Jonathan Appel standing on a ladder next to the Trabue Family Vault after the marble faceade was reinstalled. (Courtesy of the Kentucky Trust and Historic Preservation)
Jonathan Appel standing on a ladder next to the Trabue Family Vault after the marble faceade was reinstalled. (Courtesy of the Kentucky Trust and Historic Preservation)
(Courtesy of the Kentucky Trust and Historic Preservation)
An undated picture of the vault when the reflecting pond still held water. (Courtesy of the Kentucky Trust and Historic Preservation)
(Courtesy of the Kentucky Trust and Historic Preservation)
(Courtesy of the Kentucky Trust and Historic Preservation)
The Trabue Vault as it looked before the restoration started. (Courtesy of the Kentucky Trust and Historic Preservation)
(Courtesy of the Kentucky Trust and Historic Preservation)
From the sound of it, the Trabue Family Vault in the Frankfort Cemetery was the textbook definition of ornate when it was first built in the 1850s.
According to the Kentucky Trust for Historic Preservation website, the barrel vault structure built into the side of the hill, just a few feet from the grave of Daniel Boone, had a massive Italian marble facade, decorated with laurel wreaths, urns and extinguishable torches. Additionally, two marble angels stood on pedestals, flanking the tomb's entrance. The entire plot was surrounded by an iron fence, enclosing the tomb as well as the graves of the rest of the Trabue family, making it one of the biggest family plots in the cemetery.
The tomb itself houses the remains of Chastain and Elizabeth Trabue. Elizabeth and her sister Martha Trabue King were daughters of Revolutionary War veteran and early Kentucky settler, James Trabue.
After Elizabeth's death in 1849, Chastain hired R.E. Launitz, a New York-based sculptor who was regarded as the father of monumental art in the U.S., to design and install the art. All the marble was carved in New York, with the exception of the angels which were carved in Italy, and shipped by riverboat to the Kentucky capital.
In addition to the vault, Launitz designed and installed the cemetery's 65-foot tall marble monument known as the Kentucky War Memorial in 1848 for the tidy sum of $15,000.
The Trabue vault was supposed to be the first of many vaults in that section of the cemetery. They were going to form a circle around a reflecting pond, which would have been in keeping with the idyllic garden design intended by landscape architect Robert Carmichael.
However, no other vaults were ever built and as the decades became a century, the Trabue Vault fell into disrepair. The ornate torches disappeared, and the massive marble facade fell over and laid in ruin for decades until the Kentucky Trust began to take steps towards its repair.
"Sometime in the 1960s, we're told, this monument collapsed," said Eric Whisman, executive director for the Kentucky Trust. "We think that it probably had some help, because now that its reconstructed, it does not seem to have fallen naturally."
The nature of how it came to disrepair not withstanding, Whisman said that his organization has taken on the herculean project of trying to restore the vault as close to its original glory as possible.
To do so Whisman enlisted the help of Jonathan Appell and Marc Ormerod, two of the foremost experts in monument restoration in the country.
Appell, owner of Atlas Preservation, has undertaken notable preservation projects in the past, including Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in New York and helping to preserve and move a knight's tombstone found in Jamestown, Virginia.
Due to the part of the facade breaking after its fall, it remained on the ground, untouched and exposed to the elements for decades. Additionally, the decorative urns and torches seem to have been stolen over the last 150 years.
Appell admits that this vault is one of the more challenging projects he has encountered.
"This is a unique project," he noted. "A high degree of difficulty in many respects, on many levels. We had to dig it all out for starters. Then there was a huge amount of work just to figure out what was here. When it collapsed it took a huge amount of brick with it, which got mixed with clay and sat for something like 50 years. All the pieces were woven in and we were trying to save everything we could."
Through grit and determination, the assembled team has been able to secure the marble face to the front of the vault over the course of several weeks.
Whisman said that this phase of the project cost around $60,000 and credits donations from interested parties for the progress that has been made.
"Thanks to benefactors Janet and Eric Thompson — and Janet is a Trabue descendant — and their generous donation, and a $10,000 grant from the national chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, we were able to reconstruct this tomb to what it is now," Whisman said.
While getting the marble face off the ground was a huge milestone, the restoration is not yet complete. Whisman told The State Journal that they are hoping to piece what is left of the angel statues back together and repair the iron fence.
He also said that he is hoping that the public can assist by providing any pictures of the vault that they might have from the last 172 years, in order to be able to piece together a timeline of the vaults slow destruction.
Anyone with pictures is encouraged to contact Whisman by emailing, eric@kentuckytrust.org.
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Nice story! “While getting the marble face off the ground was a huge milestone…” Great writing, gotta love your use of the pundigrion! A+
Thanks to Eric Whisman for all thst he does for our community!
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State-Journal.com’s comments forum is for civil, constructive dialogue about news topics in our community, state, nation and world. We emphasize “civil” at a time when Americans, in the words of the current president, need to “turn down the temperature” of political debates. The State Journal will do its part by more carefully policing this forum. Here are some rules that all commenters must agree to follow:
Absolutely no attacks on other commenters, on guest columnists or on authors of letters to the editor. Our print and online opinion pages are sacred marketplaces of ideas where diverse viewpoints are welcome without fear of retribution. You may constructively critique the ideas and opinions of others, but name-calling, stereotyping and similar attacks are strictly prohibited.
Leeway will be given for criticism of elected officials and other public figures, but civility is essential. If you focus your criticism on ideas, opinions and viewpoints, you will be less likely to run afoul of our commenting rules.
Keep comments focused on the article or commentary in question. Don’t use an article about the Frankfort City Commission, for example, to rant about national politics.
Hyperpartisanship that suggests anyone on the other side of an issue or anyone in a particular particular party is evil is not welcome. If you believe that all Democrats are socialists intent on destroying America or that all Republicans are racists, there are lots of places on the internet for you to espouse those views. State-Journal.com is not one.
No sophomoric banter. This isn’t a third-grade classroom but rather a place for serious consumers of news to offer their reactions and opinions on news stories and published commentary.
No consumer complaints about individual businesses. If you’ve had a bad experience with a private business or organization, contact the Better Business Bureau or the government agency that regulates that business. If you believe the actions of a private business are newsworthy, contact us at news@state-journal.com and we will consider whether news coverage is merited.
Absolutely no jokes or comments about a person’s physical appearance.
No promotion of commercial goods or services. Our outstanding staff of marketing consultants stands ready to help businesses with effective advertising solutions.
If you state facts that have not been previously reported by The State Journal, be sure to include the source of your information.
No attacks on State Journal staff members or contributing writers. We welcome questions about, and criticism of, our news stories and commentary but not of the writers who work tirelessly to keep their community informed. Corrections of inaccurate information in news stories should be sent to news@state-journal.com rather than posted in the comments section.