The Gasper River is a
[U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data]
The National Map
, accessed June 13, 2011 river in southwestern
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
, United States. It flows northeasterly into the
Barren River
The Barren River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 13, 2011 river in western Kentucky, United States. It is the largest tributary of the Green River, which drains ...
. It is a rural river; the only community near it is unincorporated
Hadley in
Warren County Warren County is the name of fourteen counties in the USA. Some are named after General Joseph Warren, who was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War:
* Warren County, Georgia
* Warren County, Illinois
* Warren County ...
. It begins in northeast
Logan County Logan County is the name of ten current counties and one former county in the United States:
* Logan County, Arkansas
* Logan County, Colorado
* Logan County, Idaho (1889–1895)
* Logan County, Illinois
* Logan County, Kansas
* Logan County, ...
, and the river also flows through Warren and
Logan counties. Tributaries include Belcher, Salt Lick, Brush, Clear Fork, Westbrook, and Rock House creeks.
It is about wide and has a few small rapids. It is considered a mid-difficulty stream for canoeing.
The name, "Gasper River," is a corruption of "Casper's River," as clearly named on John Filson's map of Kentucky (1784), and bears the namesake of Kasper/Casper Mansker, longhunter and pioneer of Kentucky and Tennessee. Mansker's Station was located due south near present-day Goodlettsville, Tennessee.
At the confluence with the Barren River is Sally's Rock, used as a river pilot's guide. It is named for Sally Beck, a local who delivered news to passing river boats in the 1880s.
The river was part of a land grant given to George Washington Jr., nephew of
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
, the president. He surveyed the land in 1785. The Gasper River was site of the home church of Reverend
James McGready, and religious revivals were held on its banks as early as 1797, constituting the first ever open-air
tent revival or
camp meeting
The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in England and Scotland as an evangelical event in association with the communion season. It was held for worship, preaching and communion on the American frontier ...
. In 1800 McGready began a revival at the nearby
Red River Meeting House, which sparked the
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. R ...
, and many of the congregants present were from the Gasper River church.
See also
*
List of Kentucky rivers
List of rivers in Kentucky (U.S. state).
By drainage basin
This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name. All rivers in Kentucky flow to the Mississippi River, nearly all by virtue o ...
References
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Rivers of Kentucky
Rivers of Warren County, Kentucky
Rivers of Logan County, Kentucky