Breckinridge County KyArchives News.....From Trails to Roads, part 2 November 17, 2021
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Dana Brown http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00005.html#0001067 March 12, 2022, 8:10 pm

The Herald News Newpaper November 17, 2021
FROM ROADS TO TRAILS, PART 2
BY LESLIE GALLOWAY HAYCRAFT
THE HERALD NEWS NEWSPAPER 
11/17/2021 EDITION

	In 1798-1799 Joe Huston had come with several other people from Hardin’s Fort to
settle in the Cloverport area.  Deer were plentiful and the only paths to follow
were those of animals, but with clearing of an ax and steady use, they became
trails.  A trail along the Ohio River became beaten down and later a road cleared
for people to be able to bring goods they purchased from the river boats into the
county.  The trail that Huston travelled from Hardin’s Fort to Cloverport (then
called Joesville) became well used and would eventually become Highway 60.  The
section of road following the Ohio River between Cloverport and Stephensport became
known as River Road and was still referred to as such as late as 1909.  Today this
road is named Old Cloverport Holt Road but appears to come to a dead end if one
didn’t know the old road bed.
	For farmers the river town became as important shipping point to deliver their
goods.  Roads were too bad early on to deliver fresh produce by wagon to the Eastern
Seaboard or to New Orleans, so travel on the Ohio River provided a way for them to
sell and receive goods and supplies from other places also.  Tobacco was an
important product for local farmers as well as hemp and corn.  Beef and pork were
butchered, salted down and shipped in barrels to preserve it.
	Due to the growth of the town and importance for travel to the shipping route,
state legislature approved a bill for a road to Cloverport in 1821.  Going south
from Cloverport the road ran to Ball Town, Tick Ridge, Morton Town and then
Rockvale.  From Rockvale the road reached the Falls of Rough on the county border
and over into Short Creek and Caneyville with its destination Bowling Green where it
met at Honiker’s Ferry.  It was noted that the road had 30 feet of right of way so
it was wide enough for two wagons to meet which would have been a great improvement
of any road at that time.  Many of the roads approved to be built during these years
were turnpikes but records of this road refer to it only as the “Cloverport
Bowling-green (old spelling) Road.”  These roads often took years to create but were
appropriated some funding for repair since they were an official state road.
	Throughout the county dirt paths had continued to be followed from the original
buffalo and Indian trails.  Mostly dirt, the roads throughout were not maintained by
the State of Kentucky.  Locals who lived along the roads had to fend for themselves
if there was an issue and farmers used their own equipment and muscle to repair any
issues.
	As the population grew there were a few stagecoaches running routes through
Breckinridge County to larger towns.  Dirt roads would have been used by wagons,
horses and stagecoaches making for interesting terrain.  Rocks and water would have
been two factors to keep the roads in disrepair.  Rocky terrain continued to be hard
on wheels of wagons or carriages but progression in farm equipment may have helped
to keep some of those rocks more easily cleared from the paths.  Remember initially
it was just an ax and some muscle to make the way through the wooded land.
	Most of the roads continued to follow the same path through hills and along the
river as earlier settlers discovered that the buffalo had some good habits.  Buffalo
tended to cross waterways at the most shallow spot and they followed the crest of
the hills so that water ran off their path.  Their paths may have been winding and
steep but they turned out to be the safest for humans and animals too.
	One stagecoach previously mentioned in my history stories is the stagecoach station
at Prince of Wales (now Garfield) that was owned by the Wales family.  It was
located near “deadman’s curve” on current day Hwy 60.  From Hardinsburg there was a
road headed through Garfield in the direction of Elizabethtown and Louisville, but
this had not been made an official turnpike yet.  In the 1830’s travel on the road
would have been wooded and 2,000 acres of the area was The Wales Plantation (from
what would be Harned in later years to Garfield).
	Following this road led people towards the Old Pioneer Trail or the original
Wilderness Trail which had been widened and improved by the state.  Even later the
same Wilderness Trail would be called The State Road.  That trail had developed
branches leading to the communities and towns which had developed after settlers had
received land grants off the beaten path of Daniel Boone’s main trail.  Buffalo
paths were plenty in Bullitt County due to salt licks being plentiful so there were
several trails headed towards Breckinridge County for people to follow and then pick
up on what would be Hwy 60.
	Another road in the county that follows Ky 144 from Hwy 60 to Holt and Stephensport
used to be referred to as “Stagecoach Road.”  There was a hotel on the river in
Cloverport for travelers to stay as well as wealthy merchants and riverboat captains
who may have used stagecoaches personally.  That section of road is much today as it
would have been when travelled by people going to and from Cloverport by way of
Stephensport.
	Stagecoaches continued to be a way of travel and later on when the railroad came to
the county more inns and stations sprang up as a result of the traffic.  They were
very important in helping communities develop around the traveler’s need for rest
and food but initially were on the main paths.  Wealthy individuals also used
stagecoaches and references to politicians are found in many historical documents. 
Travel by coach was from three to seven miles per hour according to the road
conditions.  There was a stagecoach running from Hardinsburg to Muldraugh a few
years later which travelled by way of Dent’s Bridge which probably delivered mail.
	As Breckinridge County grew and travel was higher on all of the roads, people
requested assistance on roads for repair.  Commerce was the main factor in the drive
for better roadways and larger turnpikes began to be approved by the state
legislature.  Turnpikes were not popular due to the toll fee but perhaps the only
way to get the road system started at that time.  By the mid 1800’s the county will
have turnpikes and roads that will greatly improve a way of life for all the
citizens.  The improvement of roads begins and will continue to be a political
issue.


Additional Comments:

Copied from original article, with permission from Leslie Galloway Haycraft
(reporter) and the Herald News newspaper, from their 9/8/2021 edition.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/breckinridge/newspapers/fromtrai570gnw.txt

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