre property, which features a creekside walking trail, a tree-covered, abandoned railroad bed walking trail, and a wildflower meadow.