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The biography of John Jacob Niles, I Wonder as I Wander (University Press of Kentucky 2010) opened with an “Overture” that set the scene for the ensuing story:
From Boot Hill farm, it is but a brisk hike winding up the hill to St. Hubert’s Episcopal Church, the little country church whose front doors were lovingly crafted by Niles. Sacred icons and scriptures adorn the doors, but these carvings are also intertwined with images of the native tobacco leaves and dogwood blossoms that bind the church to the surrounding countryside. Inside the church, deer antlers surmount the hymn boards. While this symbol might seem extravagantly pagan for staid Episcopal worship, the antlers are there to remind the congregation that Saint Hubert, patron saint of the hunt, miraculously witnessed the appearance of a crucifix between a stag’s horns. The choice of Saint Hubert as the church’s patron is particularly apt, because the parish is centrally situated within the verdant countryside known as “hunt country.”
John Jacob, his wife Rena, and sons Thomas Michael Tolliver and John Edward, lived just down the road at Boot Hill Farm located beside Boone Creek at the Fayette/Clark County border on the Athens-Boonesboro Road. Niles, who had traveled all over the world in his career as a ballad collector, singer, author, and composer chose to settle in Clark County and moved into the home they built on April 17, 1939. Here Rena and John Jacob raised their sons, tilled the soil, embraced the hunt country community, and worshipped at Saint Hubert’s Church.
In the late 1940s, Niles began attending services at Christ Church Cathedral in Lexington where he and Rena became close friends with Bishop William R. Moody and his wife Cordie Lee. In collaboration with Moody, Niles regularly provided music for the choir, inaugurated an annual Christmas “Evening of Carols” (1958-) broadcast On the radio and composed the oratorio Lamentation (1952).
When Bishop Moody initiated the design and construction of Saint Hubert’s Church, he invited Niles to carve the front doors that he lovingly carved from native oak boards featuring passages of the 84th psalm.
Niles completing the inside of the doors prior to painting
Niles and Rena became members of the congregation when the church opened in 1969. Niles was buried in the church yard following his death March 1, 1980 and Rena was interred beside him upon her passing on June 28, 1996.
John Jacob Niles grave site, Saint Hubert’s Church
Niles’s relationship with his “hunt country” community and his church are marked by the presence of the carved front doors located between the narthex and the vestibule. There are also several photographs of Niles taken by Jack Cobb and a commemorative plaque affixed to the south wall in the vestibule.
Boot Hill Farm, now owned by Bluegrass Christian Camp, is in a state of disrepair and physical deterioration. Most of the unique Niles-crafted features of the home were removed and placed at the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music located in the Lucille Little Fine Arts and Design Library of the University of Kentucky. Four of the home’s doors are displayed as well as paintings, table & chairs, and musical instruments. To mark the special significance of the farm, a state historical landmark was installed at the site in 2018.
Boot Hill historical marker
One beautiful architectural detail of the home still remained: a stained glass window set into the living room wall facing Athens Boonesboro Road. Niles’s son Thomas M. T. Niles recalled that the window (ca 1890s) was salvaged by his father in about 1938 from a saloon at the corner of Limestone and Vine next to the C & O tracks.
The window was set into the brick and mortar exterior of the home where it remained for the next 85 years serving as a gracious ornament of the living room, “shop,” and intimate performance space.
Niles and Flemingsburg students in 1961
Niles at home playing dulcimer
I occasionally cleared away the vines that threatened the window, but because the mortar was starting to crumble, the window was in danger of collapsing and breaking. The pressure on the frame was causing it to become concave.
On Monday, April 8, 2024 I approached the vestry about moving the window to Saint Hubert’s Church. On April 22, 2024 I received permission to move the window from Michael Fann, the director of the Lexington Bluegrass Camp that owned the former Boot Hill property. The proposal to accept the gift of the Niles window from the Bluegrass Christian Camp was accepted by the vestry at the August 11, 2024 meeting. On November 12, 2024 I met with Ted Vimont, a contractor and friend from Lexington to show him the window. He agreed to remove the window and soon thereafter, he carefully extracted it and brought it to my home. Ted generously declined to present an invoice for the two visits to the church, the removal of the window, and sealing up the window space at the camp.
On November 27, 2024 I brought the window to stained glass craftsman, Richard Dorval in Lexington who agreed to attempt a restoration of the window. He carefully returned it to its shape, reinforced the metal elements, cleaned it substantially, and resuscitated it while retaining its historical integrity.
Richard Dorval holding the glass in his studio
Richard, a former master glass artisan at the Tiffany Factory in Montreal, CA completed a remarkable job of restoration. The invoice for his work totaled $480. He was reimbursed directly by me.
On December 9, 2024 I picked up the window from Richard and brought it to Warren Byrom for the final stage of the window’s journey from the saloon at Limestone and Vine to Boot Hill Farm to just up the road at Saint Hubert’s Church.
Warren, a noted local musician and builder, framed the window so that it could be hung securely. He acquired vintage wood and created a lovely and sturdy frame by milling, mitering, and channeling it for a bevel that reflected the beveling feature of the glass. Warren then finished it by sanding and staining it. On February 7, 2024 he brought it out to Grimes Mill where we installed it by hanging it from the window frame in the north window of the vestibule. It looks radiant, catching the light and complementing the Niles carved doors and Moody-crafted mosaics. March 10th I initiated work on a walnut plaque with laser-cut text identifying the window as follows.
“Niles Stained Glass Window” salvaged by John Jacob Niles from an 1880s building located at Vine and Limestone Streets in Lexington. In 1938 Niles placed the window in his Boot Hill Farm’s living room wall facing Athens Boonesboro Road.
In 2024 the Bluegrass Christian Camp donated the window which was removed through the generosity of Vimont Builders. Subsequently, it was placed in the care of master stained-glass artisan Richard Dorval who beautifully restored it. Finally, Warren Byrom crafted a complementary frame and installed it in the vestibule of Saint Hubert’s Church. The Niles Stained Glass Window shines forth in memory of the Niles Family and in gratitude for the parish of Saint Hubert’s who supported this initiative
Dr. Ren Pen
March 2025
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Ron Pen (March 10, 2025)
