Romantic 1825 Tragedy

Jereboam Beauchamp and his wife Anna were buried here in the same coffin at their own request after Beauchamp murdered Col. Solomon Sharp at Sharp's Frankfort home in 1825 to avenge Anna's alleged seduction. Beauchamp and Anna were held in the Frankfort jail, and although she was released, she joined her husband in his cell and refused to be separated from him even by force. Beauchamp was sentenced to hang, and on execution day the couple attempted suicide by stabbing themselves; Anna's wound was fatal, but Beauchamp survived long enough to be hanged that day in 1826, the first legal hanging in Kentucky. Sharp's political prominence brought the case widespread newspaper publicity, and Edgar Allan Poe and many other authors later wrote of the tragedy, inspired by the Beauchamps' deep devotion and love.

Bloomfield, Kentucky · United States