Logan’s Station

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Historical Marker #56 in Stanford notes the significance of Logan's Station, an early Kentucky frontier fort.

Logan's Station (also known as St. Asaph) was established in 1775 by its namesake, Benjamin Logan, and John Floyd, after the men had explored and surveyed the area the year before. The location was selected largely due to its proximity to Buffalo Spring, which provided a water source for the settlement.

The Kentucky section of Boone Trace—a trail cut into Kentucky by Daniel Boone—originally ran north from Cumberland Gap to Boonesborough. However, a divergent section, called Skagg's Trace, was made that ran from Hazel Patch (in future Laurel County) northwest to Crab Orchard in Lincoln County. Later, this road was extended to Harrodsburg and then eventually to Louisville on the Ohio River. Logan's Station was established on the Skagg's Trace branch of what eventually became the Wilderness Road near present-day Stanford.

Logan's Station provided a refuge for families making their way west to lands in Kentucky County, Virginia. The fortification was described as being a stockade, measuring 150 by 90 feet, with family cabins spaced along the walls. Due to potential attacks by Native Americans, Logan's Station was a popular location for both permanent and transient frontier families.

In May 1777, Logan's Station was the scene of a thirteen-day siege by Native Americans. During the stalemate, one of the fort's occupants, Burr Harrison, was wounded outside the stockade. Benjamin Logan risked his life by rescuing the wounded man while protecting himself from deadly arrows with a feather mattress.

As Native American threats lessened throughout the 1790s, Logan's Station, like other frontier forts, lost their importance. Settlers once seeking protection within stockade walls and strength in numbers established independent family farms on their own lands.