A Glimpse of the Past

The Pine Knot Banking Company was founded October 6, 1906 by J. L. Harmon, J. W. Hutchison, John West, P. M. Stephens, and W. B. Creekmore. The bank was an impressive building and the first brick building in what later became McCreary County. The bank was in continuous operation from 1906 until February 1924. At…

L-R: Jane Bryant Meadows (stirring); Lewis E. Meadows (partially hidden); Artie Meadows; Jesse Meadows (baby); Irene Meadows Jones, wife of George Jones, holding baby; Kelsie Meadows (stirring), Ted Bryant (partially hidden by smoke), and Johnny Meadows Last week the McCreary County Museum shared a picture of a sorghum (molasses) stir-off from Nevelsville circa 1933. The…

As a young girl, I was thrilled when my grandpa and grandma, John and Otie Ball Martin, took me to the sorghum stir-off on the farm of Fred Martin, grandpa’s youngest brother. The old horse would plod along lackadaisically in a circle turning the press used to distract the liquid from the cane stalks that…

August 10, 1941   The position of timekeeper was an important one since they logged the time employees of the Stearns Coal and Lumber Company worked, including overtime, and forwarded this information to the payroll department. This picture of the timekeepers was taken Sunday, August 10, 1941, at the Stearns Coal and Lumber Company Corporate…

Master Moonshiner and Loving Family Man Alonzo was born to Carter and Tabitha Stephens in the Stearns mining town of Barthell on October 10, 1916. He joined the Army during WWII and served as a military policeman, having the honor of being one of the MP’s assigned to guard both Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and…

In the early 60’s, television reception was received via an antenna outside one’s home. To change to one of two (on clear days, three) channels the antenna often had to be turned. My Dad would be outside on the roof turning the antenna while one of us children was posted at the door to relay…

The year was 1962, and although my sister and I didn’t realize it, finances were tight in the Kidd household. My father, Elvis Dean Kidd, was attending Cumberland College and working to support his family of three by raising chickens in my Grandma and Grandpa Kidd’s chicken house and cutting pulp wood. My mother, Glenna…