1954 Map of Mayking

About this map

The Louisville and Nashville railroad winds through the narrow hollows of Letcher County, following the course of the North Fork Kentucky River and Rockhouse Creek. This mid-century survey illustrates a landscape of dense mountain communities, where life was organized around the myriad gaps and branches of the Cumberland Plateau. Small settlements like Mayking, Marlowe, and Thornton are linked by a network of one-room schoolhouses and country churches, such as Beaverdam Sch and Camp Branch Chapel.