1954 Map of Middlesboro North

About this map

Pine Mountain State Park and the Kentucky Ridge State Forest dominate this mid-century landscape in Bell County, where industrial development and conservation efforts overlap. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad winds along the Cumberland River and Yellow Creek, serving coal-focused communities like Wasioto, Meldrum, and Ferndale. Evidence of the region's extraction economy is visible through the presence of strip mines located near Binghamtown and Middlesboro in the southern portion of the sheet. Local social structures are clearly defined by numerous mountainside institutions, including the County High Sch, the County Infirmary, and many small congregations such as Ward Chapel Sch and Old Cannon Creek Ch. To the southeast, the nascent Cumberland Gap National Historical Park preserves the corridor where the Wilderness Road once guided pioneers through the gap.