Last Summer, my daughter and I took a weekend to travel to Western Kentucky. Our final destination was Paducah, which is about 3.5 hours from home. I planned for several stops along the way to break up the drive. Our first stop was Madisonville, then we popped over to Princeton and visited Adsmore House, followed by Rose Hill Museum in Eddyville, and finally Grand Rivers and Patti’s 1880s Settlement. That was all accomplished on day one. Day two of our two-day trip started with LBL. As I always do, or should I say – never do – I knew nothing of LBL before arriving. I was actually surprised to have learned quite a bit about the area from our stop at Rose Hill Museum the day before. If you don’t know the area, you might think LBL is all about recreation, and there’s no history there. That’s exactly what I thought, but I was so very wrong.
So, let me tell you a little bit of what I learned.
Between the Rivers
This area of Western Kentucky, including the narrow strip of land between the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, originally known as Between the Rivers, was a part of the Jackson Purchase that took place in 1818. It was on October 18 of that year that the U.S. government purchased what would become Kentucky’s eight westernmost counties from the Chickasaw Indians.
“The treaty stipulated that the United States would receive lands east of the Mississippi River and north of the Mississippi state line. In exchange, the Chickasaws were to be paid $300,000 at a rate of $20,000 annually for 15 years. The newly acquired land expanded the size of the United States by more than 8,000 square miles, 2,369 of which are in Kentucky. This property constitutes 5.7 percent of the state’s total area.”
With the treaty signed, families of Scots, Irish, and German ancestry began establishing farms and settlements on the lands Between the Rivers, including Golden Pond (est. 1848) and Ferguson Springs. By the 1930s, more than 800 families were living in the region.
Iron Furnace Companies
The 1850s brought the booming Industrial Revolution to the Between the Rivers region. The production of iron was in demand, and Western Kentucky seemed to have everything needed to make it.
“With the availability of iron ore found in natural resources such as hematite, as well as abundant deposits of limestone and timber, the lands Between the Rivers seemed ripe for this industry to thrive.”
At the height of the industry in the region, eight furnaces were located Between the Rivers. Six of those furnaces – Mammoth Furnace, Fulton Furnace, Empire Furnace, Laura Furnace, Iron Mountain Furnace, and Peytona Furnace – no longer exist. The remains of two furnace companies still stand within LBL today: The Great Western Furnace and Center Furnace. Now, before I tell you a little about those two furnaces, let me tell you about iron furnaces in general.
What was an Iron Furnace?
It just so happens that I previously wrote a post about iron furnaces in 2024 after I visited the remains of one in Bullitt County. Here’s what I learned then.
Iron furnaces were sandstone pyramids, typically built with a 25-foot square base and a height ranging from 25 to 40 feet. This pyramid of stone, lined with fire brick, was built along a hillside, allowing easy access to the open top where iron ore, limestone, and charcoal would be dumped into the furnace to be burned in order to extract pure iron from the ore (a process called smelting).
In addition to needing a hillside, a water supply would also be required for power. The all-important bellows, needed to force air into the furnace to raise the fire temperature to roughly 2,192° F, were powered by a water wheel (a few were later steam-powered). A large shed holding casting molds was built in front of the furnace. The liquid iron was released from the base of the furnace into the molds on the floor of the shed.
Once cooled, the iron bars were sent on wagons and/or flatboats to forges and blacksmiths, where the iron would be heated and crafted into utensils and munitions, such as kettles, frying pans, hand tools, nails, wagon wheels, and cannon balls. (Kentucky pig iron was used to craft munitions for both the War of 1812 and the Civil War.)
Pig iron could also be refined further into wrought iron.
Why was it called pig iron?
Of course, I had to know where the name pig iron came from, so I had to do a little more research. The answer was quite silly.
“The moulds were laid out in sand beds such that they could be fed from a common runner. The group of moulds resembled a litter of sucking pigs, the ingots being called “pigs” and the runner the “sow.” “
To read more about the iron furnace in Bullitt County, click here.
The Great Western Iron Furnace
This furnace opened in 1854 and only operated for two years. Built by Brian, Newell, & Co., it was a steam cold-blast charcoal furnace built of limestone. The furnace produced 1,350 tons of iron during that time. The production of high-quality iron required twenty bushels of charcoal, 800 pounds of ore, and 80 pounds of limestone. The pig iron produced here was shipped by river or hauled to rolling mills to the east. The furnace closed in 1856, “due to a lack of ore and a slave insurrection by the furnace crew.” (Historic marker) The furnace is located at the intersection of the Trace & LBL Road #204 in Tennessee.
The Center Furnace
This furnace was established in 1852 by Daniel Hillman and operated intermittently through 1912. The community that developed around the furnace was named “Hematite for the blood red ore found in the surrounding hills.” (photo below) The entire community was dedicated to the production of the iron and to those who worked to produce it. All business operations took place at the company store. Workers were paid in scrip that could only be spent at the company store.
The furnace ran 24 hours a day, six days a week. In 1857, during a 46-week-period, the furnace produced 2,140 tons of metal, enough iron to make 4,000,000 horseshoes. Most of that iron was “shipped by steamboat to fabricators.”
The remains of the Center Furnace are located in Kentucky, and we were lucky enough to stumble upon it on our visit.
The Center Furnace at LBL / Photos Courtesy of KHT
Then There was Water
The 1937 Flood was the worst flood anyone had ever seen. The rain began falling in January of that year and didn’t stop for twelve days, dropping 15 inches of rain on the Ohio River Valley. Before the month was over, another 4 inches fell. Flood damage was seen from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Cairo, Illinois. The river crested at the McAlpine Locks in Louisville at 85.4 feet, 30 feet over flood stage! Seventy percent of Louisville was flooded, causing 175,000 residents to flee.
In Paducah, 95% of the city was flooded, and 27,000 people were evacuated. The river crested at 60.8 feet on February 2, 1937, causing damage in excess of $22 million. That’s equivalent to roughly $495 million today.
“The Ohio River Great Flood of January 1937 surpassed all prior floods during the previous 175 years of modern occupancy of the Ohio River Valley. The overall scope of the flood surpassed the major floods of 1884 and 1773, and geological evidence suggests the 1937 flood outdid any previous flood.”
The total flood damage for the entire state of Kentucky was $250 million dollars, which is a large sum any day of the week, but especially during the Great Depression, which lasted from 1929 to roughly 1939/1940. Throw in the Dust Bowl of 1930, and you can pretty much say, our country was in a hot-hot mess! It certainly was not the greatest time to be alive.
And Then There was Planned Water
As I mentioned above, America was in the midst of the Great Depression when the 1937 Flood took place. Just four years earlier, in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created his “New Deal,” which was meant to help America recover by putting people to work. A cornerstone of his New Deal was the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Act. This act “created a public corporation “To improve the navigability and to provide for the flood control of the Tennessee River; to provide for reforestation and the proper use of marginal lands in the Tennessee Valley; to provide for the agricultural and industrial development of said valley…and for other purposes.” (TVA Website)
The TVA had already built several dams when the 1937 Flood took place. That flood was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and now they needed to control the flooding in the lower Mississippi River area. The TVA was ready to take action, and its area of focus was where the Tennessee River met the Cumberland River in Western Kentucky. A dam in this area would protect 6 million acres of land from flooding downstream.
Unfortunately, to protect 6 million acres downstream, 160,309 acres of land would need to be permanently flooded. Some of that land belonged to the families who called Between the Rivers home.
“The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) began constructing a series of dams on the Tennessee River to provide flood control, cheap hydroelectric power and recreational opportunities for the people of the Tennessee Valley from Paducah to Knoxville.
The last dam to be built on the Tennessee River, and the largest, was Kentucky Dam. Construction began in 1938 with the completion done in 1944. During the process, entire towns, families, homesteads, farms and infrastructure had to be relocated for the permanent flooding of the Tennessee River.
Birmingham, Kentucky was one of those towns directly impacted. Located right on the banks of the Tennessee River in Marshall County, the town of a few hundred, for some reason, did not relocate and was simply abandoned. Now the old roads and foundations of the town are under several feet of water in the middle of Kentucky Lake.”
Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley
With the Kentucky Dam complete on the Tennessee River, Kentucky Lake was created, and flooding was, for the most part, controlled. The story was not the same for the neighboring Cumberland River, however. So, in June 1957, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began construction on the Barkley Dam project, which had been authorized by the River and Harbor Act of 1954. The project was designed for navigation, flood control, and hydropower. The dam was completed in July 1966.
Barkley Dam created Barkley Lake, which permanently flooded 47,570 acres of land in Kentucky. As you might guess, many of these acres were a part of the Between the Rivers region.
“The [Kentucky] dam and reservoir displaced thousands of residents and submerged several towns, but a significant diaspora from the region didn’t occur. Most people relocated to nearby communities. Some moved from the banks of the Tennessee to homes on the Cumberland to remain river people, while others moved to Between the Rivers. Several families were displaced multiple times by the public projects that followed.
In fact, less than 20 years later and a mere 2 miles away from Kentucky Dam, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed Barkley Dam on the Cumberland River. Again, an enormous reservoir filled to create Lake Barkley, named for Kentucky native and former U.S. Vice President Alben Barkley, the original Veep. Eddyville and Kuttawa were relocated to nearby higher ground and rebuilt as “new” towns; the “old” towns were then demolished in preparation for the higher water levels. A few original houses remain at both sites, as well as the Kentucky State Penitentiary perched close to a limestone bluff in Old Eddyville.”
Kentucky Dam Village Convention Center and Kentucky Dam Marina / Photos Courtesy of KHT
From Between the Rivers (BTR) to Land Between the Lakes (LBL)
In 1938, the same year the construction of Kentucky Dam began, President “Franklin D. Roosevelt, by Executive Order, created the Kentucky Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge using the land the government owned between the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers.” (Four Rivers Explorer) This was a 57,000-acre tract of land the U.S. government had acquired over several years.
Then, in 1963, after the Barkley Dam construction had begun, President John F. Kennedy announced a new plan. The land that would remain between the new Kentucky Lake and soon-to-be Lake Barkley would become a national recreational area. The government already owned 57,000 acres of land between the newly developed lakes; they just needed the remaining 170,000 acres to make it happen.
“The plan would return the Between the Rivers area to a wild, natural state to attract visitors for camping, hunting, hiking and other recreational activities. To accomplish this, every house, farm, business, school and church had to be acquired by TVA through the government’s power of eminent domain. Each parcel would be cleared, every structure demolished, and most signs of human settlement erased.”
Residents of Between the Rivers in both Kentucky and Tennessee protested and fought a great fight to keep their property, including a lawsuit that went all the way to the federal courts. In the end, the residents lost, and over 800 families (2,500 people) were forced to leave. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was put in control of purchasing the property from the residents and enforcing their removal from the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. The majority of residents left the area by 1970. The final resident to leave was Cleo Griffin, a World War II Veteran, who was allowed to stay in his home in Model, Tennessee, until 1989.
Cemeteries Remain
While small communities, like Golden Pond in Kentucky and Model in Tennessee, are gone, more than 270 cemeteries remain to remind us of a time gone by. Some of these cemeteries are in very remote locations within the 270,000-acre peninsula. A non-profit, Between the Rivers, Inc., was created to help care for and maintain these sites, although, as stated above, some are very difficult to access.
Maps are available online that designate the location of known cemeteries.
The Nickell Cemetery within LBL in Kentucky / Photos Courtesy of KHT
Our Visit…
The one thing that I knew about LBL was the Elk and Bison Prairie, and I knew we wanted to see it, so my daughter and I got up early from our stay in Grand Rivers and headed for the prairie. It took us about 45 minutes. The drive was gorgeous – just a two-lane road for as far as you could see – with nature on both sides. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that.
We finally arrived at the gate, paid the $5 fee, and began our very slow drive around the loop.
“The Elk and Bison Prairie spans 700-acres of lush, native grasslands that have been enclosed to conserve a natural habitat for the elk and bison that had once disappeared from this region. A 3.5-mile road loops through the prairie, allowing you and your family to view all sorts of wildlife, including turkeys, various species of birds, small game and a number of prairie mammals.”
I drove so slowly, and my daughter kept her head on a swivel, looking in every direction as the hills rolled and then flattened, looking around brush and under trees from the car window. You can not get out of your car, so you have to keep your eyes open. I highly recommend binoculars. My daughter finally spotted a herd of buffalo in the distance near some trees. I pulled onto the edge of the road, put the car in park, and grabbed the camera. I had to zoom in so much that the pictures came out blurry.
We had returned from our family vacation to South Dakota the month before, so while we couldn’t see these bison up close, we knew what they looked like. We had been very blessed to see them quite close when we visited Badlands National Park near Wall, SD.
We finished our time with the bison and got back on the loop. Now, I wanted to see an elk. This was an animal I had never seen, ever, and I wanted to see one so badly. After spotting the bison, I was hopeful. We continued the same slow drive, head on a swivel action that we had started the loop. To our disappointment, we never saw another animal. No elk. No additional bison. No birds. Nothing.
We completed the loop, exited the gate, and were ready to head back north. My next stop was the Woodlands Nature Station. I had seen it on the map when I was looking for directions to the Elk & Bison Prairie. In this particular case, I didn’t think it was a great idea to just wander throughout a 270,000-acre wildlife refuge, likely without a signal, so I had somewhat of a plan.
As we neared the nature station, I spotted the remains of Center Furnace that I discussed above. That was a complete surprise and was the beginning of my understanding of the history of the area. I pulled off the road, took pictures of the furnace. As I returned to the car and began to pull back out onto the road, my daughter and I spotted a rather unique animal. We had never seen anything like it. I zoomed in on it from the car window, snapped a few photos, and hoped I’d be able to learn something of this animal later. (I thought at first it was an elk. 🤣 As I said, I have never seen one!)
Unique Deer
Upon my return home, I jumped right in to learn about this gorgeous creature we had spotted in LBL. I quickly learned that this was a fallow deer. There are about 60 of these wild deer roaming LBL, and they are often seen near the Woodland Nature Center, exactly where we had seen them.
Fallow deer are actually native to Europe, but a few herds have been brought to the United States.
“In 1918, the Hillman Land Company owned large tracts of land in what was then known as Between the Rivers. In that year, the company introduced a herd of fallow deer to the area for the purpose of recreational hunting. The herd is now believed to be the oldest of its kind in the United States.”
Fallow deer keep their spots into adulthood, and fallow buck antlers look more like a moose than a deer. I believe the male we spotted may have been an adolescent as he did not yet have the moose-like antlers.
After reading about this special herd, I realized just how lucky we had been to see not just one but two and how lucky we had been to get such a close look at him. I am beyond giddy that he turned to look at me just as I zoomed in on him from the car window.
At this point in our travels, we were both getting hungry, and I still wanted to stop off at the Nickell Cemetery I had seen on our way into LBL. As we passed the cemetery earlier that morning, I told my daughter that we would stop on our way back out. She was not surprised, but she may have been a bit annoyed by the time we got back to the cemetery. As I said, we were both getting hungry. She does not handle hunger well. So, I quickly took photos at this cemetery. It was right off the Woodland Trace National Scenic Byway, the main two-lane road that runs North/South down the center of the peninsula.
I jumped right back in the car, and we said goodbye to Land Between the Lakes. Next stop, food and Kentucky Dam. It was on our way to our final destination of Paducah.
Unfortunately, as you see in our photos above, I clearly put the wrong destination into my Google Maps app. We ended up at Kentucky Dam Village Convention Center and Kentucky Dam Marina instead. I very much wanted to see the dam, but we had missed it and did not want to backtrack. It was already later in the morning, and we still needed to make it to Paducah and home before the day was done.
…and Reflection
This area had so much more history than I ever dreamed possible. It’s certainly not the history I’m used to chasing, as it didn’t include one large home and one main family. In this particular case, I do wish we had known more of the history before we arrived. I believe we would have enjoyed the area even more. I just thought we were there to see the bison and elk that lived on the land so many years ago, as we are not boaters or lake people. While we stumbled upon the furnace and a cemetery, I really would have enjoyed visiting the Golden Pond Visitor Center if I had known the history the way I do now. At the time, I didn’t even know it was there! Looking at the map now, we were really close when visiting the bison prairie. We probably saw a sign, but I didn’t think anything of visiting a pond. If only I had known it wasn’t a pond, but the reminders of a town that once was and the people that lived there. This is the downside to doing my research afterward.
I will say this, though, LBL doesn’t go out of its way to shout the history from the hilltops. As I said, it was actually at our stop the day before at Rose Hill Museum that I learned the most history of Between the Rivers, the TVA, the dams and lakes, and the terrible heartbreak so many families went through as their family’s land was basically stolen from them. (Yes, they were paid for their land, but they ultimately had no choice but to take what was offered. When your land has been in your family for numerous generations, it doesn’t matter how much you are offered; it won’t be enough. Your land is priceless to you, and you’ll feel like it was stolen from you.) It was after my return home that I learned of all the small communities, like Golden Pond, that no longer exist because of LBL.
Truly, I could go on and on, but I eventually need to bring this post to a close. Ultimately, I think the dams were needed to help with the overall flooding. It stinks that we had to flood communities to control flooding, but it’s what needed to be done. I don’t know that we needed to create the additional 174,000 acres of “recreational area” that required forcing even more families off their lands, but we have it now.
Now that I have seen the history that lies within LBL, and I know about even more, I think LBL has a little bit for everyone. History, hiking, nature, beautiful wildlife, fishing, hunting, boating, and more are available in Western Kentucky’s Land Between the Lakes National Recreational Area. If you enjoy any of the above, I think you’ll enjoy a day out in nature. Just make sure to know where you are headed before you go!
Interested in knowing more about Kentucky’s man-made lakes and the facts behind them? Check out these Facebook videos I created: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
Excellent post! I remember your 2024 post about the furnace as well. It’s nice that you tied this one to that one! I’d recommend reading the newest Silas House book “Dead Man Blues” for a (fictional) take on how the creation of the LBL affected the families involved. It’s mostly a mystery but it does detail the area and it’s people. Thank you for reporting on yoru historic travels!
Thank you for such a wonderful compliment! I will certainly grab a copy of Mr. House’s book. I’ve wanted to read something of his for awhile now. This sounds like a great place to start.
Loved this report! You needed more time to explore the local, no frills, eateries. I remember a place in Eddyville that served the most delicious hamburgers! A place in Cadiz had wonderful white bean soup! Guess we were just very lucky because while driving thru the Elk and Bison prairie, the bison walked right alongside our car. We had to stop until they decided to move away.
We were definitely on a whirlwind tour and did not have the opportunity to enjoy special local stops. I was trying to squeeze in as much as possible in a short amount of time. You were also very lucky in the prairie! I think it just depends on the day, right? We made sure to get there early, too, but we still had no luck with the elk.