Appalachian History Series Cave Run Lake sits in the northern hills of Bath County, Kentucky, a broad ribbon of water bordered by the Daniel Boone National Forest. The lake exists because the federal government spent four decades planning and nearly a decade building an earth-and-rockfill dam on the Licking River to curb floods, secure water, and welcome recreation.

Appalachian History Series A hillside resting place with county roots Rest Haven Cemetery sits on a ridge above Baxter and Keith in Harlan County, Kentucky. Its story begins at the end of 1929, when the Harlan County Fiscal Court voted to purchase 1,827 burial lots at “Rest Haven” for a county graveyard serving both “colored and white” paupers.

Appalachian History Series A Small Lake With County-Wide Importance In 1969 the Martin County Water District finished an earthen dam above Inez and created Curtis Crum Reservoir, a small but strategic pool that feeds the county’s drinking water system. From the start, managers paired the lake with pumps on the Tug Fork River to keep levels stable, then sent raw water to the treatment plant on Turkey Creek for household use.

Appalachian History Series The Middle Fork Setting and Purpose Where the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River cuts through steep country in Perry and Leslie counties, the federal government built Buckhorn Lake Dam to tame dangerous floods and stabilize low flows. The site sits above the confluence where narrow ridges funnel runoff into quick crests.

Appalachian History Series Kentucky on a Knife-edge In May 1861 Kentucky declared neutrality. That fragile stance crumbled in early September when Confederate forces seized crossings on the Mississippi at Columbus and moved through Cumberland Gap into the southeastern mountains.

Appalachian History Series Kentucky on a knife-edge In the summer and fall of 1861, neutrality in Kentucky faltered while both sides maneuvered for the mountain roads that led into the Bluegrass. Confederate Brigadier General Felix Zollicoffer pushed north from Tennessee after a small success at Barbourville, hoping to pry open eastern Kentucky.

Appalachian History Series Why Ivy Mountain Mattered In the fall of 1861, both armies probed Kentucky’s mountains for advantage. The Big Sandy valley offered a workable corridor between Virginia and the Bluegrass.

Appalachian History Series Setting the Scene On the South Fork Holston River just southeast of Bristol, Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority built South Holston Dam to curb destructive flooding and to supply hydropower in the mid-twentieth century. The project impounded a long, slender reservoir that reaches about 24 miles into Virginia, and it became the upstream anchor of TVA’s Holston River system.

Appalachian History Series Introduction Martins Fork Lake is a small mountain reservoir tucked into the Smith community of Harlan County, Kentucky. Completed in 1979 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the 340-acre lake sits at river mile 15.6 on Martins Fork, just southeast of the town of Harlan.

Appalachian History Series Kentucky on the Brink In late 1861 Kentucky stood in a dangerous middle ground. The Commonwealth had remained in the Union, yet communities were split in loyalty and both armies moved to control key valleys and roads. In the Big Sandy country of the eastern mountains, Confederate Brig. Gen. Humphrey Marshall crossed in from Virginia to recruit, while Union commanders rushed to push him back. Col.

Appalachian History Series A county at war with itself By the turn of the twentieth century, Breathitt County, Kentucky, had become a byword for political killings and courthouse cliques. The flashpoint came on May 4, 1903, when attorney and United States commissioner James Buchanan Marcum was shot at the entrance to the Jackson courthouse.