Camp Dick Robinson - Hoskins Crossroads

Hoskins Crossroads

Soon afterward, Richard M. Robinson offered to lease 425 acres of first-class rolling pastureland at Hoskins Crossroads. This was seven miles north of Lancaster and twelve miles from the rail depot at Nicholasville, Jessamine County, and Nelson believed it was an ideal location for a camp of instruction. The main house was a profitable tavern with a storehouse, blacksmith shop, barn, mule-shed, and numerous outbuildings. The land extended one-half mile in either direction along the Danville and Lancaster Pikes and most importantly, it could sustain one thousand mules for four months out of the year. Numerous springs and Dick’s River two miles west on the Danville Pike (U.S. 34) provided water and high rugged banks offered natural protection. There were "only three crossings" into Garrard County. The upper road ran from Harrodsburg through Dicksville and to Bryantsville, the middle crossing (U. S. 34) connected Danville with Hoskins Cross Roads, the lower was the Lancaster and Danville Road. Ten miles north on the Lancaster Pike (U.S. 27) was Hickman Bridge (Wernwag Bridge), the largest single-span covered bridge in the world. This double-drive 256-foot bridge also provided the only passageway above Frankfort. On the Jessamine County side was a majestic 400-foot limestone palisade, and at the top, a pleasant four-mile journey led to Nicholasville, the terminus for the Covington & Lexington (Kentucky Central) Railroad.