HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – People passing through the town of Dundee might notice a goat atop a steeple.
According to Eden Pendley with the Ohio County Public Library Annex, the goat weathervane only weighs 10 lbs., is hollow and made out of zinc. The Dundee goat sits on top of the Dundee Masonic Lodge No. 733, which was used by the Methodist church in Dundee until a newer church building was constructed.
According to locals, the Dundee goat is the only one out of the three shipped to the U.S. that is still around today, as the others were on buildings that had burned down, and is the most accurate weathervane in the area.
According to Pendley, the goat was sent to the United States in the late 1890s from Dundee, Scotland, along with two other identical weathervanes. Pendley says it is unknown how the goat weathervane wound up in Ohio County and it is said that the others were taken to Mississippi and Kansas. However, local resident Todd Taylor tells us that the one of the other goats were sent to somewhere in Virginia and it was either Kansas or Missisissippi that got the last one.
Taylor tells us the goat was delivered by rail to The F. Renrow Co. Store in Narrows, Kentucky, where the goat sat on the store porch before being placed in its current spot. According to Taylor, the reason why the goat was put on the steeple is because the organization Woodmen of the World used the goat in their lodge service.
Taylor says the community was once called Schaefers Mill before being renamed to Hines Mill. Pendley says the goat was received by members of the Hines Mill community in 1902 and placed in its current resting spot in June of the same year. However, the goat attracted so much attention to the little community, that the name was changed to Dundee from Hines Mill shortly after the goat arrived in honor of the goat and the place it was made.
Pendley notes the goat was briefly removed for six months to repair some damage from bullet holes, then placed back atop the building. Taylor tells us the goat was damaged at one point by vandals, which led to the repairs and brief removal. Taylor says the steeple the goat sits on is 80 feet up.
According to Taylor, the building the goat sits on has been many things during its time. Some other organizations who have used the building include the Odd Fellows, the Rebekahs, The Masonic Lodge F&AM, the Order of Eastern Star and The Dundee Sportsman Club. Locals tell us there is no Masonic Lodge there now, and the building is undergoing repairs.
Pendley says, “This year, the Dundee goat will have been in Dundee for 121 years. The building now belongs to the town of Dundee and is no longer in use. However, the Masonic Lodge was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 2008.”
The goat is located at 11640 KY-69 in Dundee.
This is the fourth of a weekly twenty-one-part series that will help educate about some roadside attractions in the Eyewitness News viewing area. Check in every Sunday at 8 a.m. for the next one! Last week’s installment can be found here.
