Leitchfield Landmarks

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Historical Marker #1741 notes some important landmarks in Leitchfield, the county seat of Grayson County.

Founded in 1810, Leitchfield was named for Major David Leitch of Campbell County. Leitch was an aide-de-camp to General Robert Lawson of Virginia during the American Revolution and eventually attained the rank of major. The first settlement in Campbell County, Kentucky, was Leitch’s Station on the Licking River, which was built in 1789. In 1784, Leitch was sent as a delegate to Kentucky’s first Constitutional Convention in Danville, Kentucky. Later, in 1790, he met and married Keturah Moss from Bryan’s Station. After less than four years of marriage, Leitch caught pneumonia and died, leaving all of his holdings to his wife. Since they had no children, his widow donated the land for Leitchfield on condition that it would be named for her late husband. Keturah later married General James Taylor. She died in 1866.

The site for Leitchfield was chosen in part because of the fresh water springs that were nearby. Although even fresh water springs contain some amounts of minerals such as salts and sulfur compounds, water labeled as “mineral water” has significantly higher amounts. Traditionally, springs like those found throughout Grayson County were used for medicinal and recreational activities, particularly throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Referred to as “taking the waters” or “taking the cure,” wealthy people sojourned to spas or baths to either consume the mineral water or to bathe in the springs.