Glens Fork is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

located in Adair County,

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, United States. Its elevation is 810 feet (247 m). Glens Fork is located in a region of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

, so the land is perforated by many

sinkholes A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are also known as shakeholes, and to openings where surface water ...

and small

caves Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance underground (such as rock ...

. Most of the area is a

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

landscape, where there is no direct drainage into any streams, but instead the rainfall goes directly into sinkholes. There are several undeveloped caves in the area, including the Helms Caves which contained American Indian artifacts.

History

This community has been variously known as Glens Fork, Glennsville or Glenville (not to be confused with Glenville in McLean County) and Hardscratch and was named for its location on Glens Fork of Russell Creek, which was in turn named after David Glenn, whose hunting party camped in the vicinity while securing supplies for

George Rogers Clark George Rogers Clark (November 19, 1752 – February 13, 1818) was an American military officer and surveyor from Virginia who became the highest-ranking Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot military officer on the American frontier, nort ...

's Illinois Campaigns. Glenn and another hunter, William Stewart, had a cabin here used to store meat for the

Harrodstown Harrodsburg is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Mercer County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 9,064 at the 2020 census. Although Harrodsburg was formally established by the Virginia House of Burgesses after Boo ...

settlers as early as the fall of 1777. David Glenn was one of Harrod's company of Kentucky Pioneers who founded Harrodsburg in 1774. The first deed at the Adair County courthouse dates from June 29, 1802, with the post office established on September 2, 1857, and discontinued on July 31, 1863, because of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. The post office was re-established on October 10, 1865, and has been in continuous operation since then. The name "Hardscratch" may refer to a Civil War campsite where living was hard. On March 25, 1872, the town of Glenville was established by an act of the

Kentucky General Assembly The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It comprises the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets annually in th ...

. The town boundaries were established as one-quarter of a mile in every direction from the northeast corner of the

Masonic Hall A Masonic Temple or Masonic Hall is, within Freemasonry, the room or edifice where a Masonic Lodge meets. Masonic Temple may also refer to an abstract spiritual goal and the conceptual ritualistic space of a meeting. Development and history I ...

, which was established as the center of town. At some point, the town government was discontinued, and Glens Fork became an unincorporated place again.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Adair County, Kentucky Unincorporated communities in Kentucky