Trinity, Alabama takes its name from a genuinely literal idea. First settled around 1807 and known for a time as “Fennel’s Turnout” after an…
Evansville, Indiana started life in 1812 as “McGary’s Landing,” a 441-acre purchase by founder Hugh McGary Jr. along a broad meander of the Ohio…
Franklin, Kentucky has landed in the history books twice in genuinely unexpected ways. On January 7, 1948, Captain Thomas Mantell of the Kentucky Air…
Gassaway, West Virginia owes its existence entirely to one man’s railroad ambitions. Senator Henry Gassaway Davis purchased and expanded the Coal & Coke Railway…
Oakwood, Virginia sits atop one of the most productive coal seams in the country — the Buchanan Mine here still produces over 5 million…
Telford, Tennessee has a Civil War footnote unlike almost anywhere else in the South: when the war broke out, citizens of this part of…
Boomer, North Carolina was originally known as Warrior Creek, named for the stream running through this Wilkes County farming community, before being renamed for…
McVeigh, Kentucky is a former coal camp in Pike County, one of a cluster of company towns — including nearby Stone, McAndrews, and Hardy…
Narrows, Virginia takes its name from the dramatic point where the New River cuts through the ridges of East River and Peters Mountains —…
Spencer, West Virginia carries one of the more unusual origin stories among American county seats. In 1839, a man named Raleigh Butcher sold his…