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1953 Map of Brodhead

Name: 1953 Topographic Map of Brodhead
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1954
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1954

About this map

Brodhead serves as the primary hub of this 1950s landscape, situated where the Louisville and Nashville railroad meets the historic Wilderness Road. The map documents a transition from the rolling terrain of Bowling Ridge to the bottomlands of the Dix River. This era shows a distributed rural community supported by a dense network of local institutions, including the Negro Creek Sch, Gum Sulphur Sch, and numerous country churches like Watts Chapel and Cupps Chapel.

Evidence of early settlement patterns remains visible in family-named landmarks and cemeteries such as Brock Cem and Coffey Cem. The map's detail preserves the complex hydrography of the region, tracing the paths of Copper Creek and Negro Creek as they weave through the hills of Rockcastle, Lincoln, and Garrard counties. This topographic study captures a moment when traditional rural infrastructure—the schoolhouse, the local chapel, and the fairgrounds—remained central to life in central Kentucky.