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Bell County Historical Society

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Mission Statement:

The purpose of this society shall be to accumulate material relative to the history of our county (or region); to collect books, pamphlets, maps and artifacts for the purposes of establishing a reference library and museum for the use of the community and tourists alike; to preserve and to encourage others to preserve valuable historic buildings and monuments; to mark sites involved in community history; and to share the knowledge gained in these pursuits through publications, pageants, programs, and involvement in the Kentucky Historical Society program; and to support an active genealogy, cemetery records and church histories program.

Check out these e-books

     The Conquest of the Old Southwest: The Romantic Story of the Early Pioneers into Virginia, The Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kentucky
1740-1790  by Archibald Henderson

      The ADVENTURES of Col. DANIEL BOON;  containing a NARRATIVE of the WARS of Kentucke.  From The Discovery and Settlement of Kentucke by John Filson

 

 

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Bell County, Pineville & Middlesboro, Kentucky are located in the Southeastern part of the state.

     Bell county was formed in 1867.  Named for Joshua Fry Bell, lawyer and congressman. It is located in the eastern coal field region of the state. The elevation in the county ranges from 975 to 3500 feet above sea level. In 2000 the county population was 30,060 in a land area of 360.77 square miles, an average of 83.3 people per square mile. The county seat is Pineville. The Cumberland Gap is in Bell County, just south of Middlesborough, on the border between Kentucky and Tennessee.

        The first explorers in the area are believed to have been Dr. Thomas Walker (great-grandfather of Joshua Fry Bell) and his party, who passed through the Cumberland Gap in 1750. Between the 1770, and early 1800, thousands of settlers entered Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap. During the Civil War, both Confederate and Union armies recognized the strategic value of the Cumberland Gap, and it was fortified and occupied by one or the other army at various times during the conflict.

The land had rich mineral resources. Crude iron furnaces were erected early, including the Clear Creek, Owing, and Bourbon iron works. By the 1880, the timber and mineral resources of the region attracted the attention of foreign investors, who established Middlesborough.

     Pineville, the seat of Bell county, is located on the Cumberland River where it cuts through Pine Mountain. It was settled in 1781 as Cumberland Ford and a post office by that name opened in 1818. The name Pineville was also in use at an early time and was used when the town was laid out as the seat of the new county in 1867. The post office was renamed in 1870. The population in 1990 was 2,198.

     Middlesborough is a Bell County town northwest of the Cumberland Gap. Located on what became known as the Wilderness Road, native people and explorers often moved through the area. Settlers began arriving about 1810 and the area was known as Yellow Creek. In 1889 a planned mining and manufacturing city was begun with European financing. It was called Middlesborough after the city in England. The manufacturing enterprises never materialized and the backers were bankrupt by 1893. The post office opened in 1888 and in 1894 began using the spelling Middlesboro. Both spellings are still in use. The population in 1990 was 11,328.

     Cumberland Gap National Historical Park is situated on and around Cumberland Mountain in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. It was established in 1940 to preserve the historical Cumberland Gap area, one of the best passes through the Appalachian Mountains. The park entrance is in Middlesboro on

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