Pendleton County

It seems like it has been forever since I set down here and posted something.  Time is the enemy even when we aren't on the road.  I can't seem to find time to write. 

But we finally made it out on Sunday afternoon over Labor Day weekend.  The problem is we didn't really get out of town until after 2:00 pm, so we started out short on time.  But we managed to get two counties in.  The first stop was up US 27 in Pendleton County.  I'll fill you in after we cover a little background.

PENDLETON COUNTY BACKGROUND

Pendleton County was formed in 1798 by act of the Kentucky General Assembly from parts of Bracken and Campbell Counties.  The county was named for Edmund Pendleton a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, the Continental Congress and Chief justice of Virginia. 

Falmouth is the largest city and the county seat. The city was founded where the South and Main Forks of the Licking River meet.  As a result, Falmouth has been known for its natural disasters.  Major damage was done to the cities of Falmouth and Butler when the river flooded 19 feet above flood stage in April of 1964.  Then in March of 1968 a large tornado caused extensive damage totaling nearly $7 million.  The worst devestation took place in the flood of March 1997.  That year, the river crested at 52 feet which is 24 feet above flood stage.  This left nearly 80% of the city under water.  In that disaster, five people lost their lives and over 600 homes were flooded.

Falmouth is known as the landing spot for Colonel Henry Byrd of the British army.  Col. Byrd commanded British, French and Indian force numbering close to 600 as they marched Ruddle's Station in Bourbon and Harrison Counties.

Pendleton County was one of the first counties in the Commonwealth to raise tobacco.  It was a heavy burley known as twist-bud and was used for chewing and snuff.

The Falmouth Outlook has been serving Pendleton County since 1907.  You can visit their website here.

The county is also home to Kincaid Lake and Kincaid Lake State Resort Park.

OUR VISIT

The first thing we did was visit a subdivision that some friends of mine developed in the mid 1980's.  Nothing really exciting to see there, just wanted to point it out to mom and the boys.  After that, we headed downtown Falmouth.  We spent some time checking out the courthouse and the surrounding square.  It is laid out differently than any other county seat we have visited so far.  It's very unique and has several different monuments and memorials there.

When we vere finished downtown we took a drive over one of the small bridges across the Licking River.  The problem was, it had us going the wrong way, so we turned around and headed back towards US 27.  We had a date to keep in Campbell County.