Buckhorn Lake ~ Bowlingtown, KY

Thanks to Tiffany Scharbrough for bringing this Ghost Lake to my attention and for sharing this story:

My mother and her family were born in Bowlingtown, KY. It was a small community, divided by a river with a swinging bridge connecting the two sides of the community. In the 1950s, a dam was built at Buckhorn, KY to keep flooding from reaching Hazard. (As a matter of fact, during the famous flood of 1957 men from Hazard held the dam rangers at gunpoint to keep them from opening the flood gates.)

North End of Main St. During Flood of 1957.The Post Office can be seen on the right. 

My mother was born in 1963 and I think they moved away when she was 5. So the official flooding of the town happened in late 1958 or 59. Many families settled in Madison County others followed jobs to Indiana and Ohio.

After moving the families out, my mother's uncle remained in Bowlingtown, disassembling the homes and reassembling them up the mountain on higher ground. There's a family cemetery where many in my family still choose to be buried, necessitating one final boat ride and a steep climb to their resting place. Other cemeteries were moved.

Another of my mother's uncles built wooden replicas of the entire community. These are on display at the Buckhorn Lake Lodge. Unfortunately he couldn't do an exact layout of the town, but each home/building is labelled with the names of the families who lived there.

When the water's down, you can find the remains of homes. I've seen on several occasions the basement of the house where my mother lived. The stones were brought down from the mountain and placed by hand by her uncles.

Several times during the year, the residents (and/or their descendants) come back to Buckhorn Lake Lodge, which has beautiful scenery. Some have kept up the homes that were moved and use them as cabins and cottages. Generally, on Labor Day, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July you'll find a gathering of Bowlingtown's own.

The Lost Community of Bowlingtown
by Jewell Gordon

Long before Buckhorn Lake was created and the state park established in 1964, a small community flourished for many generations here, along the middle fork of the Kentucky River. Early records refer to this area as the Bowling District, founded by Reverend Jesse Boling, his wife Mary Pennington, Reverend Duff and 50 other families. They were led to this remote area under the guidance of Daniel Boone.

By the late 1800's Bowlingtown was a thriving community of hundreds. There was a post office, school, churches, grocery, saw mill, blacksmith and the Frontier Nursing Service. Local officials included a sheriff, magistrate, justice of the peace and tax commissioner. The citizens were primarily farmers and coal miners. They were known to be patriotic, honest, kind, and well-educated people. 

In 1960, when the construction of Buckhorn Lake began, Bowlingtown had to be abandoned: 873 graves were re-interred to Buckhorn Cemetery and families were relocated. All were sad to leave their homeland of seven generations. Continued HERE ...