To celebrate national hemp heritage week, the historic home of the great compromiser is holding a day-long hemp symposium this Saturday.
Eric Brooks, curator at Ashland the Henry Clay Estate, says the versatile crop played a big role for the Kentucky planter and politician.
"It was one of his major sources of income over the course of his whole life, starting from the beginning when he established Ashland all the way through...and no only was it important for him here personally, it became important for him publicly as well. He became a staunch advocate for Kentucky hemp on the national and international stage, and that advocacy ultimately informed and molded his political ideology," Brooks told WUKY.
Saturday’s hemp symposium will touch on the history of hemp at Ashland but also focus on its future uses as a cash crop in Kentucky.
"Kentucky Secretary of Agriculture Ryan Quarles will he here to help us inaugurate our hemp plot...we do have hemp growing at Ashland now for the first time in 140 years. We'll have some producers that are making products who can tell us what sorts of things are out there that we can create from the crops that we are growing," Brooks said.
The symposium gets under way at 1 p.m. Events are free until 5:30 p.m. The estate is also hosting a special hemp-food chef-prepared dinner at 6. That’s a ticketed event of $75 per person or $100 per couple.
Additional information is available here.
