The story of 6514 Cottingham Lane begins not simply with a house, but with the land itself — a stretch of ground along the old Madisonville Road (now US 41A) near Cairo, Kentucky. For nearly 150 years, this land was passed down, traded, and secured among the families who made Cairo one of Henderson County’s most enduring communities.

Roots in the Alderson Era

By the 1880s, this tract belonged to the Alderson family, pillars of the Cairo settlement. In April 1884, Marinda and S.B. Alderson conveyed part of their farm to their son J.J. Alderson. Marinda, a strong matriarch who lived into her nineties, was remembered for raising a vast family and for her role in building the fabric of Cairo life. Her descendants carried on her presence, and today her name still marks the Alderson Cemetery, where many family members rest.

The Aldersons were typical of Cairo’s founding families — hardworking farmers and storekeepers who doubled as community builders. They raised tobacco, ran small shops, and were tied closely to the mills that drove local commerce. Cairo itself grew around those mills: a gristmill powered by a horse in 1866, followed later by steam mills that became the community’s lifeblood. In those days, Cairo bustled during tobacco season, with wagonloads of leaves waiting to be processed and shipped.

Cairo as a Community

Cairo was more than farmland. It had its own post office by 1848, operated for decades by Herman Nolteins. It was a place of “storehouses, sawmills, and smokehouses,” where families like the Roysters, Spencers, and Cottinghams lived side by side. For much of its early history, Cairo was the kind of village where neighbors’ lives intertwined daily — whether at the mill, the church, or small stores that served as gathering places.

In the early 20th century, Cairo even briefly incorporated as a town. It boasted sidewalks, a jail, and its own town marshal, before fading back into unincorporated life. Still, the spirit of Cairo remained strong — remembered as a place where widows lived among kin, and boys played while waiting their turn at the gristmill.

The Niles, Spencers, and Crowleys

The land at Cottingham Lane followed that same community rhythm. In 1921, John W. Spencer and his wife Mollie sold fifteen acres and its buildings to Jesse Alderson, keeping it in familiar hands. Just a few years later, Jesse conveyed it to Minnie P. Niles, tying the property to one of Cairo’s most prominent families.

The Niles family, connected with local banking and farming, oversaw the land until the 1940s, when it transferred through the Crowleys to W.W. Webster. These were names that filled Cairo’s church rolls, schoolhouses, and Gleaner columns — families whose fortunes were closely tied to Cairo’s rise and decline.

The House Itself

By the mid-20th century, a home had been built — a modest white-sided farmhouse with a gable roof, a chimney, and a simple porch. The kind of Kentucky home that was practical yet welcoming, it sat neatly on its parcel, framed by a yard and shaded by trees. A photograph from the tax assessor’s records shows the house with sharp lines and young landscaping, a home in its prime.

The dwelling started small — about 728 square feet — but grew through additions over time. Later images show its siding weathered, the yard broadened, and a driveway cut across the grass. Cars parked under the shade trees, and children surely played in the wide front yard, just as Cairo’s children always had.

Families Who Lived Here

In 1963, the property passed from James and Carolyn Carter to Steve and Cora Roberts, anchoring another generation. In the 1970s, it belonged briefly to James and Judy Dorris, who sold it for $9,500, before being taken on by Charles Lee Todd in 1980 under a $27,000 contract. Each family left its mark, living out daily routines against the backdrop of Cairo’s long history — trips to the gristmill, church suppers, children waiting for the school bus on the lane.

Continuity in a Changing Community

Though Cairo never grew into the town its founders imagined, it remained a place of remarkable continuity. Even into the 20th century, Cairo’s rhythms were familiar — harvest seasons, church gatherings, the hum of mills and tobacco barns. Families like the Aldersons, Roysters, Niles, and Cottinghams gave it identity.

And on Cottingham Lane, the house at Parcel 42A-30 absorbed that history. Its white walls sheltered families who bore the same names that fill Cairo’s cemeteries and obituaries, the same families who tilled the soil, ran the stores, and carried Cairo forward.

Today, the house still stands, modest but enduring, a reminder of both the strength of Henderson County farm families and the small but vibrant village of Cairo. More than just an address, 6514 Cottingham Lane is a living witness to nearly a century and a half of community, continuity, and family.

Title Chain – 6514 Cottingham Lane
• 1884 – Book 7, p.416
Marinda Alderson & husband S.B. Alderson → J.J. Alderson
• 1909 – Morning Gleaner, Aug. 8, 1909
Commissioner’s Sale, J.H. Royster property (15 acres near Cairo)
• 1916 – Morning Gleaner, May 27, 1916
Commissioner’s Sale, J.W. Cooper v. R.F. Holliday (15 acres + storehouse lot)
• 1917 – Book 56, p.444
Dr. J.W. Cooper & wife Eliza → John W. Spencer
• 1921 – Book 63, p.396 / Morning Gleaner, Feb. 19, 1921
John W. Spencer & wife Mollie → Jesse Alderson ($2,000; 15 acres + buildings)
• 1923 – Book 67, p.291
Jesse Alderson & wife Addie → Minnie P. Niles
• 1943 – Book 107, p.58
Commissioner’s Deed → Wilburn Crowley & wife Pearl
• 1944 – Book 115, p.52 / Morning Gleaner, July 22, 1944
Wilburn Crowley & wife Pearl → W.W. Webster
• 1963 – Book 211, p.521
James F. & Carolyn Carter → Steve E. Roberts & wife Cora
• 1974 – Book 271, p.615
James H. & Judy Dorris → $9,500 purchase
• 1980 – Book 321, p.359/403
Charles Lee Todd → Contract $27,000
• Present (PVA)
Owner: Billi Paige Septor

The Anderson Family Cemetery is located on the plot behind the house.

Knows burials at the Anderson Family Center:

Adams, Kate — b. 1874 • d. 1932

Adams, W.C. — b. 1870 • d. 1956

Alderson, Agnes — b. Feb 23, 1900 • d. Jan 3, 1901

Alderson, Carrie E. — b. Apr 19, 1846 • d. Aug 14, 1919

Alderson, Catherine — b. Apr 20, 1909 • d. Oct 19, 1925

Alderson, Infant — no dates

Alderson, J.J. — b. Jan 12, 1837 • d. Feb 1, 1900

Alderson, J.W. — b. 1857 • d. 1927

Alderson, J.W. — b. Mar 3, 1872 • d. Oct 13, 1915

Alderson, Jessie — b. 1870 • d. 1940

Alderson, Jessie — b. Oct 1904 • d. 1905

Alderson, Laura — b. Mar 6, 1906 • d. Jun 16, 1906

Alderson, Margaret N. — b. Jun 24, 1847 • d. Jan 15, 1863

Alderson, Mattie — b. Oct 15, 1879 • d. Dec 9, 1898

Alderson, Nancy — d. 1915

Alderson, Samuel B. — b. Nov 2, 1808 • d. Nov 15, 1886

Alderson, Ted W. — b. 1917 • d. Nov 1972

Alderson, Theodore — b. May 23, 1864–69 • d. Jan 19, 1900

Alderson, Thomas S. — b. Oct 1, 1839 • d. Jul 25, 1868

Alderson, Willie — b. Oct 25, 1883 • d. Mar 15, 1894

Burton Alderson, Addie G. — b. 1880 • d. 1962

Hansen, Sarah Ann — b. Oct 20, 1841 • d. Jan 14, 1863

Hansen, Willie (“Little”) — b. Jun 13, 1860 • d. Jul 21, 1861

Killman, Edith — b. 1918 • d. 1918

Lambkin, Elizabeth H. — b. Oct 5, 1855 • d. Apr 10, 1859

Lambkin, Infant Daughter — d. Apr 1, 1860

Lambkin, Matilda B. — b. Oct 2, 1831 • d. Apr 22, 1869

Locke, Sarah L. — b. Dec 2, 1854 • d. May 20, 1876

Phillips, Conrad — b. Jun 18, 1820 • d. Feb 7, 1875

Phillips, Elizabeth C. — b. Apr 12, 1830 • d. Feb 7, 1874

Phillips, George Samuel — b. Aug 23, 1852 • d. Mar 19, 1858

Phillips, John W. — b. Apr 13, 1847 • d. Apr 15, 1869

Wayland, Byron J. — b. Mar 27, 1844 • d. Nov 25, 1881