making their mark

LIVING IN AN OLD KENTUCKY HOUSE WITH A STORIED PAST.

- CATHERINE LUNDIE

“We first got bitten by the old-house bug back in 2002 when my husband was stationed in Oklahoma,” explains Kelly Priegnitz, a healthcare attorney. The busy careers of Kelly and her husband, Elmer,now retired from the Air Force, caused them to relocate often. In 2013, work took them from New York to Louisville, Kentucky. After spotting a handsome red brick Federal online, they “flew in, took a look and fell in love.” Within days, the old house in rural Cox’s Creek was theirs.

“We like original features and architecture, and the Samuels Home was virtually untouched.” That is, perhaps, an understatement. The ca. 1820–40 house had never been fitted with heating and air conditioning, the cellar floor was mud, and there was just one bathroom for five bedrooms. With five boys (including triplets), hectic careers, and frequent moves, this was a couple who could handle a challenge! The important thing for Kelly and Elmer was that the house remained extraordinarily intact. Floor plan, hardwood floors, woodwork, seven fireplaces, grain painting and marbling, hardware— all preserved. It sits proudly on a couple of wooded acres in bucolic rural Kentucky, surrounded by horse pastures.