Samuel May House

The Samuel May House is a Federal style residence located at 690 North Lake Drive in Prestonsburg, Kentucky. It built in 1817 by Samuel May, a Kentucky state representative (1832–1834) and a Kentucky state senator (1835–1838) from Floyd County. It now serves as the Samuel May House Living History Museum.HistoryIn 1808, Samuel May emigrated to Floyd County from Virginia and married Cathrine Evans. From 1817 to 1821, May acquired 350acre of land along the banks of the Levisa Fork, where he developed a farm and set up a mill. Construction of the home was very laborious due to the homes remote location in Eastern Kentucky. In 1816, May's slaves began working the kilns that produced the bricks for the residence. Lime for the cement was created by crushing the shells of freshwater clams gathered from the Levisa Fork. The lumber used in the construction was whip-sawed from logs and was hauled to the site, where it was cured and shaped. Even the nails had to be shipped in from a factory in Abingdon, Virginia.The house illustrates May's expertise as an architect and builder. The bricks on the front part of the house were laid out in a Flemish bond: a decorative and structurally strong pattern of brick laying. Also, all walls in the house, including the interior partitions, are four bricks deep. This unusual building technique not only created deep window sills and door frames, but helped preserve the structure over the generations.