USGenWeb Archives Project Breckinridge County, Kentucky

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          One of the old landmarks of the period before the Civil War still stands in Hardinsburg.  It is the home where Mr. Paul Pace now lives.  Lilac Hill is the name of this old house.  It was originally known as Ivy Hill; but because of the cemetery having the same name Mrs. Pace changed it to Lilac Hill.

          This house was built by Peter Daniel, who came to Hardinsburg in 1801, when our county was only two years old.  Mr. Daniel operated a mercantile business on the corner where the Methodist Church now stands.  In 1839 he built this beautiful brick home where his log house had previously stood.  The house was made from brick that were burned there on the ground.  It is a two story building and the walls are fourteen inches thick; and after having stood one hundred thirty-seven years it would take a real Jimmy-Cane to blow it down.  There are three stairways and five fireplaces.  There are eight large rooms in the home and the floors are made of ash boards that are ten inches wide and one and one quarter inches thick.

          These ash planks are as solid and free from wear as when they were first laid.  Time has only tended to render them harder and almost indestructible.

          Mrs. Pace has the house furnished with antique furniture; and, with the pictures and dishes on display, one can get a first hand look at the pre-Civil War period.

          The home is virtually as it was when Vivian Daniels built it with one exception.  Mrs. Pace acquired a beautiful antique corner cupboard and had no more corners where she could place it.  Something had to give; so another corner was made in the dining room.

          Prior to the Civil War, Mr. Daniels was classed as the wealthiest man in the county.  He owned several farms and twenty-six slaves.  His oldest son, Peter, was a graduate of Yale University, and a lawyer.  When the Civil War broke out, he helped recruit a company of men from Kentucky and joined the Confederate Army.

          On September 24, 1863 he was killed at Chickamaugua.  He is buried in the old cemetery here in Hardinsburg.  The last heir of the Daniels’ family was Miss Tula, a Methodist missionary.

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