The Jefferson Davis Monument State Historic
Site is a Kentucky state park commemorating the birthplace
of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America,
in Fairview, Kentucky. The site's focal point is a 351-foot concrete
obelisk. The Jefferson Davis State Historic Site is one of eleven
historic sites in Kentucky which include small parks and are maintained
by the Kentucky Department of Parks. The park covers 19 acres and
includes open and covered picnic areas and a playground.
At the visitors' center museum, visitors can watch
a video describing Davis' life and the construction of the monument.
Guided elevator tours of the monument are available daily.
The center sells books and memorabilia about Davis,
the American Civil War, and the surrounding area, as well as Kentucky
handcrafts. The park is open from May 1 until October 31. However,
the two RV Gypsies arrived just as the park and center were both closing.
They did not even know it was there, but saw it as they were driving
by. Unfortunately, that meant they could not go up to the top of the
tower, nor buy anything from the Information Center, or browse the
museum.
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Simon Bolivar Buckner, Sr., a Confederate general, first proposed the idea of a monument for Davis during a reunion of the Orphan Brigade of the Confederate Army in 1907. Construction began in 1917 but stopped in 1918 at a height of 175 feet due to building material rationing during World War I. Construction resumed in January 1922 and was finished in 1924 at a cost of $200,000. The monument's base was set on limestone bedrock and limestone was quarried on the site for use in its construction. The concrete walls are 8.5 feet thick at the base and taper to 2.5 feet thick at the top. The monument was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The obelisk was closed to the public from 1999 until May 2004 for renovations and construction of a new visitor center. At the top of the monument is an observation room with a window in each of the four walls. Originally, this room could only be reached by climbing stairs which went around the interior of the monument; an elevator, installed in 1929, now takes visitors to and from the observation room.
