HAZARD, Ky. (LEX 18) — Owners of the Mother Goose Inn are asking for community support after the ‘head’ fell off the goose-shaped house.
“When I saw it fell off, I was devastated because it felt like somebody just died,” said inn owner Alice McIntosh.
McIntosh’s family built the home in 1940. It served as a house for their family and more recently has been used as a bed and breakfast. The iconic goose head has been a staple in Hazard ever since.
“It’s so symbolic. I don’t ever think of Hazard without thinking of the Goose House,” said Emily Whitaker, who owns the shop next to the inn.
The building is over 80 years old and has weathered a lot of storms, but time has weakened the structure’s most eye-catching feature.
“It’s been pretty hard to keep up and maintain all these years,” McIntosh said.
McIntosh said she believes it was a combination of age and recent storm damage that loosened the head to the point where a strong gust of wind managed to bring down the head on Wednesday. A GoFundMe page was launched to collect donations for reinforcing and repairing the neck of the goose head before the head ever fell off. Any donations that come in will now be used to help restore the broken pieces so the Mother Goose Inn can go back to looking the way it has for decades.
“We don't want to tear it down. We don't want it to be demolished. We just want to leave it here for everybody,” McIntosh said. “We’re going to fix it. I don’t know how, but we are.”
The Kentucky Heritage Council will arrive in Hazard on Monday to survey the damage and work to offer assistance restoring the inn, according to McIntosh.
She said she hopes their visit will play a key role in speeding up repairs.
If you would like to contribute to repairing the Mother Goose Inn, you can donate to the GoFundMe.
