It may surprise those who call Derby City home, but one of the oldest, consistently operated farms in this region rests at the corner of two major highways, with considerable urban development all around its borders.

The Oxmoor Farm dates back to the late 1700s and has a storied history that has shaped the very founding of this state and had immense influence on one of its signature industries.

“Originally, the farm was a military land grant to a man named John Ware,” Oxmoor Farm Foundation Curator Shirley Harmon said. “He was granted this land in 1780 for his service during the French and Indian War as well as the Revolutionary War. Mr. Ware never came here and ended up splitting the 2,000-acre track into two 1,000-acre tracks and sold them off.”

Harmon added that the further west track was sold to Richard Terrell, who lived in the area but did not settle this property. He quickly sells it to a man named Benjamin Sebastian who does the same thing.

The name Oxmoor, while synonymous with the immediate area known by residents today, was not a family name, according to Harmon.

“Terrell or Sebastian likely named the farm and we know it comes from a very popular book at that time called ‘The Life in Times of Tristram Shandy’ by Lauren Stern,” she said. “It was listed as the Oxmoor land in the deed of 1787.”

In January of that year, Sebastian sold the farm to Alexander Scott Bullitt who began to farm this land that is still in production today.

“Bullitt would farm the land, build his home, and five generations of his descendants would live here so, for all intents and purposes, this has been the Bullitt family farm since the 1780s, even though it was owned by other people prior to that,” Harmon said.

One must consider the hardships faced by early settlers in the Kentucky wilderness to gain a full appreciation of how the farm began, how it has been sustainable for the many generations who lived and worked there, and the historical value it brings to the commonwealth.  

Harmon said the first task in getting the land suitable for farming was to clear the timber that covered its landscape something Alexander Scott Bullitt did with an enslaved man from Virginia named Bill.

Coming from Virginia, Bullitt thought tobacco would be the main crop on the farm but found that the soil in this particular area wasn’t suited for the crop.

“By 1793, we know Alexander Scott Bullitt had sown two acres of hemp, which yielded him 1,200 pounds of flax, and in the next few years more and more acreage was given over to hemp until the early 1800s,” Harmon said. “And hemp became the main crop here at Oxmoor.”

There has been an extensive amount of information about the farm compiled for generations by family members and others, all of which provide a rich, detailed history of the farm.

“Fortunately, because the family stayed in one place, all the documents stayed together, so we have a good continuum of history here documenting life at Oxmoor from the 1780s all the way to the early 2000s,” Harmon said. “I have been involved with Oxmoor since 1999 when I was hired to catalog the Bullitt family papers that are held at the Filson Historical Society.  It was quite an undertaking to process and catalog 185 cubic feet of materials that included letters, diaries, deeds, receipts, etc. that documented life at Oxmoor.” 

But, as the farm’s history will denote, one constant has remained throughout the years: it’s always been a working farm.

“People are still surprised to find out that Oxmoor Farm is here,” she said. “That really surprises everybody and when they come back and see the house, saying, ‘Wow, I never knew this was back here.’ And we tell them it is still actually farmed. This is the oldest continually working farm in Jefferson County and there has been farming on this land since the 1780s.”

But there is so much more to Oxmoor than just the agricultural heritage. There are many connections to historical figures including Patrick Henry.

In 1785, a man named William Christian built a two-story log cabin near what are now the main dwellings of Oxmoor Farm. For his military service, he had been given 9,000 acres of land all across Kentucky, of which 2,000 was located in the Jefferson County area.

“It becomes clear that most of Kentucky is being settled by former Virginia soldiers during these early years,” Harmon said. “Christian came to oversee the land and brought with him his wife Annie, and their five children. Their oldest daughter Priscilla met Alexander Scott Bullitt at where that cabin is today. And they married within a few months.”

Annie is the younger sister of Patrick Henry, who was the first sitting governor of Virginia after the Revolutionary War.  During this time, Kentucky is still a part of Virginia. 

“William Christian, Henry’s brother-in-law, arrives here in Kentucky in August of 1785 with a lot of influence behind him and it is accepted amongst everyone in Kentucky that he will be the first governor of Kentucky,” Harmon said.

That, however, was not the case after Christian was killed by Native Americans. Christian's son-in-law, Bullitt then steps into a leading role. And when they start talking about separating from Virginia, he is among the 12 senators for the State of Kentucky. He became the Speaker of the State Senate and then he was asked to draft the first constitution alongside George Nicholas, and then Bullitt became Kentucky’s first Lt. Governor when that office was created in 1800.

It was during this period when the groundwork for statehood was conceived and written at Oxmoor. Harmon emphasizes that the farm’s roots reach out in so many directions having a great impact on this state as well as other nationally known endeavors, including the bourbon industry.

William Marshall Bullitt, the great grandson of Alexander Scott Bullitt helped the soon-to-be President William Howard Taft draft what would become the Taft Decision which established requirements for branding whiskey products.

“William Marshall Bullitt was a lawyer and the only one to successfully argue against prohibition in front of the Supreme Court," Harmon said. “In 1919, he walked in and said, ‘I'm here to represent 10 million gallons of fine Kentucky bourbon.’ He loses, prohibition goes into effect, but before it does, he bottled some of that premium bourbon.”

It would be discovered that Oxmoor Farm had its own bourbon and is now bringing that brand back to life.

As time moved on and more of the area was developed, it was still important to the Bullitt family to preserve the farm. Thomas Walker Bullitt, the son of William Marshall Bullitt and great-great-grandson of Alexander Scott Bullitt granted 79 acres of the land, which included the house and all the outbuildings to the Kentucky Heritage Council to be maintained as a preservation easement ensuring the perpetuity of Oxmoor.

Over the years, some of the farm has been developed, but very little of it has been sold. The part of the farm where several businesses reside including the Oxmoor Mall, operates on a land lease. 

Jim Couch, President of Beargrass Realty, which manages Oxmoor Farm said a trust maintains the historic areas and oversees the running of it.,

“I don't think there's ever been any stipulation that some of the land had to be farmed, that's just how it's always been done,” he said. “But Tommy Bullitt, when he was alive, never wanted to sell any acreage. He was always willing to lease it out for long-term leases. That's one of the reasons Oxmoor Shopping Center was developed, as well as other businesses have been developed on leased grounds. But very, very few grounds have been sold off.”

Couch noted that local farmer Joe Bischoff currently raises crops on the farm and has a succession plan in place working with a young farmer to continue the tradition set forth so many generations ago. Bischoff has raised crops there since 2007. Those crops, between 2007 and 2024, have included corn, soybeans, and wheat.

Tours are now offered of a portion of the farm that include the historic house,13 outbuildings comprised of a smokehouse, summer kitchen, icehouse, spring house, hemp barn, and four former slave dwellings.

Harmon said she feels as though she has come to know the people who have called Oxmoor home as she has researched the many historical documents that have been preserved over the years.

“What is so unique about Oxmoor as a historic site is the intact documented history that tells the story of all who lived there,” she said.  Today the site interprets the story of a Kentucky farm that has transformed along with the state from its colonial beginning to present day.”

Harmon added that while the past does come to life at Oxmoor, it is a past that speaks not only to the present but also looks forward to the future and what role it will play in the Louisville community.

To learn more about the Oxmoor Farm, visit the website: https://oxmoorfarm.org/