Hensley Settlement facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Hensley Settlement
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Brush Mountain School House
Hensley Settlement |
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 Hensley Settlement, Kentucky
Location in Kentucky
Hensley Settlement, Kentucky
Location in the United States
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| Location | Bell County, Kentucky |
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| NRHP reference No. | 80000367 |
| Added to NRHP | January 8, 1980 |
The Hensley Settlement is a special place in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky. It's like a living history museum, showing how people used to live long ago. You can find it on Brush Mountain in Bell County, Kentucky, inside the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.
This settlement has twelve old log cabins, a one-room school, and a blacksmith shop. There's also a restored spring house, which was used to keep food cool and fresh. The settlement started in 1903 when two families, the Hensleys and the Gibbons, moved there. They built their homes on land bought by Barton Hensley Sr. Most people living here were part of these two families. They lived without modern things like electricity or cars. The last person to live there was Sherman Hensley, who left in 1951. In the 1960s, the settlement was fixed up by the Job Corps so people today can see how it looked.
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Life at Hensley Settlement
The land where the Hensley Settlement sits has a long history. Back in 1845, the governor of Kentucky, William Owsley, gave away a large piece of land on top of Brush Mountain. Two brothers, C. and R.M. Bales, got this land. They then let John Nichols and Jim Nelson use it, mostly for their farm animals. These men cleared some of the land and built simple log cabins with roofs made from wood pieces called shakes.
Starting the Settlement
In 1903, Barton Hensley Sr. bought all this land. He split it into sixteen smaller pieces for his large family. His daughter, Nicey Ann, and her husband, Sherman Hensley, moved into one of the existing log cabins. Sherman was a hog farmer. The next year, Nicey's niece Nancy and her husband Willy Gibbons also moved to the settlement.
Most people living here were either Hensleys or Gibbons. They lived a self-sustaining life, meaning they grew all their own food, raised their own animals, and made almost everything they needed by hand. There was no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and no modern roads. People walked or rode horses to get around. They used a spring house to keep their food from spoiling.
The One-Room Schoolhouse
In 1908, something important happened: Bell County sent a teacher to the settlement! A new one-room schoolhouse was built just for the children. At first, it was a very simple building. The school taught students up to the 8th grade.
By the time the school closed in 1947, there had been four different school buildings. The last one was a log cabin. It was heated by a cast-iron stove that burned wood and coal. Just like the homes, the school had no indoor plumbing or electricity. The students sat at wooden desks with cast-iron legs.
Later Years and Today
The Hensley Settlement grew, and by 1925, about 100 people lived there. But during World War II, many residents started to leave. Some joined the military, and others went to work in coal mines. Nicey Ann Hensley passed away in 1937.
The number of people living in the settlement slowly went down. By 1949, Sherman Hensley was the only person left. When he finally moved away in 1951, the settlement became empty and started to fall apart.
Today, the Hensley Settlement is a special part of the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. It was made part of the park on July 4, 1959. Starting in 1965, the National Park Service and the Job Corps worked together to fix up the settlement. They restored about forty-five buildings and the farm areas to look just like they did when the community was at its busiest.
The National Park Service now runs the Hensley Settlement as a living history museum. From May through October, you can take tours to see the old buildings and learn about how people lived there long ago. It's a great way to step back in time!
