Hensley Settlement is an Appalachian

living history Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to ree ...

museum on Brush Mountain,

Bell County, Kentucky Bell County is a county located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,097. Its county seat is Pineville. The county was formed in 1867, during the Reconstruction era from parts of Kn ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The settlement is part of the

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park The Cumberland Gap National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park located at the border between Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, centered on the Cumberland Gap, a natural break in the Appalachian Mountains. The park lies ...

and it is located approximately north of the park visitor center on Ridge Trail. The settlement contains twelve homestead log cabins, a one-room school house, and a blacksmith shop. A restored

spring house A spring house, or springhouse, is a small building, usually of a single room, constructed over a spring. While the original purpose of a springhouse was to keep the spring water clean by excluding fallen leaves, animals, etc., the enclosing stru ...

on the property was used by the settlement as food storage. The settlement began in 1903 when brothers-in-law Sherman Hensley and Willy Gibbons settled their families on plots from acreage purchased by Barton Hensely, Sr. Most inhabitants belonged to either the Hensley or Gibbons families. The settlement never developed modern infrastructure or technology. The last resident was Sherman Hensley, who left in 1951. The school, together with some forty-five settlement structures and the agricultural environment, were restored to their original state in the 1960s by the

Job Corps Job Corps is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free education and vocational training to young men and women ages 16 to 24. Mission and purpose Job Corps' mission is to help young people ages 16 throug ...

Background

The settlement dates back to 1845 when Governor William Owsley deeded on top of Brush Mountain in the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

. Brothers C. and R.M. Bales, who received the land from Owsley, leased the acreage to John Nichols and Jim Nelson, who mostly used the property for livestock. They cleared the property and made some improvements, including the construction of shake-roofed

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

log cabins.

Hensley

In 1903, Burton Hensley Sr. purchased the entire acreage and divided it into sixteen individual properties for his extended family. Hog farmer Sherman Hensley and his wife Nicey Ann, Barton Sr.'s daughter, moved into an existing lob cabin on her allotted twenty-one acres. The couple purchased an additional thirty-three acres. The following year, Nicey's niece Nancy and her husband Willy Gibbons also moved to the self-sustaining settlement. Most of the inhabitants of the settlement were named either Hensley or Gibbons, belonging to one of those families. The settlement never had electricity, indoor plumbing, modern roads or other conveniences. Everything was grown, raised and hand-made in the settlement. People traveled by foot or by riding a horse. A

was used for food storage.

School house

In 1908, Bell County provided a teacher for the newly erected one-room school house. Originally the school house was little more than a lean-to, erected so the Bell County Superintendent of Schools would agree to send a teacher for the settlement children. The school taught students up through the 8th grade. By the time the school closed in 1947, four different structures had served as the Brush Mountain school. The final structure was a log cabin that was heated by a wood and coal stove made of cast iron and located in the middle of the room. The school had no indoor plumbing or electricity. The student desks were made of wood and cast iron.

Later years

The population peaked at about 100 in 1925. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

residents moved away to either join the military or to work in the coal mines. Nicey Ann Hensley died in 1937. The population dwindled until 1949, when Sherman Hensley was the only resident. When Hensley finally abandoned the property in 1951, the settlement fell into disrepair.

Today

The settlement was dedicated as part of the

on July 4, 1959. The

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

and the

began making improvements in 1965, restoring some forty-five settlement structures and the agricultural environment to the prime time of the community. The National Park Service runs the Appalachian Hensley Settlement as a living history museum. It conducts tours of the forty-five settlement structures and agricultural resources May through October.

References

External links

Guided tours of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
- includes Hensley Settlement
Hensley Settlement
- Harlan County Tourism

NPS {{Kentucky Appalachian culture in Kentucky Museums in Bell County, Kentucky National Register of Historic Places in Bell County, Kentucky Geography of Bell County, Kentucky Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky Houses in Bell County, Kentucky Open-air museums in Kentucky Log buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky