Applegate Kris - Around Lake Cumberland

Dr. Thomas Walker discovered and named the Cumberland River in 1752, forty-two years before Kentucky became a state. Walker initially started his expedition in Virginia in 1748 with five men, seven horses, and an assortment of dogs to find and claim land suitable for settlement. (Courtesy of Carole Tupman.)

The Owens family stopped shortly after making their way across the Cumberland River because Nancy Owens was in labor. An elderly Native American woman happened upon the family, delivered the baby girl, and named her Rowena. The family settled there, and the new community was established as Rowena, Kentucky, on May 14, 1847. Although this photograph does not show the Owens family, it depicts an early family crossing the Cumberland River. (Courtesy of the PCHS.)

Shown in this photograph are three young ladies carefully navigating across a stream on their way to a Sunday picnic. Sundays were the only socially acceptable day for courting. Suitable forms of courting were sitting on the porch talking, walking home from church, or attending a church picnic. Dating was almost always conducted under the watchful eye of a chaperone. (Courtesy of Randolph Smith.)

The Cumberland River basin was often referred to as one of the finest game preserves in North America. Deer, buffalo, bear, fox, elk, wild turkey, quail, and pheasant were found in abundance in the rich forests surrounding the river. To feed their families, men had to hunt in all weather conditions. (Courtesy of the PCHS.)

Mary Elizabeth Betty Barnes Fitzgerald enjoys her pipe after a long day of hard work in the late 1800s. Betty was the mother of John Morgan Fitzgerald, who was killed on the banks of the Cumberland River in Burnside in 1913. (Courtesy of Judith Waddell.)

Settlers living near the Hague Dam offer a unique combination of fishing and target shooting. The Hague Dam was in Pulaski County but ceased to exist with the creation of Lake Cumberland. (Courtesy of the PCHS.)

Full submersion baptisms in ponds, creeks, and the Cumberland River were popular among early Christian settlers. As a prerequisite to baptism, a person had to publicly declare their experience of salvation in front of the congregation. This photograph shows a baptism in Pulaski County in September 1909. (Courtesy of John T. Carter.)

Baptisms in the Cumberland River at Burnside drew large crowds. Outdoor baptism is still practiced, although most churches now have built-in baptismal pools. Some people disagree over which is more appropriate. One Pulaski County church split over the issue, resulting in two separate churches, one called Hot Water Baptists and the other Cold Water Baptists. (Courtesy of Rogers Photography.)