Kentucky's State Mound

In 1847 the Kentucky Legislature appointed a committee to choose a site for a military cemetery and burial place for distinguished Kentuckians, and Frankfort Cemetery was selected for its commanding setting and picturesque scenery, with its central mound deeded to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The legislature then commissioned Robert E. Launitz of New York to design and build a military monument honoring Kentuckians who had fallen in defense of their country. Completed in 1850, the 150-ton memorial stood 65 feet tall and was built of granite and Italian marble. In 1851 Launitz was again commissioned to erect a monument on the State Mound, and his memorial to Colonel Richard M. Johnson, Vice-President of the United States, still stands beside later monuments to other prominent Kentuckians, including Major Theodore O’Hara, author of “Bivouac of the Dead,” and Lieutenant Presley N. O’Bannon, the first American to place the United States flag on foreign soil. After ongoing deterioration at the site, the 1986 General Assembly approved funding to restore and update the memorial, and on Veterans Day, November 11, 1987, the Kentucky Military Monument was rededicated in honor of Kentucky veterans of all wars.

Frankfort, Kentucky · United States