State of Kentucky - National Parks Gallery

Name: Kentucky
Level: 230-ft.
Dates: 1851/1850s/1885
Original material: limestone
Dimensions: 3' 4" x 7'
Sculptor/Carver: M. Pruden, 1851 [stone]
Original inscription: Under the auspices of heaven, & the precepts of Washington, Kentucky will be the last to give up the Union. 1851 [abbr.]
Documented material history:
• 1852: “The beautiful block prepared at the instance of the State of Kentucky for the National Monument has arrived at Washington. The National Intelligencer says ‘it is a handsome specimen of drab colored limestone, 7 feet long by 3 feet 4 inches in height.
The carving and lettering are executed in a masterly manner . . .’” [AG, September 13,1852.]
• 1854: “A letter from G. Gleen Clift to Cornelius Heine, October 30, 1964 [sic]:
Apparently the stone was prepared in Lexington, Kentucky, by a stone cutter from that city. . . . (Lincoln Museum, Mrs. Josephine Allen.).” [MR]
• 1850s: “Kentucky is represented by a large block of native lime-stone. Its color is grayish white.