The oldest house still standing in Perry County is celebrating its 222nd birthday this year, and is in the process of being restored by its current owner, Perry Judge-Executive Denny Ray Noble.

The Eversole Cabin, as it is most well known, has seen quite a bit of history in those two centuries, between skirmishes during the civil war and later with the French-Eversole feuds.

Jacob and Mary Eversole built the original structure in 1789. The couple had moved from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, following Daniel Boone in his quest to the find the “blue grass” region of Kentucky. Once the group following Boone settled, the Eversoles found the area to be too crowded for them and decided to move back east to the mountains, according to research on hazardkentucky.com.

The pair bought some farmland near where the Krypton community is currently located. At the time, this land was still part of Virginia and was considered Kentucky County.

On the land near the Kentucky River, Jacob Eversole built a one-room house in 1789 that he continually added onto until its final configuration, which was completed in 1800. The house is two stories and has what is called a dogtrot, or space, in the middle. There are four rooms and two chimneys. The home is separated into two halves with one roof over both and the walkway in between.

The house remained in the Eversole family for many years. Jacob passed the home to his son Woolery, who then passed it to John C. Eversole, an Army major who along with his other family members fought for the Union Army during the Civil War. The Eversole Cabin became the sight of two skirmishes during this period.

Nearly 100 Confederate soldiers from Caudill’s 13th Kentucky Calvary led an attack at the house in 1862. The soldiers surrounded it because Eversole and other Union soldiers were inside. The Union soldiers were reportedly able to hold off this attack and actually killed one of the Confederates.

The Eversole family was not quite so lucky on the second attack at the home in May 1864. John C. Eversole was killed in the battle, and he was buried in the same cemetery as his grandparents that built the home.

The house was in the Eversole family up through the French-Eversole feuds of the late 1800s. The French and Eversole families began feuding around 1880 and continued until 1894. During the feuds, both families lost money and had several relatives killed.

“Dr. Eli Boggs’ daddy married one of Jacob’s daughters,” said Judge Noble. “That’s when they had the French-Eversole war, [the Eversoles] borrowed money to lease that farm.”

Noble said that Dr. Eli Boggs’ father paid off the loan for the Eversoles and then owned the farm. When he passed away, the farm went to Dr. Boggs.

Noble said he took an interest in the farm as a young man and had always been helping to preserve the house on its property.

“When I was a young boy we lived on the farm and I was always out there with chainsaws and this and that cleaning it up,” said Noble. “One day I was out there working and [Dr. Boggs] came over and said one day this will belong to you.”

Several years later the owner of a lumber company had inquired about cutting the lumber on the farm and he had gotten in contact with Noble. Noble took him to speak with Dr. Boggs.

Noble said he told Dr. Boggs the company’s owner had inquired about clearing timber from the property.

“[Dr. Boggs] said, well I don’t own it any more,” Noble remembered, noting that Dr. Boggs told the man to talk to Noble because he had decided to sell the farm to him.

Judge Noble bought the farm and began restoring the Eversole Cabin, which he had also lived in for a time. The house is continuing to be restored and has become something of a labor of love for its current owner, as it will remain an important part of Perry County history for many generations to come.