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From: <>
Subject: [RHEA-L] Kentucky Turnpikes and Ferries
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 23:31:59 EDT

Subj: TIP #181 - KENTUCKY TURNPIKES AND FERRIES
Date:98-09-10 07:54:54 EDT
From: (Sandi Gorin)
To:

TIP #181- KENTUCKY TURNPIKES and FERRIES

Very early in my tips I covered the old trails. Today we will turn our
attention to the Turnpikes which criss-cross Kentucky, some old, some new.

THE KENTUCKY TURNPIKE:
This turnpike connected Louisville in Jefferson Co to Elizabethtown in
Hardin county. It was the first section of a north-south road which ran
from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. The turnpike was begun in
Bullitt County on 25 July 1954 and opened 1 August 1956. Later, an
extension was added from Watteson Expressway in Louisville to the Eastern
Parkway.

LOUISVILLE AND NASHVILLE TURNPIKE:
This was the most widely known name for the toll road that extended in the
middle 1800's from Louisville through Elizabethtown, Munfordville, Glasgow
Junction (Park City), Bowling Green and Franklin down to the Tennessee
line. Authorization for the building of this turnpike dates back to 1825
when then Governor Joseph Deska promoted construction of two turnpike roads
- one being a Louisville-Nashville road by way of the Green River. It was
chartered in 1829 and was known as the Louisville, West Point and
Elizabethtown Turnpike Road Company. In 1833 another charter was issued to
build a road from Louisville to Bowling Green. Other amendments followed in
1837, 1838 and 1847 and the road was divided into 5 sections, each under
separate management. Work actually started in 1837 and by 1849 there were
106 miles completed, each with toll gates every five miles. According to
old records, there was heavy usage of this road until the completion of the
Louisville & Nashville Railroad. The turnpike, thought really unnamed but
the route from Louisville to Nashville, which passed through Bardstown, New
Haven, Buffalo, Uno, Bear Wallow, Glasgow, Scottsville and Gallatin, TN was
most commonly called the Louisville and Nashville Turnpike. This turnpike
later became part of the western route of U.S. 31W running from Sault Ste.
Marie, Michigan; going south through Louisville, Nashville and ending in
Fort Myers, FL.

MAYO TRAIL:
This road was completed in the 1920's and the highway ran 250 miles from
Ashland on the Ohio River, through Big Sandy watershed, across the Pine
Mountain to Pineville on the Cumberland River. Here is connects with US
25E. Of the original road, US 23 and US 119 follow the original road. This
was the principal highway running into the interior of the mountains until
the Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway and I-64 replaced it in the 1960's. This
was a graveled road and was completed in 1928.

MT. STERLING-POUND GAP ROAD:
This was the longest road built by the State of Kentucky in the eastern
mountains prior to the Civil War. The General Assembly authorized surveying
a route from Mt. Sterling, Kentucky to Virginia in 1817. The road extended
94 miles and was used for driving livestock to Virginia markets. In 1838,
the Legislature turned over management of this road to the various counties
through which it passed. It came into high usage during the Civil War in
the movement of troops between central Kentucky and Virginia. US 460
follows this route to some degree.

FERRIES:
Nine ferries were established in Kentucky while it was still part of
Virginia. They were located on the Ohio, Cumberland and Kentucky Rivers.
Each county where a ferry was built was responsible for the management of
same. They were allowed to establish the rules and regulations for the
operation of the ferry including: exemting ferry owners from paying taxes
or from serving on the maintenance of roads, the establishment of taverns
near the ferries, etc. The oldest ferry in the state was opened by Colonel
Richard Callaway at Boonesborough, located on the Kentucky River in 1779.

According to the Kentucky Encyclopedia, time has erased the names and
locations of many of these original ferries except when settlements grew up
around them. Some whose memory still exists include: Shyrock's ferry, the
St. Louis Transfer Train Ferry, the ferry at Henderson, Clay's Ferry, and
the Valley View Ferry across from the Kentucky River between Fayette and
Madison Counties. In checking Collin's History of Kentucky, I have fund
reference to these ferries and landings.

Kentucky River: Lane's Landing, Ball's Landing, Burn's Landing, Woodford
Landing, Utterback's Landing, Shyrock Landing (shown above), Wilson's
Landing, Wilhoit's Landing, McConn's Landing, Munday's Landing, Cogar's
Landing, Shaker Ferry, Clay's Ferry. (no counties shown).

Green River: Mason's Landing, Calhoun's Ferry, Harreldson's Landing,
Bottom's Landing, Payne's Landing, Clark's Ferry, Clark's Landing, Graham's
Landing (no counties shown).

Cumberland River: Nine Mile Ferry (Livingston), Harmon's Ferry
(Crittenden), Neeley's Ferry (Cumberland), Scott's Ferry (Cumberland),
Morman's or Monticello Landing (Wayne), Waitsboro or Somerset Landing
(Pulaski).

Along the Elizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad: Comb's Ferry
(Fayette).

Ferries were pulled across the river by attaching the boat with a sliding
hitch to a rope or cable which ran from bank to bank. Other ferries were
known as "teamboat ferries" and were operated by one to eight horses who
walked a treadmill or pushed a sweep around a capstan which moved a wooden
paddlewheel on the boat. The boat was box like is shape and could only
carry 1-2 horses and riders. In the larger areas, ferries had a ramp which
helped board the passengers and could carry wagon and buggies. Tolls were
set which varied from year to year but typically were 5 cents for one
person; 10 cents for horse and rider; 25 cents for horse and buggy; 30
cents for buggy and two horses. There was a railroad ferry which operated
across the Mississippi River which linked St. Louis & Iron Mountain
Railroad in Belmont, MO with the Mobile and Ohio Railroad in Columbus, KY.
Using a steam hoist, the cars were lifted.

Copyright 10 September 1998, Sandra K. Gorin, All rights reserved,


Sandi Gorin - A Kentucky Colonel
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