Centerville Precinct
Situated on a steep rise overlooking Townsend Creek, this two-story brick house, now painted white, was appropriately named Mount Lookout. Although the trim of the house is severe Greek Revival, it has closely spaced Italianate brackets consistent with its traditional date. A single-bay central gable is supported by two-story pilasters, which are repeated under the return of the cornice on the ends of the main block. A one-story three-bay Tuscan portico was added about 1913. The house was built just before the Civil War for Confederate Captain Harry Bedford, who was captured at Cynthiana during the war. He was a grandson of Benjamin Bedford, who emigrated to Kentucky from Virginia about 1787, and settled on the Winchester Road. A veteran of the Mexican War, Harry operated a grocery business until his election as Sheriff in 1856. After the Civil War he returned to his farm, where he spent the remainder of his life as a farmer and stockman.
At the turn of the century the property belonged to Professor James Milton Scott, an experimental farmer who worked with the University of Kentucky Experimental Station to up-date agricultural practices. One of his innovations was a famous round barn, 100 feet in diameter, with a silo in the center and a variety of interior provisions.
Mrs. Jasper B. (Ellen Scott) Shannon; Perrin,. pp. 82, 451-52, 462.