A.C. Harberson House
About 1770, James Harberson and a group of settlers crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and found their way into the Bluegrass region of Kentucky. Finding a suitable site alongside the Chaplin River, the settlers built a fort next to a spring and cave. This fort, dubbed Harberson's Station after its founder, was the precursor to modern-day Perryville. The settlers farmed the east bank of the Chaplin River. When troubles with local Indians arose, they would flee across the water and into the cave to seek shelter from attack. The cave, which can still be viewed today, formed the settlers' first line of defense. One day James Harbeson failed to reach the mouth of the cave in time. Local legend holds that Harberson disappeared. His head, however, was discovered about a mile from the fort, probably severed by hostile Indians. Dr. Jefferson J. Polk, physician to 19th century Perryville, relates in his autobiography that Harberson's wife then "took the head and managed to keep it in a complete state of preservation for many years."
Addisson-Parks House
Prospering as a farming community for decades, shortly after the War of 1812 two men named Edward Bullock and William Hall organized and incorporated a town along the river, mere yards from the spot of the original fort. Bullock and Hall decided to name the town Perryville in honor of Commodore Oliver H. Perry, hero of the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813. The Indians had long been driven out by previous settlers, it would be another 50 years until the hardship of warfare again fell upon the town's inhabitants.
In the late 1830s a line of buildings were built next to the Chaplin River, forming the center of Perryville. Now called "Merchants' Row," these buildings still stand today and some are occupied by merchants selling their wares. The Row is one of the last fully-intact 19th Century streetscapes in the United States.
The early nineteenth century brought a revised interest in classical education for the small town. Many institutions of higher learning, mainly consisting of all-women's colleges, were established, including the Ewing Institute, the Elmwood Academy, and Harmonia College. At least one of Harmonia College's graduates achieved national prominence--Carrie Nation, the national temperance leader, boarded at the Karrick-Parks house while living in Perryville. As Nation "cleaned out" a number of local spots, it is believed that Perryville became the first location in the United States to exercise Local Option laws.
The Battle of Perryville
The event that hurled the small village of Perryville into the national spotlight occurred on October 8, 1862. On this date the Battle of Perryville took place; 16,000 Confederate troops battled 22,000 Union soldiers (out of 58,000 present) in what was one of the fiercest struggles of the American Civil War. Most of the fighting took place two miles north of town, but troops on both sides fought in the streets late in the day. Both armies sustained a total of 7,500 casualties during the battle, one of the worst per-hour rates in the Civil War. Many of the town's inhabitants assisted with the wounded and all homes, churches, and buildings became a place of refuge and heating for the many troops who were left behind after the two opposing armies withdrew. In later years the streets of town were named after the commanding officers of the battle—Union names adorn the streets on the west side of the river, while those on the east side are named after their Confederate counterparts.
In 1961, Perryville and the surrounding area was made part of a National Historic Landmark area. In 1973, the entire town of Perryville, because of the contribution the village has made toward American history, was put on the National Register of Historic Places.