Surrounding® Harrison County above Cynthiana!

 

SURROUNDING® HARRISON COUNTY ABOVE CYNTHIANA

Up north, not horse country.  Rugged, but not mountainous.  No bluegrass.  Knotty high ridges of slumping beds of shaley rock layers.  Up in the “Boondocks,” say the flatlanders below.

“Boondocks,” you say?  Terrific!  That’s where I want to go.  And I’m not disappointed today!

This is striking land that rims the famous Inner Bluegrass horse farms surrounding Cynthiana.  Down there, the high school mascot is the “Thorobreds.”  Up here, in Oddville, their mascot was once the “Bobcats.”  And in 1890, there were two general stores serving people still moving in. 

Let’s go to the “Quiet Trails State Nature Preserve.”  That’s way over there along the Licking River proper as it clips the northeast corner of Harrison County.  To get there, you have to want to be there™.  Perhaps it is in a part of Kentucky that you’ve never seen.  It’s worth a ride to drive on in!

Alright, I don’t often suggest traveling along freeways.  But they are sometimes handy routes to get you going.  

Interstate 75 was built through in 1975 and runs from Tampa and Miami in Florida, to Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan at the Canadian border.  Drive north from Lexington, or south from Cincinnati.  Get off at Exit 144.  There is a sign with directional arrows for Owenton to the west and Corinth to the east.  Head to Corinth on Route 330 and slow down.  That will lead to a refreshing change in attitude.  

At U.S. Highway 25, halt and look at the handsome old, three-story brick building that was the center of the community.  It once housed the Post Office, whose stately etchings still mark the building.  

At one time, it served as the “Corinth Community Worship Center.”  But the building has fallen on hard times.  Some windows are broken, curtains blowing out in the wind.  But it still looks strong.  Like the community, I think.  A common American brick pattern, binding together the layers of brick still standing.  I can imagine its proud history, the human one, with people passing in and out long before it was easy to get around.  

I can remember the old times, too.  It makes me smile as I drive through.

This town is spread out along the ridgelines built into this region.  Drive the road behind the brick building.  Look at the long sidewalk and fence curving along the high slope falling beyond.  People care about this place.  The Cincinnati Southern Railroad came through in 1876 and highlighted its importance.  Drive around and look at the houses.  Many lives have lived out in these significant structures.

Why the name Corinth?  It was originally a stage stop on the way from Covington to Lexington.  The name was taken from an old church constructed, which, in turn, reflected the old Christian traditions of Corinth, the old Greek city. 

Now, turn right on U.S. Highway 25.  That federal highway was established in 1926 and ran from Michigan to South Carolina [it now runs between Covington, Kentucky to Southern Georgia].  Don’t worry.  You won’t be on it long.  Immediately south of Corinth, turn left [east] on Stringtown Road.  Cross over the double railroad tracks.  

Why Stringtown?  I don’t know, couldn’t figure it out.  Is it just a crossroad junction? But there must be a reason for its name.  And there are at least five other Stringtowns in Kentucky.  Let me know if you discover its origin.

This is how roads were originally built.  Weaving around on the top of a windy ridge crest, honoring what still resists what nature is trying to slice down, clawing in with the eroding rock creek cleavers below!  

There is something satisfying in being required to make winding turns so slowly, only to seemingly turn back around and head off in another direction.  Nature’s geometry.  It’s beautiful, I think.  But I’m not in a rush.  I hope you won’t be either.  You are driving along the northern boundary line of Harrison County, Kentucky.

I pass substantial homes on this relatively narrow, unstriped asphalt laneway.  Why would people live out here?  Perched up high on a strip of land that drops off precipitously directly behind them.  I’ve got some thoughts about that, but must wait until I drive farther within.

What Stringtown once was, it seems less so today.  Turn right on Route 36, but not for long.  Turn left on Route 1032.  Now we are getting somewhere!  We are heading to Berry on the South Fork of the Licking River.  The one that heads upstream to Cynthiana and almost licks Lexington.  There’s another railroad down there, too.

The Licking River system in Northeastern Kentucky is a big deal in this region.  Rising in the mountains east of Salyersville, Kentucky, it heads northwest, picking up its North Fork and heading down to its South Fork connection at Falmouth.  It discharges in Northern Kentucky, opposite Cincinnati, its banks separating the Kentucky cities of Covington and Newport.  

In fact, the original settlement of Cincinnati was called “Losantiville,” an amalgam of phrases in four different languages to mean, “Town opposite the mouth of the Licking River.”  The name was constructed by pioneer historian John Filson, who disappeared while surveying the new town immediately thereafter.

The landscape is beginning to open up.  Berry on the river is an agricultural community.  The South Fork of the Licking River is cutting through the Eden Shale ridges and opening up into the Inner Bluegrass of Kentucky.  It collects her waters after bathing the lands around Winchester, Lexington, and Paris, and passing through Cynthiana, the Queen of its Kingdom. 

This is land on which to grow things.  Ancient phosphorus-bearing soils breeding strong bones in thoroughbred racehorses.  

What’s not to like in Harrison County, Kentucky!

Berry lies in a lovely valley as the South Fork of the Licking River begins to open up into its upstream reaches.  A perfect place for a river crossing!  George Berry saw its potential and built a home there in 1836.  Incorporated in 1867, the town formed up around and the Covington and Lexington Railroad built through in 1854.  Just in time for the Civil War.  

By 1896, Berry boasted a population of 250.  It had a hotel and a livery, two blacksmiths and a meat market, a constable and an undertaker, two physicians and a distiller, two general stores, but no lawyers.  And there was a Railroad Station back then in Berry!

Now, here is where getting lost gets so interesting.  If you weave through town after enjoying your picnic lunch at the attractive Town Park [lots of playgrounds, too!], you will find a paved, somewhat maintained, road called “Berry River Road.”  

Oh, I like that name.  Up and over a hill you go and drop down directly adjacent to the river itself.  A better way to understand the reason of a river.  Wonderfully fertile land in this riverbend!

But what’s with that region just across the river?  Why would maps call it “Hell’s Half Acre?”  And there is more than one of those places listed for Kentucky! 

Let’s not follow the South Fork today.  East Northeast we head.  Back up onto those winding ridges, asking again why people would live up here.  Is it because it’s beautiful and each view is unique?  

As I drive and wind around on these good striped roads, I begin to feel it.  The pull of this region.  Concentrated civilization is nearby in Cynthiana and there is good road access to reach it.  But step out of your back door and you drop into solitude.  Just you and whatever other animals live down there together.  Bobcats too, you think?  

Maybe Daniel Boone was on to something.  Something that you can still explore alone in Kentucky.  And I bet it’s dark and quiet at night.  Star patterns will become more meaningful on cool, crisp evenings.  Live here and dream like the pioneers once did!

So, I smile, and drive farther in.  Let’s go to Sunrise in the northeastern corner of the county.  

Why Sunrise?  The ridgeline is kind of tucked in and hidden.  The original name, Pughville, was apparently not acceptable in 1889 when a Post Office was built.  Sunrise was chosen instead.  

People of the Mennonite faith know the value of these sacred places.  I am told that they have been migrating in since the most recent turn of the century.  On the way, we pass the Pleasant Valley Mennonite Church.  And the sign announces that “Everyone is welcome.”

More large homes are sprouting.  People are again being drawn within.  Maybe Sunrise got its name from the falling sun’s rays cascading across its ridges and hidden regions.  This is a pretty place in which to live.  

The crossroads community could use a little refreshing however, but towns and human bodies often need more attention as they age. So, let’s head down Pugh’s Ferry Road, out to the wilderness, and get some exercise hiking within!

This is a precious part of our trip.  A forgotten corner of nature.  Families living out their dreams in nature.  It’s more rugged up here, close to the main stem of the Licking River.  Here, the water is vigorously cutting into the landscapes, pulling down steeper slopes in its eager passage.  

What a great drive.  And you will cross another North-South Federal Highway.  This one is U.S. Highway 27.  Established in 1926, it runs from Ft. Wayne, Indiana to Miami, Florida.  

Can you just imagine what communities the road supported as it funneled citizens from other states through these out-of-the-way places in Kentucky?  One hundred years of new people passing through and visiting.  What automobiles might you have seen racing down the road in the Roaring 20s!  Was it even paved back then?  

At Sunset, go straight and head east on Pugh’s Ferry Road.  It’s hard to believe that this back road has a number, but it does, CR-1035.  It’s really just an unmarked lane.  But now you’re getting into it.  The reason that you came here.  And I love traveling roads I’ve never been on!  

On your right, on the top of a ridge, is a well-maintained parking area.  Pull into the trailhead for the “Quiet Trails” Kentucky State Nature Preserve.  The Commonwealth does a great job with these Kentucky treasures.  Inside is a monument telling us how it came to be.  It says:

“Quiet Trails Nature Preserve

For the people of Kentucky and

Future generations to enjoy

Gifted by Bill & Martha Wiglesworth

Dec. 1991”

Time to get going and hike the “Challenger Trail” down, taking the “Deep Hollow Trail,” headed back up!  About 2.5 miles long, with an altitude change of 300 feet.  Plenty of good cardiovascular benefit!  

We will drop down to the main stem of the Licking River itself, with wood beam steps lowering us across the muddy riverbank to the water.  Solitude again as you stand out on a gravel peninsula jutting out into the river.   Water intensely streams around you, intently seeking its destination in Cincinnati.

I have two videos of this river and the hike down to reach it. Go to my YouTube site [Reggie Van Stockum] and search for the words “Quiet Trails” or “Licking River.”  The trail video can be viewed HERE, and the river one, HERE.

The Deep Hollow Trail is more strenuous, a shorter, more direct route back up to your automobile.  But we are not done yet.  On the way out, keep driving forward on Pugh’s Ferry Road.  I can just imagine the romance of crossing the Licking River up here.  I wonder when the ferry once operated?  On my Civil War map, it shows a road crossing there.  As you swing around to Havilandsville Road, you begin to drive up the wide valley of Richland Creek.  

Robert Haviland migrated here from New York City in 1832, opening a store and a wool operation six years later.  When he became Postmaster, he renamed the settlement, originally called “Travelers Rest,” to his own name.  Richland Creek is part of a long excursion of the Licking River cutting into this region.  Keep heading west to Antioch and back onto U.S. Highway 27.  Then head south.  

We’re heading out, right on through Cynthiana.  Watch the land open up as you enter the Inner Bluegrass region of Kentucky!  

Magnificent!

Let’s stop briefly at the Cynthiana-Harrison County Museum and meet President Mary Grable and Civil War Historian Larry Benson.

This is an old-fashioned museum packed with data and meaningful memories.  These historians do good work.  An excellent place to start in exploring Cynthiana.  There is a wonderful model of downtown Cynthiana.  It is also on my YouTube channel.   HERE is an active link!

We will come back later for further investigation.  But I want to note now, one of the treasures cared for in this museum.  Freshwater mussel diversity!  

Don’t know about it?  It is another gift to us by the Wiglesworth family who gave you the Quiet Trails sanctuary and the hike you just took.  

Here is what the Informational Placard states:

“Shells from the Main Licking River 

near Sunrise, Ky.  Three shadow 

boxes, two on display.  Made by W.

G. Wiglesworth (Donated by family of W.G. Wiglesworth Jr.) #2233A.

Wiglesworth was a lover of nature and bequether  of his family’s legacy for us to admire and enjoy.  So, let’s look at some of these freshwater mussel species collected from around where you were just standing in the Licking River at the Quiet Trails Nature Preserve!

These are freshwater bivalve shells of the Family Unionidae, Phylum Mollusca, and Kingdom Animalia.  Clusters of filter-feeding freshwater mussels living in the river arrayed out in shoals and reproducing like fishermen catching intended fish species.  There they spread out their hooked-equipped, tiny clam-like larvae [called Glochidia] into the waters of the Licking River.  Some even directly into the mouths of specific fish species that they lure in for a fake meal!

I recognize many of these mussels from my river travels in Kentucky.  There are more miles of running water in Kentucky than any other state except Alaska.  And on this display, their scientific names are also given.  Science on notice.  

Terrific!  Science and culture are important elements in a good museum!

Here are the species displayed: 

“Spike or Lady Finger [Elliptio dilatata]; Threehorn Wartyback [Obliquaria reflexa]; Deertoe [Truncilla truncata]; Fanshell [Cyprogenia stegaria (endangered)]; Wabash Pigtoe [Fusconaia flava]; Rainbow [Villosa iris]; Wartyback [Quadrula nodulata]; Asian Clam [Corbicula fluminea (an invasive species)]; Purple Wartyback [Cyclonaios tuberculata]. 

“Monkeyface [Theliderma metanevra (formerly Quadrula metanevra)]; Washboard [Megalonaias nervosa]; Fatmucket [Lampsilis siliguoidea]; Fragile Papershell [Potamilus fragilis (formerly Leptodea fragilis)].

Buckhorn or Pistolgrip [Tritogonis verrucosa]; Flutedshell [Lasmigona costata]; Pink Papershell [Potamilus chiensis (formerly Proptera laevissima)]; White Heelsplitter [Lasmigona complanata]; Pink Heelsplitter [Potamilus alatus (formerly Proptera alata)].

Pretty nifty.  Kind of groovy.  

Welcome to Reggie’s Realm!          

 

 

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