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Clint "Butch" Bramel tells his own stories as family home tour guide
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| Photos by Laura Rains The Mason County home of Clint "Butch" and Mary Jo Bramel is designated a Kentucky landmark and will be open for tours by appointment beginning this weekend. The home on Hickory Hill Plantation on Millcreek Pike was built in 1861 and five generations of Bramels have lived there. |
By LAURA RAINS Staff Writer
Hickory Hill Plantation on Millcreek Pike is filled with history and enough stories to make it an interesting destination.
Beginning Saturday, the stately Mason County home and grounds will be open for tours by appointment. And who better to guide you than the owner himself, Clint "Butch" Bramel.
In 1999, Butch and his wife, Mary Jo, opened a nursery on their farm.
As a tobacco grower and also as part of his business as a tobacco buyer, Butch knew tobacco was not going to be a means of support for his family much longer.
"I told him I wanted to grow some chrysanthemums," said Mary Jo. "Butch didn't even know what a chrysanthemum was."
Mary Jo's little "mum" business has grown considerably since that conversation. Together, and with nine employees, they have a large greenhouse open year-round, and a landscaping business.
To tap into the area tourism business, and with the support of the Maysville-Mason County Tourism Commission and the River Valley Agritourism Alliance, the Bramels are opening their home and the grounds around their home in addition to their nursery business.
"He's a history nut," said Mary Jo. "Especially when it comes to his own family and our home."
All group tours should be scheduled through the Maysville-Mason County Tourism Commission.
For the time being, Butch is the sole tour guide.
"They're his stories," said Mary Jo. "His parents and grandparents told him all their stories and the stories passed down to them."
Butch must have been a good listener, and his family members were very good at hoarding.
Not only does Butch remember everything he has been told about life at Hickory Hill since the early 1800s, he also has all the tools, photographs and loads of physical material to support his stories.
"In 1812, Samuel Bramall migrated from St. Mary's County, Md. to Mason County," said Butch. "He settled at Mount Gilead where he built his first home on 1,800 acres, which was only about five miles from here."
In searching through records, Butch also discovered that the spelling of the family name changed from Bramall to Bramel, as it is today.
According to Butch, in the mid-1800s, Catherine Jane Preston Bullock came from Virginia to Mason County and purchased 170 acres from the estate of John Marshall which became Hickory Hill Plantation. They built the Greek revival home in 1861 using lumber from the woods surrounding the site.
"Catherine was married to David E. Bullock but the deed was in her name," he said.
In 1913, Samuel's great-grandson, Clinton Leach Bramel and his wife, Mary Jo Best Bramel, bought Hickory Hill Plantation from the Bullock family, the first of five generations of Bramels to own it.
"Ironically, the first Bramels to actually live here were Clinton and Mary Jo," said Butch. "Now Clinton and Mary Jo live here once again."
Many of the stories came from his late grandmother, Martha Louise Ray Bramel Kirk who died in 2004 at the age of 94. She lived in the house for 55 years.
Even though his parents lived at the end of the road, as a child he would often stay in the house with his grandparents. He has vivid childhood memories of life in the house.
A carriage house with a 13-foot by 18-foot dry stone cellar and a dairy and smokehouse are outbuildings that will also be open to tours.
When the Bramels decided to open their home and grounds, Butch had to do a lot of cleaning in the outbuildings.
"My ancestors kept everything," he said. "I knew a lot of things from generations of Bramels were still here, everything they needed to live on and run a farm."
In the carriage house with the ice cellar underneath, he uncovered the family whiskey still, whiskey jugs, an apple cider press, a wheat cradle, a buggy and many tools that even predate the house, just to name a few.
The large ice house underneath still has the tongs hanging from a rope that were used to haul the ice out of the underground cellar.
When tours enter the smokehouse, they will see hams hanging, just like they did in the 1800s. He plans to show visitors how to prepare a ham for curing on the original log table used by his ancestors as part of his tour.
Inside the home, visitors will see furniture passed down through generations along with a 1790 grandfather's clock, dolls, sugar buckets, musical instruments and mail dated 1861 addressed to Hickory Hill Plantation.
They will also see many photographs and hear Butch's stories -- like the one about the ghost that sometimes makes herself known.
The first floor only of the home will be part of the tour, and the Bramels would like everyone to know that the home and the buildings are not handicapped accessible.
Butch and Mary Jo are still uncertain as to what to expect when the tours begin. Today they will have a "trial run" as a group of 25 will visit the plantation.
He hopes that soon it will be necessary for him to train an additional guide or two.
There are also plans in the works for a small gift shop that will include a reproduction doll like the one that belonged to his great-grandfather as a young child, and carriage rides.
But that's in the future.
For now guided tours will be available on Saturday and Sunday for individuals, and by appointment only. For more information call the Bramels at 606-742-2596.
Contact Laura Rains at Laura.Rains@lee.net or by phone at 606-564-9091, ext. 275
Beginning Saturday, the stately Mason County home and grounds will be open for tours by appointment. And who better to guide you than the owner himself, Clint "Butch" Bramel.
In 1999, Butch and his wife, Mary Jo, opened a nursery on their farm.
As a tobacco grower and also as part of his business as a tobacco buyer, Butch knew tobacco was not going to be a means of support for his family much longer.
"I told him I wanted to grow some chrysanthemums," said Mary Jo. "Butch didn't even know what a chrysanthemum was."
Mary Jo's little "mum" business has grown considerably since that conversation. Together, and with nine employees, they have a large greenhouse open year-round, and a landscaping business.
To tap into the area tourism business, and with the support of the Maysville-Mason County Tourism Commission and the River Valley Agritourism Alliance, the Bramels are opening their home and the grounds around their home in addition to their nursery business.
"He's a history nut," said Mary Jo. "Especially when it comes to his own family and our home."
All group tours should be scheduled through the Maysville-Mason County Tourism Commission.
For the time being, Butch is the sole tour guide.
"They're his stories," said Mary Jo. "His parents and grandparents told him all their stories and the stories passed down to them."
Butch must have been a good listener, and his family members were very good at hoarding.
Not only does Butch remember everything he has been told about life at Hickory Hill since the early 1800s, he also has all the tools, photographs and loads of physical material to support his stories.
"In 1812, Samuel Bramall migrated from St. Mary's County, Md. to Mason County," said Butch. "He settled at Mount Gilead where he built his first home on 1,800 acres, which was only about five miles from here."
In searching through records, Butch also discovered that the spelling of the family name changed from Bramall to Bramel, as it is today.
According to Butch, in the mid-1800s, Catherine Jane Preston Bullock came from Virginia to Mason County and purchased 170 acres from the estate of John Marshall which became Hickory Hill Plantation. They built the Greek revival home in 1861 using lumber from the woods surrounding the site.
"Catherine was married to David E. Bullock but the deed was in her name," he said.
In 1913, Samuel's great-grandson, Clinton Leach Bramel and his wife, Mary Jo Best Bramel, bought Hickory Hill Plantation from the Bullock family, the first of five generations of Bramels to own it.
"Ironically, the first Bramels to actually live here were Clinton and Mary Jo," said Butch. "Now Clinton and Mary Jo live here once again."
Many of the stories came from his late grandmother, Martha Louise Ray Bramel Kirk who died in 2004 at the age of 94. She lived in the house for 55 years.
Even though his parents lived at the end of the road, as a child he would often stay in the house with his grandparents. He has vivid childhood memories of life in the house.
A carriage house with a 13-foot by 18-foot dry stone cellar and a dairy and smokehouse are outbuildings that will also be open to tours.
When the Bramels decided to open their home and grounds, Butch had to do a lot of cleaning in the outbuildings.
"My ancestors kept everything," he said. "I knew a lot of things from generations of Bramels were still here, everything they needed to live on and run a farm."
In the carriage house with the ice cellar underneath, he uncovered the family whiskey still, whiskey jugs, an apple cider press, a wheat cradle, a buggy and many tools that even predate the house, just to name a few.
The large ice house underneath still has the tongs hanging from a rope that were used to haul the ice out of the underground cellar.
When tours enter the smokehouse, they will see hams hanging, just like they did in the 1800s. He plans to show visitors how to prepare a ham for curing on the original log table used by his ancestors as part of his tour.
Inside the home, visitors will see furniture passed down through generations along with a 1790 grandfather's clock, dolls, sugar buckets, musical instruments and mail dated 1861 addressed to Hickory Hill Plantation.
They will also see many photographs and hear Butch's stories -- like the one about the ghost that sometimes makes herself known.
The first floor only of the home will be part of the tour, and the Bramels would like everyone to know that the home and the buildings are not handicapped accessible.
Butch and Mary Jo are still uncertain as to what to expect when the tours begin. Today they will have a "trial run" as a group of 25 will visit the plantation.
He hopes that soon it will be necessary for him to train an additional guide or two.
There are also plans in the works for a small gift shop that will include a reproduction doll like the one that belonged to his great-grandfather as a young child, and carriage rides.
But that's in the future.
For now guided tours will be available on Saturday and Sunday for individuals, and by appointment only. For more information call the Bramels at 606-742-2596.
Contact Laura Rains at Laura.Rains@lee.net or by phone at 606-564-9091, ext. 275
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