Riverside, The Farnsley-Moremen Landing: A Step Back in Time

Take a step back in time with a visit to Riverside, The Farnsley-Moremen Landing, a 19th century farm located on the Ohio River in the far western reaches of Jefferson County. At Riverside, The Farnsley-Moremen Landing, you can see how farming evolved more than 150 years ago and how the Ohio River once served as the nation's first "superhighway."

From July through October, visitors can take a trip on The Spirit of Jefferson, a replica sternwheeler ship that departs from the Farnsley-Moremen Landing.

Shrewd businessman Gabriel Farnsley bought 200 acres from a business partner in 1826. Two years later, he had bought his partner out altogether on the property 13 miles downriver from the new booming city of Louisville.

Farnsley created a riverboat landing, which operated from 1820 to 1890. The riverboat landing let those traveling by steamboat, keel boat or flatboat rest, trade or take on wood for fuel. In addition, the ferry at Riverside allowed goods and passengers to travel back and forth across the Ohio River between Kentucky and Indiana.

About 1837, Farnsley erected the stately two-story brick home with a full-height Greek portico that has now been lovingly restored. By 1862, the fine home and its 400 acres had passed into the Moremen family. They added to the farm until, at 1,500 acres, it was the largest in Jefferson County.

Today visitors can tour the home and its spectacular view of the Ohio River. The house was nearly completely destroyed by the 1937 flood, but a $2 million restoration has brought it back to its glory days. The first floor has been restored to what it would have been like when bachelor Gabriel Farnsley lived there in the 1840s. The second floor has been reinterpreted to look as it did when the Moremen family lived there in the late 1880s.

Visitors can also tour the reconstructed 19th century kitchen building and the kitchen garden, located in the exact spot where the Moremens maintained their kitchen garden for 126 years.

Riverside is open 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 1-4:30 p.m. Sunday. Tours begin at 10:30 a.m. and occur every hour at half past the hour. The final tour each day begins at 3:30 p.m.

Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, (60+); $3 for children aged 6-12, and free for children 5 and younger. There is a family rate of a flat $15 for two adults and up to three children younger than 18. Group rates are available with an advance reservation.

The house's Visitors Center, pavilion and grounds are available for rental for parties and special events.

historical farm house riverboat landing educational gardens grounds