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1954 Map of Whitesburg

Name: 1954 Topographic Map of Whitesburg
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1956
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1956

About this map

Whitesburg serves as the hub of this 1950s landscape, situated along the North Fork Kentucky River where the Louisville & Nashville railroad snakes through the narrow valley. The topography is defined by the sharp rise of Pine Mountain, which separates the northern watershed from the headwaters of the Cumberland River to the south. This era shows a dense network of mountain communities and rural infrastructure, including schools such as Oven Fork Sch and Middle Cowan Creek Sch.

Evidence of the local economy is found in the scattered mines and a quarry near Ermine, while the southeastern corner reaches into the Jefferson National Forest and touches the Virginia border at Pardee. Small family-named branches like Johnson House Br and Henry Maggard Br feed into the larger river systems, illustrating how the rugged geography dictated the patterns of early Appalachian settlement and transport.