Introduction: Links with the Past

Introduction: LINKS WITH THE PAST Notes Toward a History of Knott County You can grieve if you want to, but the day of the cowbell and mule is over. Knott County is no longer a log cabin land. Not long ago a native who had been away for several years returned to visit his folks. He drove in up Possum Trot and down Wiley to Main Ball Creek and on to Tom Sutton's store at Vest before he knew where he was. With Knott County directions he turned back, found the mouth of Combs Branch and Wiley and eventually his destination. When he arrived, he found Knott County hospitality still thriving and a sumptuous meal, I trust, even though much of it may have been bought at a local supermarket. During his absence perspectives had changed. Not only had a broad highway been completed down Ball Creek, but it took different sides of the valley and crossed over in different places from what the old wagon road did. Perspectives had changed. Old houses had been replaced as well as many new modern ones added. Hillsides once planted to com were now growing up in second growth timber . Some links with the past had been broken. This issue of Appafochian Heritage is devoted to Knott County as a part of Kentucky 's bicentennial celebration. It is called "links with the past" and "Notes Toward a History of Knott County" because that is all it is. One issue of a quarterly magazine with deadlines to meet can hardly find time — or space — for a full historical treatment. The focus here is on the early days and ways because links to the past are fast disappearing and become more difficult to recover as time goes by. There is meant to be no implication that Knott Countians should return to the old ways (however good some of them have been) but there is the suggestion that an on-going tradition is valuable. It is good to have a sense of continuance. The decision to focus on old times, the settlement schools, and Knott County literature was an arbitrary one, but any other focus would have been arbitrary under the circumstances . Much was considered and much information gathered (and sources discovered ) that could not be worked into form in the time available. This awaits further issues and another time. But it seemed important to call attention to Knott County's literature. Few small counties have been so fortunate as to have such writers as Josiah Combs, Ann Cobb, Lucy Furman, and James Still to record the richness of their heritage in essay, fiction, and poetry. It serves both as a link with the past and an open door to the future. The Editor 3 ...