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1929 Map of Byrdstown

Name: 1929 Topographic Map of Byrdstown
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1948
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1948

About this map

Albany, Kentucky, and Byrdstown, Tennessee, anchor this borderland survey, illustrating the rural landscape before the regional transformation brought by mid-century reservoirs. The map reveals an intricate network of one-room schoolhouses like Snow Sch and Ewing Sch, alongside numerous country churches including Smyrna Ch and New Bethel Ch. This density of civic and religious institutions reflects a late-1920s agrarian society where travel was still dominated by natural river crossings.

Transportation relied heavily on the seasonal levels of the Obey River and Wolf River, with Franklin Ferry, Babb Ford, and Riley Ford providing essential connections. Industry is represented by localized milling operations such as Porter Poore Mill and Beatty Mill, while landmarks like the Almshouse and Natural Bridge provide social and geological context. For genealogists, the inclusion of family-named sites like Tompkins Cem and Abstons Corner offers precise locations for ancestral homesteads.