by Akart, Bobby
Mayor Rogers smiled. She walked over to Sarah and slid a crate next to hers. She sat down and showed her the pages on the clipboard.
“Sarah, whatever helps you will help us in the long run. Let’s work together to find two deserving families, shall we?”
Chapter 47
The Hensley Settlement at Shillalah Creek
Cumberland Mountains
Southeast Kentucky
The three of them spent the night at Camp S-53 as Mayor Rogers’s guests. Levi gathered together the hunters and talked with them about the nuances of tracking wild game. Without an actual kill to work on, it was difficult to explain the process of field dressing a deer or hog, but the knowledge he imparted on them was more than what they knew on their own. Carly talked with the women about how to keep their kids happy and engaged. She also informed them on how to explore the vast forests along the ridge. However, the advice also came with a stern warning. Don’t go on someone’s property, especially the Boones’, without an invitation. They were likely to get accidentally shot, on purpose, of course.
Sarah and Mayor Rogers ultimately settled on two stereotypical nuclear families—husband, wife, and a couple of kids. She promised Mayor Rogers if this worked out, they’d build more cabins in the spring.
What she didn’t say was Levi and the guys had identified four homes that could be used by additional residents of Camp S-53 soon. Selfishly, Levi insisted upon picking the properties clean of anything of use or value to the Boones at the Hensley Settlement. They had to think of their family’s survival above all others. As he put it to his mom when they had a moment to speak alone, that case of canned vegetables might be all that stood between their family dying or having a few more days to survive.
Sarah, Levi, and Carly led the eight new members of their settlement out of Camp S-53 early that day. It took a little longer to make their way up the ridge and along the trails because of the youngsters.
One family consisted of an obstetrics nurse and her husband, who was a firefighter. They had a girl of Jesse’s age and a son who was only four. The other family consisted of an agriculture teacher at a vocational college and his wife, who was full-time mother and part-time substitute teacher in a middle school. Their girls, ages eight and eleven, were homeschooled.
Sarah based her decision on the chemistry the families brought to the Boones. Certainly, their skill levels and experience helped. However, things like work ethic, attitude, and, for Sarah, their faith were equally as important.
The new families were accepted with open arms, especially by Brooke. She was always interested in new playmates and found the four children intriguing. It also helped that the substitute schoolteacher was proficient in sign language.
While the trio was away, in anticipation of new residents coming onto the property, Chapman and Tommy made new housing arrangements. After two trips to the bottom of the ridge for furniture and supplies from the abandoned homes, they moved Levi’s family into the small Gibbons farmhouse. Sarah was then moved into the large Gibbons farmhouse near the barn and the blacksmith shop.
This would be the gathering place for meals and conversation. As the head of the Boones’ extended family, it was only natural that Sarah have the largest home.
Now that the group had grown to six children, the schoolhouse became used for its original purpose. The only remaining home that was left unoccupied was deeper into the woods about a mile away, lying in a hollow at the base of the ridge.
Built by Thomas Jefferson Cupp, a moonshiner, it sat next to Shillalah Creek and had fallen into disrepair due to the flooding that occurred. The moonshine still was located in an outbuilding, and the guys vowed to get it operable as soon as their time freed up.
That didn’t happen that winter. Everyone in the group worked dawn to dusk at preparing their fields, hunting and fishing, and exploring their surroundings for nearby homes. They learned that the New River and the chasm created by the earthquake cut off their access to Northern Kentucky. To their south, the Cumberland Gap continued to fill with water, as Chapman and Isabella documented weekly during their trips to the Pinnacle Overlook.
Much to their surprise, during the last few months of that year, the overlook wasn’t disturbed by any evidence of human activity, nor had they had any intruders approach the Hensley Settlement. By no means did they let their guard down, but it was evidence of how remote and cut off they were from the rest of the world.
It was early December, as best they could determine, when Chapman and Isabella went exploring farther up the New River toward the northeast. The entire stretch of the valley remained under water. Homes were submerged, with two-story rooflines barely protruding above the water’s surface. Across the water, the landscape was the same for miles. The side of a ridge sloped high into the air, with the landscape covered in mature trees.
As they walked that day, they came across a farm that had been flooded across the river. Sitting on a hill above the farm was a plateau that had been cleared. Chapman was the first to notice the barn nestled along the back side of the clearing together with a gravel road winding its way through the trees. He pulled the binoculars out of his backpack and studied the land.
“Holy smokes!” he exclaimed and pointed toward the property. He handed the binoculars to Isabella. “Look at the back side of the clearing. What do you see?”
“Horses! Three horses. Cows as well. And, and…chickens! Chapman, is this the jackpot?”
Chapman started laughing and hugged his love. “Oui, mademoiselle, this is the jackpot.”
“How do we get over there?” she asked.
“We’re going to build a boat!”
Chapter 48
Near Berts Branch
Martins Fork of the Cumberland River
Southeast Kentucky
Crossing bodies of water was probably the most dangerous undertaking by the pioneers of old. Swollen rivers or hidden perils like tree stumps could cause the loss of life and their supplies. Animals often panicked wading through deep, swift water, causing them to drown or injure the pioneers.
The pioneers’ inexperience at river crossings gave rise to the ferryman. Large flat boats were built and used to carry livestock, wagons, and the pioneers from one side to the other at a hefty cost. The charge for a family was around sixteen dollars, the value of an ox at that time.
When Chapman proposed his endeavor to Levi, his younger brother told Chapman about the risks. He also reminded him that they’d never built a boat, much less one capable of carrying livestock. Cattle and horses ranged in weight from fifteen hundred to over two thousand pounds. Their boat would have to be sturdy and stable to risk bringing them across, even one at a time.
Tommy and Kristi got involved in the conversation. They suggested helping the animals cross by providing a mild sedative to keep them from getting spooked. Kristi reminded everyone how valuable the animals were. Not just for the present, but the future as well. Their horses were already mature and might not be capable of breeding. The new animals might enable the two animal specialists to both breed and birth young calves and foals.
Finally, the prospect of having chickens produce eggs daily might well have convinced Levi to undertake the boat-building project. Toward that end, he came up with a simple design plan using material they could gather from the nearby neighborhood where they’d pillaged the abandoned homes.
First, they gathered up all the nails and hardware from the burned-down property. In addition to a large supply of galvanized sixteen-penny nails, the owner had several coffee cans of long bolts, nuts, and washers.
Next, they ventured down the ridge to the neighborhood, where they made quick work of dismantling the three-rail wooden fence that bounded two sides of the development. They even cut down the four-inch-by-four-inch posts the rails were attached to.
All of the materials were then hauled to the water’s edge near the unincorporated community of Berts Branch. Using logs from freshly cut pine trees nearby and the wooden r
ails for a floor, Levi and the guys built what looked like a floating box with no lid. On each end of the rectangular flatboat, a four-foot-wide opening was left to allow the animals to come in one side and out the other.
Finally, two long hickory poles were made from trees near their settlement. These would be used to push off and guide the boat back and forth across the river.
It took the group two days to build the boat and eight people to slide it into the mostly still river. What was unknown to the modern ferrymen was how deep the water was. If it was deeper than the poles they’d fashioned out of hickory trees, they’d never be able to push the flatboat across the water. They did bring several of the fence rails that measured six feet long to use as paddles, but the group considered the flatboat to be too heavy to paddle with even one of the animals on board.
If it was shallow, they ran the risk of running into impediments just below the surface of the water, like trees or even rooftops.
Chapman, Isabella, and Levi were the best swimmers, so they took the first run. If they got to a point where they couldn’t move, either because it was too deep to push or because they got stuck, then the trio would be most capable of swimming back.
Using the help of everyone on shore, they were shoved toward the other side of the New River. The ten-by-ten flatboat was large enough to handle the three riders plus two animals at a time, although they’d be happy with a horse and some chickens at first.
Levi was the first to push his pole into the water in search of the bottom. He found something solid to push off, with eight feet to spare on his pole. As he propelled them forward, everyone looking on let out a spontaneous cheer.
Chapman thrust his pole into the water and had similar success. Soon, they were crossing at a steady pace, using the poles for power and to steer the boat into a cove that led to the gravel road on the other side.
Negotiating the river appeared to be the easy part of their venture. Disembarking proved to be more difficult. Fortunately, Levi had the foresight to bring a long piece of nylon rope he’d found in one of the garages in the neighborhood. As the boat eased up to the gravel road, he tied one end of the rope to a bottom log before he jumped out of the flatboat into the cold water and swam ashore. He wrapped the rope around a tree trunk. While Chapman and Isabella held the boat in place with their poles, he pulled like he was in a tug of war with a freight truck. He was able to bring an end onto the bank enough for it to stay in place, providing a stable loading ramp for the animals.
It took an hour to bring down the first horse, a stallion, together with a dozen chickens. The flatboat held steady on the return trip, but they agreed one large animal at a time was about all they could muster the energy to push across the water.
By day’s end, they’d moved a young bull, two cows, the stallion and a couple of mares. The two dozen chickens and a single rooster rounded out their livestock acquisition.
The next day, they cleaned the barn out of farm implements, including another plow that had been left sitting in a dilapidated shed behind the barn. One man’s trash was another man’s treasure when there was no longer a local farmers’ co-op to shop in.
The Boones, their extended family, and their growing assortment of livestock were in high spirits and ready to settle in for the winter. They’d traveled arduous and dangerous paths to finally find a spot they could call home. While many might not think living in the days gone by was for them, when you have a survival mentality, you find yourself adapting to your surroundings and making the best of it.
The family gathered on the morning of the first measurable precipitation since the deluge of rain, a gentle snowfall, having no idea what day it was on a calendar. Sarah made a proclamation. “Everybody, I think today is Christmas Eve and tomorrow should be Christmas. Whadya think?”
The vote was unanimous. As it turned out, her hunch was correct. It was Christmas Eve.
Chapter 49
Christmas Day
The Hensley Settlement at Shillalah Creek
Cumberland Mountains
Southeast Kentucky
By the middle of the nineteenth century, American Christmas traditions included many of the same customs and festivities as today. Pine trees were decorated. Gifts and handwritten greeting cards were exchanged. Stockings full of small gifts and treats were hung by the fire. Many attended church services and sang traditional Christmas carols. Above all, it was a time of family togetherness, feasting, and fun.
Such was the case as the Boone family and the new residents gathered at the schoolhouse that morning for the Christmas Day festivities. Levi and Jesse took turns shooting mistletoe out of the tops of oak trees. Carly and the other wives coordinated the gathering of holly, pinecones, nuts, and evergreen sprigs to provide some modest décor.
The day before, several white pines had been cut down and placed throughout the building using simple wood boards as tree stands. They were decorated with natural materials like berries as well as bits of ribbon, yarn, or paper formed into homemade ornaments. The fresh sap lent a hint of pine, adding to the ambience.
Above all, there was a feast. Sarah resisted the urge to slaughter a cow or chicken for their meal. Levi reassured her that he’d provide something special for the day. Early that morning, he and the other guys ventured away from the Hensley Settlement to a field along the New River that Levi had spotted the day they secured the livestock.
As they’d walked along the trail into the clearing, he noticed the telltale sign of roost trees nearby. They returned just after dawn that morning with two twelve-gauge shotguns holding birdshot.
Christmas morning, the birds were gathered in one spot, a favorite roost tree, and they were very vocal. Levi deployed Tommy to the other side of the clearing to intercept them as the turkeys fled his approach. He didn’t have a turkey call, so he hunted them like a whitetail deer.
A seasoned hunter, he was quickly able to identify their trails and corridor leading to the roost. He directed Tommy closer to the trail, creating a pinch point in which he would have greater success.
The birds were caught off guard as Levi made his move. When they sensed his presence, the gobblers went haywire. Without hesitation, Levi fired one blast after another into the tree, hoping to catch a part of them. He hit one with his second shot, and as the birds sought safety in the woods, Tommy was there waiting. He fired three times, maiming two more before surgically ending their lives with his knife.
The new pioneers enjoyed their day of singing, snowball fights, and a feast of ham, turkey, and canned vegetables. And, of course, cooked apples sprinkled with cinnamon.
At one point, Isabella, who’d become close friends with the new addition to the Hensley Settlement, the obstetrics nurse, snuck away from the gathering to the nurse’s cabin. The two had been whispering back and forth, which drew the attention of Carly. After they left, Carly slipped out as well and followed them, eventually making her presence known.
She questioned what they were up to. At first, Isabella seemed embarrassed, and then she began to giggle. The three women went inside the cabin together, where the nurse got to work.
She retrieved a small glass jar off her shelf. She squeezed a generous amount of toothpaste into the bottom of it. Then she handed another empty jar to Isabella. “You know what to do,” she said with a chuckle. While Carly and the nurse turned their backs, Isabella promptly filled up the jar.
She handed it over, and the three women studied one another before the nurse slowly poured Isabella’s urine into the glass of toothpaste. Then they waited.
After several minutes, the urine-toothpaste combination began to go through a chemical reaction. The color changed and began to fizz. The nurse began to smile, and Isabella’s eyes grew wide. She and Carly grabbed each other’s hands and began to jump up and down like two schoolgirls who just said hello to the handsomest boy in their class.
Isabella was pregnant.
The three returned to the schoolhouse to rejoin the festivities, dra
wing several curious glances from the adults. They immediately split up, going in different directions, a sure sign of treachery being afoot. Sarah was having none of it. She lowered her eyes as she followed Isabella around the room. Then she smiled.
She called Isabella’s name, ostensibly to get her assistance with something meal related. Isabella gladly obliged, but under Sarah’s questioning, she spilled the tea. By the time Isabella was able to pull the love of her life aside to give him the good news, practically everyone at the Christmas gala knew her secret.
Especially after Chapman started jumping for joy as if he’d won the lottery. He hugged her, lifted her feet off the ground, and swung her around several times before he set her down. He apologized profusely as he checked to see if she, and the baby, were all right.
At the end of the day, Sarah conducted a worship service for everyone. The families gave thanks for the blessings they’d received and prayed for their futures. Their hearts filled with joy as they belted out one Christmas carol after another, periodically laughing when Tommy would sing off-key or Chapman would forget the words.
Even Brooke was part of the action. She had to be warned, twice, not to swing from the Christmas trees. Eventually, she was content to crawl from one child’s lap to another. When it was time to sing, Brooke stood on two feet and swayed back and forth with her arms raised in the air as if she was attending an old-school revival in a tent somewhere.
Afterwards, everyone broke off into groups and talked about how lucky they were to be alive. They discussed their future, not from the perspective of will they survive but, rather, how well they would fare.
The kids played together, and Sarah read them stories out of the books her grandkids had packed for the trip. The men talked about hunting and fishing and plowing the fields. The women talked about their men.