By members of The Garden Club of Frankfort
The Garden Club of Frankfort’s annual Home and Garden Tour will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 14. The event raises money for projects that help beautify the Frankfort/Franklin County community. In the past, proceeds also have been donated to tornado and flood recovery.
Tickets to visit the featured sites are $20 per person and can be purchased at each home and most gardens, or, in advance, at the Frankfort Tourism Office, 308 St. Clair St.
As part of the event, a plant sale will be held at the Lilian Lindsey Garden located at the Woman’s Club on the corner of Washington and Wapping streets, directly across from the Vest-Lindsey House on Wapping Street.
The tickets are booklets which will guide participants on the tour which include homes and gardens listed below.
Bill and Paula Woolums, 210 Walmac St.
This home located on the golf course of Hole #1 in Two Creeks underwent a major renovation by Terri Bennett when they purchased the residence in 2012. The Woolums took the renovation one step further by adding extensive landscaping. Numerous windows and doors along the back of the home allow the focus to be on the extensive landscape, which includes a rain garden designed and installed by Inside Out Landscape Design.
Ann Hester and Mike Mullins, 209 Walmac St.
Originally built in 1979, this home has been updated and features a midcentury modern style flair with clean lines that blend indoor and outdoor spaces. A large screened-in porch off the family room/kitchen overlooks the backyard and landscaping, providing the owners with a private oasis that overlooks the 18th fairway at Two Creeks.
Tina and Tim Christopher, 40 Spendthrift St.
40 Spendthrift St. was built originally in 1976. A major renovation took place in 2000. Over the years since, two additional owners, including the Christophers, have continued to update and improve the property. Many of the amenities in the house are unique, however the floor plan and attention to the flow of inside to outside living spaces, make it a very practical and livable space.
Garrard-Crittenden House, 302 Wilkinson St.
Dr. John Pappas and his wife, Janie Pappas, who enjoy purchasing and renovating historic homes, decided the Garrard-Crittenden house would be a nice addition to the historic properties they rent out as short-term rentals. Mrs. Pappas’ mother lived in the house at one time, so the house was a familiar one with fond memories. This historic house was the former home of relatives of two Kentucky Governors, James Garrard and John J. Crittenden. The home is also known as the Hoge House, named after the home’s last private owners, the Hoge family, who lived there for 70 years.
Richard and Anna Marie Rosen Garden, 417 Wapping St.
Richard and Anna Marie bought Garden Hall in 2010 because of the beautiful house and gardens in downtown Frankfort. The flower beds have all been redone with perennials. It is an American Daylily Society Display Garden with about 600 different cultivars. There are also about 200 different irises, plus lilies, spring bulbs, hostas and more. We appreciate the Rosens’ hospitality after their home and gardens were flooded in April 2025.
David Abney Garden, 235 Westover Road
The house at 235 Westover Road is a charming single-family home nestled in the heart of Frankfort. Originally built in 1955, this spacious residence was home to Dr. James T. Ramsey and his wife, where they raised their eight children. Purchased by David Abney in 2016, the home has undergone three major renovations. David now resides here with his daughters, Ella and Helen Hall Abney.
The Pollinator Garden at Thorn Hill Education Center, 700 Leslie Avenue
From strong partnerships, great gardens grow, and the Pollinator Garden located behind the Thorn Hill Education Center is quickly growing into a great garden. Thanks to The Garden Club of Frankfort, the Frankfort Community Gardens, the Wanda Joyce Robinson Foundation and Franklin County Extension 4H and Horticulture, an established garden that was falling into disarray has been revived.
Garden Club of Frankfort’s Bird Sanctuary
While you are enjoying the Living in History Home and Garden tour, we invite you to visit The Garden Club of Frankfort’s bird sanctuary, nestled quietly on the Capitol grounds to the right of the Capitol as you come up Capital Avenue. The Garden Club has maintained a bird sanctuary here since the early 1900s and is thrilled to not only enhance the habitat for our native birds, but to be able to provide visitors to the Capitol an opportunity to observe birds in a natural setting and perhaps gain appreciation for them.
Liberty Hall Garden, 202-218 Wilkinson St.
Liberty Hall, home of the John Brown family, dates to 1801. At that time, he brought his wife, Margaretta Mason Brown, and the couple’s first child, Mason, from Philadelphia to live in the house. The Browns began the planting of the four acres that surrounded their new house. Eventually, that garden included grapes, apples, peas, cherries, summer and winter vegetables. It was the kind of kitchen garden known to wealthy Kentucky landowners at the time.
McClure Building, 308 St. Clair St. (Frankfort Tourism & Convention Commission)
Erected in 1906, the McClure Building was Frankfort’s first skyscraper. People’s State Bank was an early tenant of the ground floor of the McClure Building. In the 1920s, the Hughes Drug Store was in the corner of the building — 308 St. Clair St. For much of its history, two clothing stores — Lerman Brothers and J.C. Penney — occupied the ground floor of the McClure Building. Today, the Frankfort Franklin County Tourism Commission, also known as Visit Frankfort, is in the first-floor space.
