Colonel Sanders' Home Up for Auction Alongside Chicken Recipe Guesswork
KEY POINTS
- •Blackwood Hall, home of Colonel and Claudia Sanders since 1959, is up for auction alongside the Claudia Sanders Dinner House.
- •The couple sold KFC in 1964 but continued their restaurant business until 1974 when they sold the Dinner House to family friends.
- •Auction items include Sanders' Kentucky Colonel certificate, a Nixon letter, and his 1964 planner containing an unlabeled list of 11 herbs and spices.
In a duel of nostalgia and fried chicken fanatics, Blackwood Hall—the 5,000 sq ft Kentucky estate where Colonel Harland and Claudia Sanders camped from 1959 until 1974—is up for auction with Claudia Sanders Dinner House, a Southern food palace seating 700. Since the Colonel sold KFC to jumbo chicken fanatics in 1964, he didn’t just rest; he opened that Dinner House in 1968 and handed it off to pals in 1974. The real kicker? Alongside the house, bidders can snag Sanders memorabilia like the Colonel's Kentucky Colonel certificate, a 1972 Nixon thank-you letter for the 'greatest landslide,' and, wait for it, the Colonel's own 1964 planner containing an unlabeled list of 11 herbs and spices. Auctioneer Bill Menish cautiously recommends, 'Once somebody owns it, I recommend they go make a batch of chicken and see what they think,' clearly betting on buyer experimentation over deciphering chicken hieroglyphics.
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(1 of 3)When your fried chicken recipe is so secret even you don’t write down the ingredients, maybe it’s time to rethink your life choices. Now you can own the house and a cryptic planner with 11 unlabeled herbs. Good luck, Sherlock.
Colonel Sanders left behind a recipe with no labels because even he knew chicken secrets belong only in black boxes, not planners.
Buying the Colonel's old house means you get the pleasure of guessing whether his mystery herbs belong on chicken or stuffing. Spoiler: no refunds.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 7/28/2026 | Author: Mary Meisenzahl,Talia Lakritz
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