Perhaps most familiar of all landmarks in Cherokee Triangle is the large bronze sculpture of General John Breckinridge Castleman standing sentry over Cherokee Parkway at its intersection with Cherokee Road. A veteran of both Civil and Spanish American Wars, Castleman lived on an estate across Bardstown Road. He is generally considered the father of Louisville’s park system, especially the Olmsted parks.

As Parks Commissioner, General Castleman was responsible in 1890 for bringing Frederick Law Olmsted to Louisville to personally work on the design of Cherokee Park. (This was one of the last commissions Olmsted worked on before entering an institution, according to John Cullinane in his publication, Walking Thru Louisville.) Castleman and Caroline frequently rode through the neighborhood on their way to inspect the new park. Castleman and Caroline were sculpted by New York sculptor R. Hinton Perry. In her work The Cherokee Area, a History, Anne S. Karem comments that the “Castleman” statue, dedicated in 1913, is “one of the few in the country erected to a living person.” Purportedly, this bronze work is the only equestrian statue for which the horse posed!

According to Cullinane, “Legend has it that Caroline…changes her stance at midnight, New Year’s Eve.”

What are you doing next December 31? Shall we meet at “the Castleman” and see if this legend or superstition is true?

- From www.cherokeetriangle.org