The Tyler Family: Blackacre’s first permanent settlers
Moses Tyler was nearly 82 years old when he deeded his stone house, property, farm, animals and equipment to his son, Presley, in return for food, lodging, care and “a suitable horse and decent saddle and bridle.” Ten years later, in 1844, Presley built the two-story brick house, painted yellow since the turn of the 20th century, now known as the Presley Tyler Visitors’ Center. The houses were situated on a road that connected Middletown to Jeffersontown, although a new road, later called Tucker Station in reference to a railroad stop that would exist for decades, replaced the farm road as a public right-of-way by 1879.
Moses Tyler’s farm was one portion of an original 1785 treasury grant purchase of 1000 acres made by his father, Edward Tyler. The elder Tyler lived in Louisville with his family for the period of time necessary to construct a farmstead – a stone, pen-over-pen residence and spring house, timber barn and outbuildings - located about three miles east of Brunerstown, later, Jeffersontown. Moses’ farm, located roughly within the boundaries of the Blackacre State Nature Preserve, would consist of a stone residence and springhouse, a nearby timber cabin, double-crib poplar barn, and undoubtedly numerous cribs and outbuildings required to maintain the hog, cattle and corn productions known to be in place. Moses Tyler received a distillery license in 1798, the year the federal government succeeded in establishing tax revenue procedures in Kentucky.
Subsequent Families
Presley Tyler’s farm was purchased by neighbor, Joseph Sweeney, in 1881. The Sweeney family had purchased the Edward Tyler home on the Taylorsville Turnpike and constructed a handsome three-bay brick residence adjacent to the south wall of the original stone residence. Sweeney sold 240 acres of “the old Presley Tyler Place” to John C. Kroeger in 1885. Kroeger’s son established a dairy operation at the farm, and nurtured fruit orchards near the house. After Kroeger’s death in 1902, local confectionery owner, T.L. Solger, bought the property for use as a summer home. Joseph T. Wheeler acquired the land in 1910 and re-established a farming operation that lasted until 1939, when William Woodward bought the property and installed electricity and modern plumbing in the house. The Woodwards called their new residence Land O’ Skye, but when friends Macauley and Emilie Smith purchased it in 1950, Judge Smith renamed the place Blackacre.
The Smiths: Visionaries for Blackacre’s future
The Smiths lived on the property they called Blackacre starting in 1950. Judge Smith, who delighted in words, named the farm Blackacre, a legal term distinguishing one piece of property from another: Blackacre from Whiteacre. After Judge Smith left the Jefferson Circuit Court bench in 1975, having served three terms, the Smiths began to consider ways of preserving Blackacre. They had begun to see development encroaching, and they wished to preserve the land so that future generations might know what a farm looked like.
After nearly thirty years of devoted stewardship, the Smiths donated their 170- acre parcel to the commonwealth on 19 March 1979, dedicating it to the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission for the express purpose of preserving the land for passive recreation and interpretive nature education, thereby creating Kentucky’s first state nature preserve.
The Articles of Dedication contained within the deed of conveyance recognized that there was a relative lack of opportunity for people living in such population centers as Louisville to conveniently visit natural places for education and recreation. The principal visitor activities permitted by the Articles of Dedication are observation, walking and study. As a State Nature Preserve (SNP), Blackacre is a legally dedicated area that has been recognized for its natural significance and protected by law for scientific and educational purposes.
After it became clear that the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission would not be able to accept responsibility for the ongoing maintenance of the grounds and structures, the Smiths created the Blackacre Conservancy and established an endowment for the organization. The formation of the Blackacre Conservancy in 1983 was designed to provide an on-going source of financial means to maintain the preserve and the historic homestead.
The Smith family’s relationship to Blackacre continues to this day and in the last ten years, the Smiths have helped protect additional property surrounding Blackacre’s original 170 acres. Emilie Strong Smith, with support from her son and grandson, purchased 101 additional acres immediately south of the preserve in 1997 to provide a buffer against planned development. This acreage remains in the custody of the Blackacre Conservancy. In addition, the Smiths helped enable the Conservancy to purchase a 17-acre easement to the north of the preserve in 2000 to secure the northern boundary from railroad and industrial park incursion.