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Laurel County’s Introduction To World p Is Through Dr. Thomas Walker In 1750The first* introduction In the world of what Is now Laurel county, in Ulq middle of the great wilderness west of England's colony of Virginia, was through its cotil, which has always been one of the area’s principal natm'iii ru sources.Woods Block H ouse MarkerThat introduction was by Dr,;Thomas Walker who, with an intrepid little band composed of Ambrose Powell, William Tomlinson, Colby Chew, Henry Lawless and John Hughes, had act out from his home in Virginia on Mnich b, 1750, “to go to the Westward in order la discover a proper Place for a Settlement/' for the Loyal Land Company of London,Englaml.In this search he was not too successful, but his trip and his report of it so kindled a fire of adventure that within a quarter of a century there would be a permanent settlement in a land of plenty he failed to reach. Rumors of it had already reached the earn ^of ml venturous men and women who had become weary of the limitations of opportunities along \ the seaboard, and of the ever diminishing hunting grounds arul the dwindling of the game on the western frontiers of the colonics.Hr. Walker Through I .mu red CountyThc-y had conic through Cave (Cumberland) Gap on April :13 th, be Tug the first white people to make that crossing, and ba?L camped on Cumberland river about j-rlW? six miles from Barbourvllle long enough to explore down-river to mouth of Meadow creek and “build an House 12x8, clear'd and broke up no me ground, and planted Corn, and Peach Stones, thereby establishing homestead rights, before proceeding on a northwestern-Jy course April 30. On May 5th—Plicilo hy J. Winston Coleman, 3r THIS HISTORICAL MARKER was erected at the silo or Laurel county's first permanent building, erected at The Hazel Patch before 1793 b (£ra John Woods nnd used as :i temporary homo about 1799 by JoJinuthitaMcNeill while he built liis home on Raccoon, Where the Roones Tracomill Skaggs Trace part, it was a haven for travelers and protection. anf]Hr. Walker entered what is now Laurel county and made this entry in his juomal:“Sth. Wc got to Tomlinson’s j River, which is about the size of!andagainst depredations by Indians. This picture Illustrated one of a. the-serius of articles on Historic Kentucky” by J. Winston Coleman, Jr.,'inand was published in The Lexington HcniUl-Leatler, May 18, 1952.dressed an Elk skin Lo make ( a Bfrpnm in urn-1 Indian Slices—most of outs be-antl- continue dripping till almost Sun rise, as if it rain’d slowly.
Newspaper Details
London Sentinel Echo
London, Kentucky, US
Thu, Feb 06, 1919
Page 54
Full Page
Clipped by
Alex S.
USA 17 May 2024
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London Sentinel Echo
