Greenup County
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About this ebook
James M. Gifford
James M. Gifford serves as chief executive officer and senior editor of the Jesse Stuart Foundation, a regional publishing house. Dr. Gifford�s coauthors, Anthony and Suzanna Stephens, are eastern Kentuckians who own and operate a graphic design business in Ashland. The authors gathered photographs from dozens of personal and library collections.
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Greenup County - James M. Gifford
County.
INTRODUCTION
Greenup County, located in northeast Kentucky, lies approximately halfway between Ashland, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio. It is a land of wooded hills and clear, fast-moving streams that empty into the Ohio River, which forms the county’s northern border. The land surface ranges from rich river bottoms to rolling hills with beautiful forests of oak, maple, hickory, ash, and pine covering veins of coal and iron ore.
Settlers first came to the Greenup County area in the mid-18th century. By the late 1700s, settlers from the eastern United States and immigrants from Central Europe formed the first settlement in Kentucky. They carved farms from the hardwood forests and grew vegetables, tobacco, and sorghum. Lucy Virgin Downs, the first white child born west of the Alleghenies, lived in Greenup County. Jesse Boone lived near the town of Greenup, and his famous brother, Daniel Boone, often visited him. D Boone killed a bar
was carved on a tree in Greenup County after one of his visits. By 1800, John Womack operated a mill, tannery, and store at Oldtown.
In 1803, a growing population created Greenup County—named for Kentucky governor Christopher Greenup. Greenupsburg, originally the county seat, was incorporated in 1818; however, the name was changed to Greenup in 1873 to avoid confusion with another Kentucky town.
By 1850, there were 19 blast furnaces in Greenup County. Blast furnaces, fueled by local coal and timber, melted iron ore. Charcoal furnaces made from local stone produced iron before and after the Civil War. The Buffalo Iron Furnace, employing 150 men, could produce 15 tons of iron in 24 hours. Today the furnace remains preserved at Greenbo Lake State Resort Park.
As the county’s population grew, social classes developed. The poorest were timber cutters, furnace laborers, and tenant farmers who lived on isolated hills and in remote, often landlocked, hollows. Separated from the people of the Ohio River towns by finances, culture, and geography, the hill people developed a live-off-the-land lifestyle that combined hard work and ingenuity. Men cut timber to build log cabins and rove shingles for roofs. Women spun and wove wool for clothes. Many of today’s Greenup Countians descended from these proud, independent, and often clannish hill folk
who became the inspiration for many of the world-famous books, stories, and poems by Greenup County native Jesse Stuart.
Throughout the 19th century, Greenup County was primarily an agricultural and mining area, but by the 20th century, its economy diversified because Ashland Oil, a Fortune 500 company, maintained a large corporate headquarters complex in Greenup County. Armco Steel’s two large blast furnaces, a large rail yard (now CSX Transportation), and a number of surface mines also provided employment to many people who continued to reside on small farms while supplementing their income with tobacco and other agricultural crops. Today Greenup County’s top employers are Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital (1,150), AK Steel (1,087), AT&T Mobility (630), Greenup County Schools (475), Russell Independent Schools (290), North American Refactories (150), and Pregis (118).
Rural but not isolated, today Greenup County is served by U.S. 23 and the AA Highway, which enters U.S. 23 near the northern end of the county. Interstate 64, running east and west, can be accessed at Ashland and Grayson, and a new industrial parkway links Interstate 64 and U.S. 23 at Wurtland. Air service is provided at the Ashland Regional Airport in Worthington, and commercial air service is available at the Tri-State Airport nearby in Huntington, West Virginia. More than 30 trucking companies serve Greenup County, and the business sector is also served by barges on the Ohio River.
In 2010, Greenup County’s 37,388 residents enjoy a rich history and diverse economy, which are reflected in sites visited by cultural tourists, including the McConnell House, a restored 19th-century plantation home. There are also several old iron furnaces, restored covered bridges, and markers and monuments devoted to famous citizens like author Jesse Stuart and former major league baseball player