What is worth preserving at Hopscotch. Photo by Ben Hassett.
I am working steadily on a complicated plan to save Hopscotch. First, we must stop the sale. I’m very fortunate to have the support of River Fields, which holds the conservation easement on Wolf Pen Farm and has been a devoted partner for decades. “Holding the Easement” means periodic checking (one just completed, satisfactorily) that a strip mall or a housing development hasn’t somehow sprouted, like a noxious mushroom, in my 400-plus acres of fields, streams, woods, and the old mill, precious open land that surrounds Hopscotch on four sides.
This means that no infrastructure, such as city water pipes, can be dug on the easement. Hopscotch house—like my three tenant houses on the farm—depends for water on cisterns, concrete tanks filled at regular intervals by the water truck, its driver an old friend as his father was before him. We put up with the mild inconvenience but no developer would consider such a prospect. I hope this is as reassuring to all of you as it is to me. It also poses obvious problems in terms of a sale.
I can’t go into detail about our plans to preserve Hopscotch; this is complicated legally, and if successful, would be a landmark case, protecting other donors who find that their gifts have been abused by the not-for-profit they trusted. Elon Musk can’t be the only philanthropist to face this cruel disappointment. I think of the widows who finally find they have some money and joyfully plan to give some or all of it to a not-for-profit they believe in, perhaps for the first time in their lives having the means to do so due to a departed husband’s wealth. And then they find their trust misplaced, their donation turned away from the goal so carefully designed.
I am determined to secure the return of the art I bought for Hopscotch and the collection of books by Kentucky women that filled the shelves of the library. Does anyone have a clue where all this has gone? The furniture has also been cleared out, a real problem in terms of using the house again as I designed it.
The art I bought for the house between 1985 and 1991 can’t be allowed to disappear. I am particularly concerned about the fine early 19th-century portrait of a woman from the Clay family that hung over the fireplace in the library.
Any Kentucky woman artist who sold me a work for the house during this period should get in touch with me. Anyone who knows an artist who was creating then should let me know her name. I plan to compile a list so that when I find the art, I can notify the women who made it.
Now we all need to practice not just patience, but persistence.
Excuse my ignorance here but I thought YOU owned Hopscotch. Who owns it and is behind this travesty?
The Kentucky Foundation for Women owns Hopscotch. Here is a recent link to some of this history: https://salliebingham.com/groundhog-day-2/
Dear Ms. Sallie,
I am sorry that you lost your books and artwork. I enjoyed the library so much when I was a guest and art participant. I did not know that was a Clay family member over the fireplace. I have been told many things about the land around the house. I am glad that you own the 400 acres outright.
I am not a lawyer or business person, but I really don’t see how they can sell the house if you own the land. The house was in ill repair when I first was a guest about ten years ago. It is not a remarkable old place. Just an old late 19th/early 20th century home that was added onto a couple three times. They have to have an easement to get to the house. The house is not worth moving and I don’t see how they could any way because the lane off Wolf Pen Branch is scary narrow. Just my thoughts on Good Friday evening. Good luck Ms. Sallie.
Oh, Sallie….what a heartbreaker….the disappearance of the artwork, pictures, furniture, the betrayal in trying to sell the property, everything you detailed in this comment. As if you needed yet another hard thing to deal with. But I admire your strength in determining to set the offending people straight. I hope your attorney(s) will be as sharp as everyone who loved and appreciated that property and its intended use needs them to be. Respect to you for holding up to an unexpected dilemma.
I have faith and send strength and perseverance to ALL who are working to preserve the Hopscotch House. It is worth every effort.
And btw. It isn’t just an old home. It is a magical place for healing, creativity and companionship for women. Kentucky women. Such a gift for me and all the women I have shared the place with, every time I stayed.
Supporting you and grateful for your efforts, Sallie.