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Show 4 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON Imagine a great parallelogram made of log; cab Ins set end to end, their common outside wall bo Ins the wall of the fort, and loopholed. At the four corners of the parallelogram the cabins Jutted out, with ports In the angle in order to give a flanking fire in case the savages reached the palisade. And then there were huge log gates with watchtowera on either side, where sentries sat day and night scanning the forest line Within the fort was a big common dotted with forest trees, where such cattle as had been saved browsed on the scanty grass. There had been but the one scrawny horse before our arrival. And the settlers! How shall 1 describe them as they crowded around us Inside the gates? Some stared at us with sallow faces and eyes brightened by the fever, yet others had the red glow of health. Many of the men wore rough beards, unkempt, and yellow, weathern-worn hunting shirts, often stained with blood. The barefooted women wore sunbonnets and loose homespun gowns, some of linen made from nettles while the children swarmed here and there and everywhere in any costume that chance had given them. All seemingly seem-ingly talked at once, they plied us with Question after question of the trace, the Watauga settle- ments. the news in the Cnrollnas, and how the war went. . . . Of course, the love of the frontier was in the grain of these men. But what did they come back to? Day after day would the sun rise over the forest and beat down upon the little enclosure In which we were penned. The row of cabins leaning lean-ing against the stockade marked the boundaries of our diminutive world. Beyond them, invisible, lurked a relentless foe. Within, the greater souls alone were calm, and a man's worth was set down to a hair'B breadth. Seme were always to be found squatting on their doorsteps cursing the hour which-had Been tlvem depart for this land; some wrestled and fought on the common, for a flst fight with a fair field and no favor was a favorite favor-ite amusement of the backwoodsmen, . . . So the summer wore away, while we lived from hand to mouth on such scanty fare as he two of them 6hot and what we could venture to gather in the unkempt fields near the gate. A winter of famine lurked ahead and men were goaded near to madress at the thought of clearings made and corn planted In the spring within" reach of their hands, as it were, and they might not harvest it. SUCH Is the picture of an American scene l.r0 years ago which Winston Churchill painted In his book, "The Crossing." For If you remember that great novel of a ' quarter of a century ago, you will recall that Churchill was writing of those American., who, In the words of Arthur Gulterman, the poet, . . . Built their lonely stations and the logs were cut and hewn By the breed of Simon Kenton and the blood of Daniel Boone. They stood behind the loopholes In their rugged palisades Through hot and weary sieges, attacks and ambuscades. am-buscades. They shot and made their sallies till the Shawnees broke and fled, While the women charged the rifles and the women shaped the lead, Tbe women nursed the wounded and the women watched by night. The women brought the water through the peril of the fight. Tbe mothers never faltered; and the sons that then were small Grew as Hunters of Kentucky and were Btrong and brave and tall. And this "great parallelogram made of log cabins eet end to end" was he cradle of Ken-tacky, Ken-tacky, the first English settlement west of the Alleghanles, the place which has been aptly called the "Hamestown of the West" historic Uarrodsburg. Although the stirring events which took plo-ce within and around Its walls are now a century and a half In the past, that historic past still lives. Go to Uarrodsburg today and you will nib your eyes In astonishment. For there you will see "these logs and cabins, broiling In the midsummer sun," much as Churchill has described them, and as you walk through the "huge log gates," which stand Invitingly open, It Is easy to forget 'that you arc living In the Twentieth century America of radios and automobiles automo-biles and airplanes and It Is easy to believe that some magic has carried you back to that far-off time when the nation was In the making. For on the edge of the modern city of Uarrodsburg, Uarrods-burg, Ky Is a park which has been presented to the state by the citizens of Uarrodsburg as a memorial to her pioneers, and dominating all of the other reminders of ' the past Is a heavily-stockaded heavily-stockaded enclosure, a replica of Harrod's fort As you stroll across the grassy common Inside Its walls, It Is not dlfllcult to peopfe those cnblns around with you with the pioneers who once lived and loved, labored and fought and (some of them) died there. Over in that doorway stands James Ilarrod, tall, massive, strong, active, d'.gnllied. one of the handsomest ren of his time." Look through the doorway of that cabin and there you might see a young man, tall, squiire-bnllt. sun-widened, eandy of hair, his piercing blue eyes scanning Intently the papers which litter .the hand -hewn table before which he sits. It is George Itogers Clark planning his conquest of the British forts In the Illinois country. From another cabin comes the sound of voices In loud dispute. There Is an angry note In the deep, course voice of a short, thick-set man. For Hugh McGary Is a hot-tempered hot-tempered man, a brave man but a rash and hasty man as the story of the disastrous battle of Blue Licks testifies. Equally brnvejare Joseph Bow-man, Bow-man, John Floyd, John Todd and Benjanilr Logan, but they cannot persuade Hugh McGary And then speaks up the quiet voice of inotLet ' - V.Y ..-.'..4 - Portraits of Hamilton and Clark from Qualfe'e "The Capture of Old Vincennes" (courtesy of Bobbs-Merrfll Co.). Photographs of the fort and Lincoln' cabin by the author. 9 around whose broad mouth there Is always the trace of a smile and In whose blue eyes there glints always a kindly but determined look. And all of them listen, for this man Is Daniel Boone. But not all of the imaginary Inhabitants of Harrod's Fort which you might see are fighting men and generals and empire builders. From one of the cabins conies the hum of young voices and as you peep through the window you see the homcspun-clnd form of Mrs. William Coomcs, nround whom are gathered a group of youngsters learning their letters from paddles, crude reproductions of the old English horn-.hooks horn-.hooks of Queen F-IIzaboth's time. For this Is the first school west of the Alleghanles. But before some stupid or mischievous child learns that these paddles have another use at the hands of Mistress Coomcs, let us Investigate the steady hum which comes from another cabin. For there sits Anne McGIuty at the spinning wheel which she has brought with her over the. long mountain trail and she Is busy spinning the thread of combination com-bination buffal wool and lint from wild nettles. Back of her stands tne loom which she has resigned re-signed for weaving the coarse but warm cloth which so many of the pioneers of Harrod's Station Sta-tion are wearing. "Anne also experimented with nuts and barks for dyeing her goods, for, having an artistic eye, she was not satisfied with the drab tones of the natural colors," one of the charming women of Uarrodsburg, who act as guides through the fort, will tell you. ".The Inner bark of white wnlnuf produced dull yellows; blnck walnut, dark browns; Indigo, blues; madder, dingy reds; oak. purple; cedar berries, dove or lead color. With these pretty colors the women made bright dresses of the linses'-woolsey, and the voinan who could originate the most beautiful combination of colors or declgru, the most perfect 'broken plaids, was a woman of note. Anne wns rarely skillful and full of energy and sr. soon as the Indians had scalped a husband, she selected ul will from the waiting list before her."' Little wonder that the citizens of the Ihirrods burg of today have taken pains to recreale the atmosphere at-mosphere of the past and to take prldt In the history of their city. For they lave undisputed claim to the following "historic firsts." The first white settlement of Kentucky, 1771. The first white child born In Kentucky. The first summer resort In Kentucky. Tie first court for Kentucky county. The first school In Kentucky. The first sermon preached In Kentucky. The first Presbyterian Presby-terian church organized In Kentucky The tlrst representative from Kentucky In the Continental congress. The first election In Kentucky, sending Ceorge Rogers Clark and GuhiiH Jones to the Virginia legislature. The first Sunday school organized In Kentucky. The firs spinning wheel for making llnsey. The first grist mill driven by water (near Uarrodsburg). The first nn- course In Kentucky. The first manufacturing of pottery, fabrics, plows, etc. At the intersection of two of the principal streets In narrodsburg stnnds a granite boulder with a bronze tablet bearing this Inscription, "Krected by the Womun's Club of Harrodshuifc honoring the Mother Town of Kentucky, founded June 10. 1774, and remembering the first mothers of ihe west to enter the wilderness: Mrs. Daniel Boone, Mrs. Richard llogan, Mrs. Hugh McGary, Mrs. Thomas Denton. A tribute from the womanhood of the present to the womanhood of the past, June 10, 192G." Although that simple Inscription suggests the glory of HnrrodsburE's historic past, It Is not until one visits the pioneer memorial state park, previously referred to, that the past can be visunlized. For besides the replica of the fort, there one finds a monument erected by the same Womnn8' club to that "Washington of the West" George Rogers Clnrk. Nearly, too. Is the pioneer cemetery. Old Fort Hill cemetery it Is called, In which lie burled more than 500 of the pioneers of that region. In, front of the fort .. stands another reminder of the past, .41 log cabin, which has a compelling' interest for all visitors. st Swjjy For It Is the log cabin In which Nancy Hanks lived when a girl and in which she was married to Thomas Lincoln by Rev. Jesse Head of Uarrodsburg. Uar-rodsburg. a Methodist circuit rider. In this cabin, which stood originally on the Lincoln farm In Washington county but which was moved to the Uarrodsburg park several years ago, Thomas Lincoln and hi3 bride lived for two or threu years before moving to the farm near Hodgen vllle where on February 12, lSO'J. this pioneer mother gave birth to the son who was destined to become one of the great men of all time Abraham Lincoln. Uarrodsburg gets Its right to the title of "The Mother Town' from the fact that on June 1C 1774, a party of settlers led by Col. James Ilarrod. pitched their camp beside a big spring ou Its site and proceeded to lay off a town there. They assigned one acre In-loti on eudi side of the street running east and west and ten acre out-lots out-lots to each of the Inhabitants. They theu proceeded pro-ceeded to build four or five cabins on their In-lots and drew lots for cabins scattered over a wide territory which were called "lottery cabins." Soon after their arrival they were Joined by Isaac Hite, a surveyor, and another parly of men. While they were busy planning the town, Daniel Boone and Michael St oner, messengers from Lord Dunuiore, who had come SOU tuilee In G2 days to warn the. venturesome pioneers lu Kentucky that the Indians were on the warpath, arrhed. While there Boone became Interested In their plans and was given a lot In the new town, adjoining that of Bvan Hinton. A double log cabin was built to serve both Boone and Hinton and stood there until It was burned by the Indians In 1777. Thus It will be seen Boone had a hand In settling Uarrodsburg before he did the town which bore his name. The settlers at Uarrodsburg remained there until July, then, as a result of the warning bi ought by Boone and Stoner, returned to take part In the Dunmore war and fought In that bis torlc engagement, the battle of Point Pleasant. On March lf, 177ft, Ilarrod and his dettlers returned re-turned to make their permaneni settlement at Uarrodsburg (since Boone began his fort at Bonneborough, April 1. 177o, Uarrodsburg has a priority of more than two weeks over Boones-borough Boones-borough us a permanent settlement). By Sep tember S the wives and families of the Uarrodsburg Uarrods-burg settlors bad arrived and. finding the original fort Inadequate and scarcely safe: as a defense from the Indian attacks which were sure to come, a second and larger one was built on old Fort Hill. "Within Its narrow confines that stockaded stronghold contained all the elements that have made Kentucky famous courage and kindliness which distinguished such leaders as Boone and Uarrod and Logan; religion as practiced by Rev, John Lythe and Squire Boone, who came with Bible In one hand an ax In the other; culture and statesmanship as exemplified In John Todd: superb generalship, for there George Rogers Clark planned his conquest of the Northwest TerrI tory." So reads a descriptive pamphlet 'of the fort, "Situated on the Wilderness Road, It was conveniently con-veniently reached and provided a refuge for oilier forters when Indians were on the warpath. Brave pioneers placed their wives and children-there children-there for safety when unable to protect them at their own forts. People traveling over this Wilderness Road stopped there and found cor-dlal cor-dlal welcome, except perhaps Gen. Henry Hamilton, Ham-ilton, called the 'hair buyer," who rested there when sent In chains to Williamsburg, the captive of George Rogers Clark. "Blafk Fish attacked It, Capt. John Haggln, Capt. John Ulnkson, CapL John McClelland, Col Robert Patterson. General Logan. John Maxwell and scores of others whose names adorn the pages of ur pioneer history occupied Harrod's fort ar som? time during those eventful years. ... To thefn all we must accord the honor due for they canrp as the Revolution began, held their ground, defended Virginia's back door and wved n'em pireltOJUr, atIon, k . t ; . |