FINAL PUBLIC REPORT CULTURAL HISTORY OF TWIN MEADOWS PARK OSA Project No. FY09-5719 Prepared for: Twin Meadows Park Master Plan 2008 Lead Agency: Louisville Metro Parks P.O. Box 37280 Louisville Kentucky 40233 (502) 456-8100 Prime Consultant: Mike Smiley Environs, Inc. 11601 Main Street Middletown, KY 40243 Prepared By: Kathryn J. McGrath, Anne Tobbe Bader, and Sundea Murphy Corn Island Archaeology LLC P.O. Box 991259 Louisville, Kentucky 40269 Phone (502) 614-8828 FAX (502) 614-8940 [email protected] Project No. PR8020 Cultural Resources Report No. TR9002 _______________________________________________ (Signature) Anne Tobbe Bader, RPA Principal Investigator December 21, 2009 Cultural History of Twin Meadows Park Contents INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................................. 1 ENVIRONMENTAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS ................................................................................................................... 7 ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT .......................................................................................................................................................... 7 Physiography ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Geological Resources ........................................................................................................................................................ 8 Soils ................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Flora and Fauna .............................................................................................................................................................. 10 PREHISTORIC CONTEXT .............................................................................................................................................................. 12 Paleoindian Period (10000 to 8000 B.C.) ........................................................................................................................ 12 Archaic Period (8000 to 900 B.C.) ................................................................................................................................... 14 Woodland Period (900 B.C. to A.D. 900) ......................................................................................................................... 18 Mississippian (A.D. 900-1838) ......................................................................................................................................... 21 HISTORIC CONTEXT ................................................................................................................................................................... 23 African Americans ........................................................................................................................................................... 27 Early Settlers and Industries ............................................................................................................................................ 28 Religion ........................................................................................................................................................................... 30 Civil War Activities .......................................................................................................................................................... 30 Agriculture ...................................................................................................................................................................... 32 Communication and Transportation ............................................................................................................................... 34 Early Towns, Estates, and Communities ......................................................................................................................... 38 BACKGROUND RESEARCH ................................................................................................................................................ 49 ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORDS CHECK AND LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................... 49 HISTORIC STRUCTURES RECORDS CHECK AND LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................... 54 CEMETERIES RECORDS CHECK AND LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................................. 55 HISTORIC MAP REVIEW ............................................................................................................................................................. 56 DEED RESEARCH AND GENEALOGICAL REVIEW ............................................................................................................................... 62 ORAL HISTORY ................................................................................................................................................................. 67 CULTURAL RESOURCES IDENTIFIED .................................................................................................................................. 88 ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES ............................................................................................................................................................ 88 HISTORIC STRUCTURES .............................................................................................................................................................. 92 TRADITIONAL CULTURAL PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................................... 94 CEMETERIES ............................................................................................................................................................................ 94 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 95 REFERENCES CITED ........................................................................................................................................................... 99 ii Cultural History of Twin Meadows Park Figures FIGURE 1. SEGMENT OF JEFFERSONTOWN, KY USGS 7.5' TOPOGRAPHIC MAP SHOWING PROJECT APE. ......................................................... 2 FIGURE 2. LOCATIONS OF THE MAHONEY PROPERTY AND CHARLIE VETTINER PARK WITHIN THE FERN CREEK-SEATONVILLE-JEFFERSONTOWN TRIANGLE. ............................................................................................................................................................................ 3 FIGURE 3. RESIDENCE IN THE FALL OF 2008. ........................................................................................................................................ 4 FIGURE 4. VIEW OF THE PROJECT AREA. .............................................................................................................................................. 4 FIGURE 5. PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS OF KENTUCKY. .............................................................................................................................. 8 FIGURE 6. SOILS MAPPED FOR PROJECT LOCATION. ................................................................................................................................ 9 FIGURE 7. LAND WARRANT FOR COL. WILLIAM FLEMING (KENTUCKY SECRETARY OF STATE 2008). ............................................................. 26 FIGURE 8. LAND WARRANT FOR JAMES GUTHRIE (KENTUCKY SECRETARY OF STATE 2009). ........................................................................ 27 FIGURE 9. EXAMPLE OF A MILL. THIS EXAMPLE WAS HIGNITE’S MILL ON BULLSKIN CREEK ........................................................................... 29 FIGURE 10. EXAMPLE OF AN INTERURBAN CAR; THIS ONE RAN TO OKOLONA IN 1907. ............................................................................... 36 FIGURE 11. ONE OF THE NEAREST URBAN CENTERS: BONNYCASTLE IN 1935. ........................................................................................... 37 FIGURE 12. THE WORK OF A BLACKSMITH IN 1935. ............................................................................................................................ 39 FIGURE 13. MONUMENTS FOR SOME THIXTON PIONEERS. .................................................................................................................... 46 FIGURE 14. LEWIS AND MARY SHANE THIXTON OF PORTLAND. ............................................................................................................. 46 FIGURE 15. EXAMPLES OF THIXTON, MILLET & CO. BRANDS. ................................................................................................................ 48 FIGURE 16. ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEYS WITHIN 2-KM OF THE CURRENT PROJECT APE. .............................................................................. 51 FIGURE 17. PROJECTILE POINTS RECOVERED FROM 15JF435 AND 15JF437 (GRANGER 1982, ILLUSTRATIONS BY GREG PENNER). ................... 53 FIGURE 18.