Louisville Restaurant Guide

Revolutionary War hero George Hikes received land grants in Kentucky and settled near Louisville; his substantial acreage was later divided among his sons, and several of their houses still exist. One structure, believed to have been built about 1851 on the site of an earlier house, was a single log cabin of two rooms downstairs and two up, with a dog-trot hall between.

The rough character of interior materials, recently exposed, leads to speculation that the house may have been built earlier for use as an out-building, and converted to a dwelling when the main house burned - walls of the house were constructed from hewn logs 14 to 18 inches wide. Outer walls were covered with clapboard and inner ones plastered, and although some additions were made, the house was relatively unchanged when it passed out of the hands of Hikes family in 1947. A nearby cemetery contains graves of several members of this prominent Louisville family, and the house is a Kentucky landmark.

It became a restaurant in the 1950's, and by that time, the city had grown up around it; the building had been expanded by further additions. Renovation has exposed the logs on some interior walls, and the four original rooms are not the core of a rambling restaurant.

A patio, added in 1984, was so successful that it has been enclosed for year-round use, providing an alternative ambiance and a setting for live entertainment.