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Old Hancock County Jail
Artist - Gary Akers
The Old Hancock County Jail was built with slave labor around 1854. It was made from hand hewn stone which average 16 X 18 X 36 inches in size.
There were two cells, one of which held a "bull pen" or cell within a cell. This is where younger prisoners or female prisoners were kept.
An office and a utility room were also on the first level. The upstairs housed a four-room apartment for the jailer. The dirt floors on the main level were only replaced by concrete floors in recent years.
The jailer's wife was responsible for feeding the prisoners, and records indicate the largest number to be held at one time was 12 persons.
With the building of the new Hancock County Administration Building came an ultra modern jail. All cells are underground.
The picturesque old jail pictured here was torn down in September 1977 to make was for the parking lot to the new County Administrative Office building.
Text is from the 'Hancock 29' booklet edited by Robert A. Powell ©1979
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Gary Akers of Florence, Kentucky
Gary was born in Pikeville and reared in Grethel, Kentucky by his mother Helen and step-father Lurn Mitchell. His first seven years of education were spent in several two-room schools. His interest in art came early and he was painting with watercolors by the age of ten.
After graduating from Betsy Layne High School, Gary attended Morehead State University, where he really began to develop his art. It was during his graduate studies at MSU that he began painting in the medium of Egg Tempera for which he is acclaimed. Egg Tempera is a medium which generally requires in excess of 150 hours for one small painting… yet there is nothing else that compares for freshness, realism and luminosity.
After receiving his Masters degree in Art (Painting and Drawing) in 1974, he married Lynn Rita Keathley of Harold, KY., also an art graduate from Morehead. Gary has taught art in Menifee County School, Kenton County School system, and at Morehead State University.
His original egg tempera and watercolor paintings depicting rural America are reproduced by Gary-Lynn Galleries; which he and his wife operate.
His is a member of the Kentucky Heritage Artists.
Text is from the 'Hancock 29' booklet edited by Robert A. Powell ©1979
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