Burkesville, Kentucky

==History==
Burkesville began as a small riverside settlement even before the [[Iroquois]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Indians]] officially sold the land in 1768. The settlement was originally called '''Cumberland Crossing'''. In 1846, it was incorporated as a city and named Burkesville after Isham Burk, a prominent citizen leader at that time.

Just as Kentucky was a border state in the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], so was Burkesville a border town. Burkesville stood on the Cumberland River, a major natural barrier between opposing forces, so [[Union Army|Union]] and [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] troops as well as [[Guerrilla warfare|guerilla]]s led by [[Champ Ferguson]] sparred across the countryside. Confederate General [[John Hunt Morgan]] tore through the area while conducting [[Morgan's Raid]], and Confederate General [[Hylan B. Lyon]]'s raids in December 1864 burned seven [[courthouse]]s, ending with the one in Burkesville on January 3.

Burkesville was a fairly busy river port whose heyday came during the latter part of the nineteenth century, when water transportation was the most feasible way to move large quantities of goods. The rise of larger craft, such as the riverboat, required diligent dredging of the riverbed to keep it navigable so far upstream. The last steamboat docked in Burkesville in 1929, the year after the first major road was opened to the larger city of [[Glasgow, Kentucky|Glasgow]], {{convert|40|mi}} to the west. The river's head of commercial navigation moved from Burnside (which has a railroad) to Burkesville (which does not) when the U.S. Army [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Corps of Engineers]] began building [[Wolf Creek Dam]] without a lock about 25 miles upstream before World War II. The dam controlled flooding that had plagued the town from its beginning, but was the last nail in the coffin of commercial navigation. The corps' impoundment of [[Dale Hollow Reservoir]] in 1944 gave the town a tourist and fishing trade, and development of a trout fishery on the river from the dam to Burkesville has also provided a small economic boost, as has development of Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park.

Burkesville had a [[Pack Horse Library Project|pack horse library]] serving rural residents in the late 1930s and early 1940s.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13535913/|title=Pack Horse Library|date=8 November 1938|work=Kingsport Times|access-date=3 September 2017|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Today the main routes of access to the city are State [[Kentucky Route 90|Highways 90]] and state [[Kentucky Route 61|61]]. KY 90 East and KY 61 South are part of the [[Appalachian Development Highway System]]; Burkesville has the only 90-degree turn in an APD corridor, because the original route was moved west to please Tennessee Congressman [[Joe L. Evins]] and perhaps Kentucky Congressman [[Tim Lee Carter]] of Tompkinsville. An old-fashioned [[town square]] sits on Main Street, which splits and forms a circle around the Cumberland County [[court house]], the third incarnation of the structure. The first was built by [[Thomas Lincoln]], the father of [[Abraham Lincoln]]. Original buildings ring the square on three sides; the fourth was razed to make way for a modern justice center, completed in 2006. Two streets branch off perpendicular to Main: River Street runs straight toward the Cumberland River and provides access to the town's only public boat ramp, while Hill Street immediately begins scaling the Alpine Hill that towers over the city. This road was the only access to the city from the west for many years until Highway 90 was rerouted through a gap called the Sawmill Cut, site of a small sawmill until the road was further modernized in the 21st century. Highway 61 North was most recently modernized; the highway and park improvements were pushed by Burkesville lawyer David Williams as president of the state Senate from 2000 to 2013.