Monkey's Eyebrow is a rural

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Ballard County,

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 to ...

, United States. It is generally the northwesternmost community in the

Jackson Purchase The Jackson Purchase, also known as the Purchase Region or simply the Purchase, is a region in the U.S. state of Kentucky bounded by the Mississippi River to the west, the Ohio River to the north, and the Tennessee River to the east. Jackson's ...

area of western Kentucky that is identified on the highway maps distributed by the

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is Kentucky's state-funded agency charged with building and maintaining federal highways and Kentucky state highways, as well as regulating other transportation related issues. The Transportation Cabi ...

. The community is part of the

Paducah Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Missour ...

, KY- IL Micropolitan Statistical Area. A few different theories exist regarding the origin of the community's unique name.

Overview

There were originally two Monkey's Eyebrows, commonly known as Old Monkey and New Monkey. One was at the top of a small hill, the other at the bottom. There were stores at both locations. Today, there are no stores. According to an article nearly 30 years ago in the county newspaper, the ''Advance Yeoman'', the area acquired its unique name around the turn of the 20th century. A nearby attraction is the state-controlled Ballard County Wildlife Management Area. Goose hunting is a winter activity in Monkey's Eyebrow. A common joke in the region is to provide directions to the city of Paducah by saying "it's halfway between Monkey's Eyebrow and Possum Trot (a tiny community in Marshall County)." The community was formerly frequently mentioned in the sign-off message of

WPSD-TV WPSD-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Paducah, Kentucky, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for Western Kentucky's Jackson Purchase region, Southern Illinois, the Missouri Bootheel, and northwest Tennessee. Owned by ...

in nearby

, as the location of its broadcast transmitter.

Etymology

Monkey's Eyebrow has been frequently noted for its

unusual place name Unusual place names are names for cities, towns, and other regions which are considered non-ordinary in some manner. This can include place names which are also offensive words, inadvertently humorous or highly charged words, as well as place ...

. One theory on the origin of this unique name is that when looking at it from the air, or on a map of Ballard County, it resembles a

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

's head. Monkey's Eyebrow is located where the monkey's eyebrow would be located. It has also been said that, when viewed from a nearby hill, the shape of the town resembles a monkey's eyebrow. Yet another theory of the town's naming is that sometime before 1900, a community resident would go to nearby Needmore to get supplies, instead of going to the local general store and blacksmith shop built and owned by John and Dodge Ray, as the man didn't like his neighbors. It has been stated that the man considered the store to be "only fit for a bunch of monkeys", and that he considered both of its owners to be monkey-like, even having eyebrows resembling those of a monkey. It has also been stated that the man viewed the brush on Beeler Hill above the store as resembling monkey eyebrows.

Notable people

Kelsey Waldon Kelsey Waldon is an American country singer and songwriter. She has released four EPs and six full albums, the most recent being "No Regular Dog" released on August 12, 2022. Early life Waldon was born in Ballard County, Kentucky, and raised i ...

, country singer raised in Monkey's Eyebrow *

Paul Watson Paul Franklin Watson (born December 2, 1950) is a Canadian-American conservation and environmental movement, environmental activist, who founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an anti-poaching and direct action group focused on marine c ...

, musician born in Monkey’s Eyebrow

Overview

Etymology

Notable people

References

Further reading