Hensley Settlement

(Catching up on backblips)

Friday 6 June
This morning we had booked a tour from the Visitor Center of Hensley Settlement. The only way to get there is either to hike for 8 miles return, with a significant elevation change, or take the tour. Hensley Settlement was one of many small communities that developed around Cumberland Gap. Around 1900 Burton Hensley acquired 200 acres of land on top of Cumberland Mountain. The land had already been cleared for logging. He divided the land among his children, including 21:acres to his daughter Nicey. In 1903, her husband Sherman decided to move their family up there. Other families joined them and a small community developed, peaking at about 100 people. They farmed, raised animals, traded with others in the area, the children went to a one room schoolhouse, which also served as the church. Yet, as improvements came to Appalachia, the settlement remained isolated, with no proper roads or electricity reaching the area, so by the 1940s people started leaving for more modern conveniences in the valley, with Sherman Hensley being the last to leave in 1951, and it was in the 1950s that the National Park Service acquired the land and started restoring some of the buildings. To get to the settlement, we were driven in a 10-seater van with rugged tires, initially along regular roads to the other side of the mountains, then you come to a gated, one lane dirt road, which winds its way up the mountain. Fortunately, our driver has driven the road many times, and is well used to it, but when questioned by Roger, he admitted the first time was a bit of a “white knuckle” experience! As we were about to leave the Visitor center, we had a short sharp rain shower, which we weren’t expecting till later in the day. Fortunately it soon stopped, and we had dry partly sunny weather for our tour on foot of the settlement. Our guide was very informative, and it was a beautiful location. We had been instructed to take a lunch, so having completed the tour, we sat at some picnic tables, eating our sandwiches and chatting with another couple on the tour. I had literally just finished eating, when the rain returned, so we all piled into the van, and set off back down the mountain. We then had time for a shortish hike, staying mainly dry, before returning to the campground late afternoon as the rain seemed to be becoming more persistent!