Whitley County

Our first stop this weekend was Whitley County.  The main stop on this trip was Cumberland Falls.  We decided to take a little more time here, since it is such a unique place.  But Whitley County also has some interesting history.

WHITLEY COUNTY HISTORY

Whitley County was formed in January of 1818, when it was seperated from Knox County.  The county was named after William Whitley, noted pioneer and indian fighter.  The intial plans for the city of Williamsburg, were layed out in June of 1818.  Williamsburg still serves as the county seat today.

Whitley County's growth was very slow during the first 50 or so years.  However, after the Civil War, it started to grow very quickly with communities springing up all over the county.

In 1883, the L&N Railroad completed it's line through Whitley County.  This has changed the make-up of the county ever since.  This allowed industry to grow and expand, as they could easily ship goods in and out.  The first booming industries were lumber and coal.
 

Cumberland College, now known as the University of the Cumberlands was formed in 1888.  It was the idea of 18 Baptist Churches from the Mount Zion Association.    The story of this university is so long and interesting that I could never fit it all in here.  If you haven't followed any of the links I have provided, I encourage you to follow this one.  I have visited numerous college campuses and there are very few as nice as Cumberland.  It sets on 70 acres and has 34 buildings and two sports complexes and has an endowment approaching $57 million.

 

Whitley County is also home to Kentucky Splash, a full service water park.  It has an 18,000 sq ft wave pool, a lazy river, a kiddie pool, multiple slides, mini-golf, batting cages and a lot more.

OUR VISIT

Like I mentioned earlier, we started our visit to Whitley County at Cumberland Falls.  It is the widest falls south of Niagra.  Cumberland Falls became a State Park at 1:30 pm on August 21, 1931 under the direction of Dr. Willard Rouse Jillson, who served as Kentucy's first director of parks.  Cumberland Falls is one of only two waterfalls in the world that create the effect of a Moonbow.  A moonbow is created during a full moon when the sky is clear. A "bow" is created from the base of the falls to spot downstream.  It is said you have to travel to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe to have this same experience.

Cumberland Falls truly is a natural wonder that we are blessed to have right here in Kentucky.  It has been visited by millions of people from all over the world.  If you've never had the opportunity to visit.  This is one place we highly recommend.

After we left the falls, we headed over to the University of the Cumberlands campus.  Just like in Georgetown, the school was still on summer break and there were no students around and the buildings were all closed.  But we enjoyed walking around and seeing the sites.  Roadkill seemed to like it too.

Since campus is so close to downtown, we headed over there next.  We walked around for a few minutes checking out all we could, on a Sunday afternoon.  The county is in the process of building a new judicial center across from the current courthouse.

 We had a great visit to Whitley County.  There is so much to do, this is one of those places we will definately visit again.