252 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
inally in 1797 into 264 one-acre lots, of which compara- 
tively few had been sold at the time of which we speak, 
though nominal: prices were asked and a few had been 
given away to encourage settlement. Audubon is re- 
corded as having purchased four one-acre lots from the 
town, two in 1813 and two in the following year, while 
a long lease was taken upon land adjacent to the river 
where later rose his famous mill.’ 
The old Audubon store for general merchandise, built 
of hewn logs, in a single story, stood at the corner of 
Main and Mill Streets (now Second Street), fronting 
the latter, at a point where a modern departmental 
establishment has since risen. Adjoining this primitive 
store, on the main street, was his log dwelling,® of one 
and a half stories, with a square porch at the entrance. 
Immediately opposite, on the two-acre strip of land pur- 
chased in 1814, lay a small pond which Audubon is 
said to have stocked with turtles in order to gratify his 
special fondness for this delicacy. 
Audubon’s winning manners made him a popular 
®In 1819, the year of Audubon’s departure, 129 town lots had been 
sold, while 29 had been given to privileged persons or to prospective 
settlers. 
* According to the town records, as quoted by Starling, on December 
22, 1813, Audubon purchased lots numbers 95 and 96, which were one- 
half of the square lying on the west side of Third Street and between 
Green and Elm Streets, from General Samuel Hopkins, agent of the 
Messrs. Richard Henderson & Company; on September 3, 1814, he bought 
lots numbers 91 and 92, or one-half of the square on the west side of 
Second Street, between Green and Elm. The mill site on the Ohio River 
was a part of the land given to Henderson by the Transylvania Com- 
pany, the original owners of a large part of Kentucky; this site was 
leased for 99 years to J. J. Audubon, was sold and resold, but reverted 
to the city of Henderson in 1915. In the latter year the project was 
broached of obtaining the original mill site, together with adjoining prop- 
erty along the river, and converting the whole into a public park dedicated 
to Audubon. 
7 At a somewhat later time the naturalist occupied a one-story frame 
house, built in 1814, which stood at the corner of Fourth and Main Streets; 
see Starling, op. cit. 
