Appalachian Community Histories – Keno, Pulaski County: Mose Wilson’s Post Office, Mount Union Church, and Harriette Arnow’s Farm
In southern Pulaski County, Kentucky, along the wooded hills and waterways of the Cumberland River’s South Fork, lies Keno, a rural Appalachian community whose history reaches from the establishment of a post office in 1902 to the writings of one of Kentucky’s most significant authors. Although Keno never developed into a large town, its surviving records reveal a community of farmers, lumber workers, churches, and closely connected families whose lives were documented in local newspapers during the early twentieth century.
Keno is particularly unusual because its history can be reconstructed through several different kinds of evidence. Postal historian Robert M. Rennick documented the establishment of its post office and the story behind its distinctive name, while community columns published in The Somerset Journal between 1919 and 1921 preserved the names and everyday experiences of residents who might otherwise have disappeared from the historical record.
The community also became the home of Harriette Simpson Arnow and her husband, Harold, who purchased a farm there in 1939. Their experiences in Keno helped shape Arnow’s novel Hunter’s Horn, published in 1949, and left behind an important collection of firsthand observations about rural Appalachian life. In February 2026, the former Arnow property became a permanently protected woodland preserve, creating a connection between Keno’s agricultural past, its literary history, and the conservation of its surviving landscape.
The Keno Post Office and the Origins of the Community’s Name
One of the earliest firmly documented events in Keno’s history occurred on May 1, 1902, when William Moses Wilson, commonly known as Mose Wilson, established a post office to serve the surrounding countryside. According to Robert M. Rennick’s study of Pulaski County post offices, Wilson originally proposed naming the office after himself, but the name Wilson was already being used by another Kentucky post office in Henry County.
A different name was therefore necessary, and local tradition preserved by Rennick holds that Wilson selected Keno after his favorite game. Although this explanation provides a plausible account of the community’s unusual name, the surviving evidence establishes it as a reported tradition rather than a motive independently confirmed by Wilson himself.
Rennick located the original post office less than a mile east of the South Fork of the Cumberland River and approximately one mile north of the mouth of Indian Creek. Its establishment gave the surrounding neighborhood an official postal identity, allowing residents of scattered farms and rural homesteads to receive correspondence through a locally recognized address.
The post office did not remain in exactly the same location throughout its existence. Rennick documented its relocation to the south bank of Indian Creek in 1923 and its return approximately ten years later to a location near its original site, at the end of what is now Kentucky Route 751. According to his research, the office finally closed on December 30, 1963.
Some online geographical directories report an earlier closing date of 1916, but Rennick’s more detailed postal history identifies the later date and cautions against confusing Keno with Pulaski County’s similarly named Reno post offices. The original federal postmaster appointment records and site-location reports remain important resources for checking the complete postal chronology.
Keno’s appearance on a 1911 Rand McNally map of Pulaski County provides another surviving record of its early geographical identity. By that time, the community had become sufficiently established to appear alongside other recognizable settlements in the county, even though its population remained dispersed among farms rather than concentrated in a conventional town center.
The Wilson, Branscum, Davis, and Cassada Families
The clearest surviving descriptions of everyday life in early twentieth-century Keno come from the community correspondence published in The Somerset Journal. During 1919, 1920, and 1921, the newspaper carried reports describing family visits, marriages, illnesses, church meetings, agricultural work, and the movement of residents between Keno and other communities.
These accounts are particularly valuable because they identify the families who sustained the settlement and document their relationships with the surrounding countryside. The Wilson, Branscum, Davis, Cassada, Morrow, and Alsip families appeared repeatedly in the newspaper, revealing a network of neighboring households whose activities extended well beyond Keno itself.
On November 21, 1919, the newspaper reported that Ross Wilson of Greenwood had visited his father, Gilbert Wilson had traveled to Burnside on business, and several residents had attended a religious meeting at Little Indian Creek. The same column recorded visits involving Richie Branscum, Edmond Wilson, and other members of the two families. Richie Branscum’s reported departure for his home in Alabama also demonstrated that Keno’s family connections extended beyond Kentucky.
The following month, the December 19 edition documented illness among several residents, including Finley Taylor and Lizzie Cassada, while reporting that Ed Branscum had returned from employment in the oil fields at Winchester. Sarah Alsip, Mallie Wilson, Ollie Wilson, and Bertha Wilson appeared in the same column, offering a glimpse into the personal relationships that connected the community’s households.
These newspaper reports reveal something that is easily overlooked when researching small Appalachian settlements. Keno’s geographical isolation did not prevent its residents from maintaining extensive relationships with neighboring towns, distant employment centers, or relatives who had already moved away. Burnside, Greenwood, Winchester, and other communities repeatedly appeared in the newspaper because their residents remained connected through family, employment, and religious life.
By January 1920, those connections were continuing to change. The January 9 edition reported that Richie Branscum and his family were preparing to leave Keno for a new home in Hazard, Kentucky, while Jim Morrow had recently visited Mose Wilson. Such notices document migration as an ordinary part of community life, even before the larger industrial movements of Appalachian families during the following decades.
Farming, Lumber Work, and the Rural Economy
Keno’s surviving newspaper reports provide evidence of an agricultural economy supported by outside employment and the exchange of property among local families. Although no complete contemporary economic survey of the settlement has been established, the activities recorded in its community columns reveal how farming, lumber work, and temporary employment elsewhere contributed to household livelihoods.
The March 26, 1920, edition of The Somerset Journal reported that Ed Branscum was working for the Valley Creek Lumber Company and that Lyster Davis had returned from employment at Georgetown. During the same period, Archie Davis and his wife were preparing to move into a newly constructed house, demonstrating that some residents continued to invest in property and establish households within the community.
The agricultural importance of the settlement became particularly apparent in April 1921, when a fire destroyed Newell Morrow’s corncrib and more than two hundred bushels of stored corn. The April 8 newspaper report preserved this event alongside other community news, recording a substantial loss of agricultural produce that would have represented considerable labor and resources for a farming household.
The same column reported that J. C. Tucker of Oak Hill had been repairing fencing on his farm in the Keno area, while Fred Davis and Jennings Morrow had departed for Oolitic, Indiana. Their departure offers another example of the relationship between Keno’s agricultural economy and employment opportunities outside Kentucky.
Property transactions also appeared in the surviving reports. On February 4, 1921, The Somerset Journal recorded Charles Cassada’s purchase of William Cassada’s farm, while noting that Bertha Wilson had been visiting relatives in Bedford, Indiana, and Jim Morrow had recently returned from Cincinnati.
Taken together, these reports document a community in which land continued to change hands among local families even as some residents sought employment or established connections elsewhere.
Keno also briefly appeared in reports of possible mineral development. On April 15, 1921, the newspaper reported a discovery of material described as “okre” on the old John Davis farm and claimed that an inspector had offered to lease the property at fifty cents per ton. A second reported discovery was associated with the farm of Dut Davis.
These accounts establish that mineral prospects attracted local attention, but they do not demonstrate that either property subsequently developed into a commercially productive mine. The original land records and geological surveys would be necessary to determine the extent of any later activity.
Mount Union Church and Religious Life in Keno
Religious gatherings occupied an important place in Keno’s community correspondence, with Mount Union Church and Little Indian Creek appearing repeatedly in newspaper reports. These institutions connected families through regular worship, pastoral leadership, and meetings that drew residents from neighboring settlements.
The November 21, 1919, edition of The Somerset Journal recorded that several Keno residents had attended a meeting at Little Indian Creek. A month later, the newspaper again reported attendance at Little Indian Creek, this time in the same column that announced the death of James Nevels.
Mount Union Church appeared prominently in the surviving reports during 1920 and 1921. In May 1920, the newspaper recorded that the Reverend George Godsey had conducted services in the Keno community, while an April 1921 column provided additional information about his pastoral relationship with Mount Union.
On April 15, 1921, The Somerset Journal reported that a large congregation had attended services at Mount Union on Saturday night and Sunday, and that George Godsey had been reelected as pastor for the coming year. The account appeared alongside news that Harrison Minton and his family were preparing to leave Kentucky for Kansas, a departure that the correspondent described with considerable regret.
The combination of religious news and personal departures illustrates the importance of the church as a gathering place where families maintained relationships even as members of the community moved away.
Keno’s surviving burial records also demonstrate the significance of its churches and cemeteries. Mount Union Cemetery, together with the nearby Casada and John Casada cemeteries, preserves evidence of families associated with the community. Newspaper references to Little Indian Creek further establish that the surrounding burial grounds served residents long before the later twentieth century.
These records are important not simply because they identify the dead, but because they help reconstruct the connections among families whose names continued to appear in the community’s religious and social life.
Illness, Marriage, and the Passing of an Older Generation
The surviving newspaper columns also record the personal experiences of Keno families during periods of illness, marriage, and bereavement. Their accounts provide a more intimate record of the community than postal documents or historical maps can offer.
On December 26, 1919, The Somerset Journal reported the death of James Nevels at his home. He was survived by his wife and several children, and his remains were buried in the Little Indian Creek graveyard. The same column recorded that residents had continued attending religious meetings at Little Indian Creek, illustrating how burial traditions and religious gatherings remained closely associated.
During the following spring, influenza appeared in Keno’s community correspondence. The March 26, 1920, edition reported that Sarah Alsip was seriously ill with influenza, while Delbert Wilson and other residents had also been mentioned in recent reports of sickness.
Only a few weeks later, the April 16 edition announced the marriage of Herbert Wilson and Sarah Alsip. The newspaper recorded their marriage alongside visits involving the Cassada, Wilson, Taylor, and Branscum families, preserving an important personal event in the same community where Sarah’s illness had recently been reported.
One of the most historically significant deaths documented in Keno’s surviving newspaper reports occurred in April 1921, when J. D. Thach, an elderly Civil War veteran, died at his daughter’s home in Burnside.
The April 8 edition of The Somerset Journal identified Thach as a longtime member of the Keno community and reported that he was eighty-nine years old at the time of his death. His remains were brought back to the area for burial in Mount Union Cemetery, providing an important connection between the community’s early twentieth-century residents and the generation that had experienced the Civil War. The newspaper does not identify his military regiment, making original service and pension records necessary for reconstructing his wartime experience.
Harriette Simpson Arnow and the Keno Farm
Keno’s historical significance extends well beyond its surviving newspaper columns. In 1939, the community became the home of Harriette Simpson Arnow and her husband, Harold, who purchased a farm in the hills of Pulaski County with the intention of supporting themselves through subsistence agriculture while continuing their writing careers.
Harriette, who had grown up in nearby Burnside, and Harold had met while working on the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Writers’ Project in Cincinnati. Their decision to return to the Kentucky countryside reflected a desire to establish a household where they could produce much of their own food and devote time to literary work.
The couple purchased a farm in Keno along Little Indian Creek, near the South Fork of the Cumberland River. Family accounts describe the property as approximately 150 acres, although Arnow herself later referred to an abandoned 160-acre farm in an autobiographical account of the experience.
The property’s difficult terrain, deteriorating farmhouse, and demanding agricultural work soon complicated their plans. Rather than providing abundant free time for writing, the farm required constant physical labor and exposed the couple to many of the same economic difficulties already familiar to their neighbors.
Arnow’s personal journals offer unusually detailed firsthand evidence of Keno during the late 1930s. In an entry dated August 31, 1939, she described arriving at the property after negotiating difficult country roads and finding a house with broken windows, deteriorating floors, and abandoned porches. She wrote by lantern light as fog moved inland from the river, documenting the difficulties of establishing a home in a remote agricultural community.
Her September entries recorded the arrival of a cow and calf, the challenges of unloading livestock from a trailer, and the couple’s first attempts at milking. More importantly for local history, Arnow described the surrounding landscape and the remnants of earlier agricultural settlement.
She noted old orchards, abandoned springs, eroded fields, surviving corn patches, a family graveyard, and a nearby schoolhouse attended by approximately fifteen pupils for seven months of the year. These descriptions establish that the Keno countryside still contained small educational institutions and a landscape shaped by generations of farming when the Arnows arrived in 1939.
Arnow also recorded information obtained from an elderly neighbor about the farmhouse’s earlier history, including a claim that its substantial stone chimney had originally belonged to another house believed to have been constructed around 1803. Although this recollection has not been independently established through surviving land or architectural records, it suggests that the property contained physical remnants of much older settlement.
The couple’s experiences eventually demonstrated the difficulties of maintaining the farm while pursuing their literary ambitions. In 1944, they left Kentucky for Detroit, where Harold found newspaper employment and Harriette continued writing.
Their departure reflected a much broader movement of Appalachian families toward northern industrial cities, although the Arnows’ circumstances were also shaped by their individual ambitions as writers.
Hunter’s Horn and Keno’s Place in Appalachian Literature
The years Harriette and Harold Arnow spent in Keno had a lasting influence on Harriette’s literary career, particularly her novel Hunter’s Horn, published in 1949.
The novel follows Berry Worth, a Kentucky farmer whose pursuit of a particularly elusive red fox gradually becomes an obsession. Beyond its central hunting narrative, the book draws upon the agricultural landscape, working relationships, wildlife, and social customs that Arnow had observed during her years in southern Pulaski County.
According to surviving family records, the setting of Hunter’s Horn was based directly on the Keno farm, although Arnow changed the place names when transforming the actual property into a fictional landscape. The Arnow family’s preserved materials include photographs of the original farmhouse, a 1968 survey map of the property, and a fictionalized map associated with the novel.
The relationship between these maps and the actual farm provides an unusually valuable opportunity to examine how a literary work developed from a specific Appalachian landscape. Arnow’s earlier novel Mountain Path, published in 1936, also drew upon her experiences teaching in rural Kentucky, including a school setting associated with land adjoining the later Arnow farm.
The importance of Keno to Arnow’s writing also emerges from her later reflections. In August 1970, The Nation published her essay Progress Came to Our Valley, in which she recalled the couple’s arrival in 1939, described the environment along Little Indian Creek, and examined the difficulties they had encountered while attempting to establish a self-sufficient rural household.
The essay and her surviving journals offer two distinct historical perspectives. The journals record her immediate impressions as a newcomer to the farm, while the later essay provides her retrospective interpretation of the landscape and its people after several decades of personal and literary experience.
Together, they preserve detailed observations about agricultural labor, rural housing, transportation, household economies, and the relationship between residents and the natural environment. They also demonstrate how Keno became more than a temporary residence for Arnow, shaping both her personal understanding of Appalachia and the fictional landscapes for which she became known.
The Decline of the Community and the Preservation of the Arnow Landscape
During the twentieth century, Keno experienced the population loss and economic changes that affected many small agricultural communities in Appalachia. The departure of families for employment elsewhere had already appeared in the newspaper correspondence of the 1910s and 1920s, and the Arnows’ relocation to Detroit in 1944 reflected another stage in that continuing movement.
The post office remained part of the community’s identity for decades after Mose Wilson established it, finally closing in 1963 according to Rennick’s postal history. The disappearance of the office did not erase Keno from geographical records or local memory, but it marked the end of the federal institution through which the settlement had received its distinctive name.
The Arnow farm followed a different path. After Harriette and Harold departed, the former homestead remained uninhabited, and woodland gradually reclaimed the land that had once supported fields, orchards, livestock, and farm buildings. The deteriorating farmhouse eventually became a ruin, while the surrounding hills continued to preserve traces of the property’s earlier agricultural use.
In February 2026, Kentucky Natural Lands Trust announced the establishment of the Arnow Woodland Preserve, following the donation of 139 acres by the author’s niece, Pat Arnow. The land is situated on the Cumberland Plateau along the South Fork of the Cumberland River, adjacent to the Daniel Boone National Forest.
The new preserve protects a substantial portion of the former Arnow property and the surrounding forest landscape. It also surrounds the family cemetery where Harriette and Harold Arnow were buried, ensuring that their final resting place remains connected to the land that had influenced their lives and writing.
The conservation project preserves habitat for numerous native Appalachian species, including the endangered northern long-eared bat and Indiana bat. Its establishment also creates a lasting connection between Keno’s literary history and the natural landscape that shaped the community’s development.
In a July 2026 publication, Kentucky Natural Lands Trust reproduced selections from Arnow’s journals and writings about the property, making some of her firsthand descriptions of the Keno countryside available to a new generation of readers.
Remembering Keno
Keno’s history illustrates how much can survive of a small Appalachian community when its scattered historical records are brought together. Its official postal identity began with Mose Wilson’s establishment of the post office in 1902, but its surviving newspapers demonstrate that the community’s history extended far beyond the institution that gave it a name.
The families who appeared in The Somerset Journal maintained farms, worked in lumber and distant industries, attended religious meetings, exchanged property, raised children, and buried their relatives in the surrounding cemeteries. Their lives were connected to places such as Burnside, Greenwood, Winchester, Hazard, and the industrial communities of Indiana, demonstrating that even a small rural settlement participated in wider patterns of migration and economic change.
The arrival of Harriette Simpson Arnow in 1939 added another dimension to that history. Her journals and published writings preserved observations about Keno that few rural Appalachian communities possess, documenting both the physical landscape and the challenges of attempting to establish a livelihood on its agricultural land.
Today, the Arnow Woodland Preserve protects part of that same landscape, while the surviving newspaper correspondence, postal research, cemetery records, and family documents continue to reveal the lives of the people who called Keno home.
The community’s history belongs not only to the story of a Kentucky post office or the setting of a celebrated novel, but also to the broader history of rural Appalachia, where families shaped the land, sustained local institutions, and maintained connections across generations even as economic conditions carried many of them away.
Sources & Further Reading
Arnow, Harriette Simpson. Hunter’s Horn. New York: Macmillan, 1949. Reprint, East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1997. https://www.bibliovault.org/BV.book.epl?ISBN=9781609173722
Arnow, Harriette Simpson. Old Burnside: A Memoir of a Southern Girlhood. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1977. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_english_language_and_literature_north_america/8/
Arnow, Harriette Simpson. “Progress Came to Our Valley.” The Nation, August 1970. Excerpts reproduced by Kentucky Natural Lands Trust. https://knlt.org/harriette-arnow-writings/
Arnow, Harriette Simpson. Personal journal entries, August and September 1939. Excerpts reproduced in “Rolling Land and a Narrow Strip of Fertile Soil.” Kentucky Natural Lands Trust, July 2026. https://knlt.org/harriette-arnow-writings/
Arnow, Pat. “The Arnow Farm.” Family history, historical photographs, property surveys, and maps of the Keno farm. https://arnow.org/arnow-land/
Blackford, Linda. “This KY Farmland Was the Setting for a Bestseller. Now It Will Honor the Author’s Legacy.” Lexington Herald-Leader, February 17, 2026. https://www.kentucky.com/opinion/linda-blackford/article314688797.html
Conway, Mimi. “Oral History Interview with Harriette Arnow, April 1976.” Interview G-0006, Southern Oral History Program Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. https://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/G-0006/G-0006.html
Kentucky Geological Survey. Kentucky Mineral Resources Information. University of Kentucky. https://kgs.uky.edu/KYMineral/
Kentucky Natural Lands Trust. “Kentucky Natural Lands Trust Establishes the Arnow Woodland Preserve.” Press release, February 14, 2026. https://knlt.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/20260214_ArnowWoodlandPreserve_PressRelease.docx.pdf
Kentucky Natural Lands Trust. “Rolling Land and a Narrow Strip of Fertile Soil.” July 2026. https://knlt.org/harriette-arnow-writings/
Morehead State University. Robert M. Rennick Manuscript Collection. Special Collections and Archives. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/rennick_ms_collection/
National Archives and Records Administration. Post Office Department Reports of Site Locations, 1837–1950. Record Group 28, microfilm publication M1126. https://www.archives.gov/research/post-offices/locations-1837-1950.html
National Archives and Records Administration. Records of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832–1971. Record Group 28, microfilm publication M841. https://www.archives.gov/research/post-offices
Pulaski County Clerk. Historical Land Records. Somerset, Kentucky. https://pulaski.kycountyclerk.us/land-records/
Pulaski County Public Library. Digital Archives. Historical newspapers, census records, court records, tax lists, and other Pulaski County collections. https://pulaskilibrary.advantage-preservation.com/
Rand McNally & Company. Kentucky. Chicago: Rand McNally & Company, 1911. Pulaski County detail reproduced by My Genealogy Hound. https://mygenealogyhound.com/maps/kentucky-maps/KY-Pulaski-County-Kentucky-1911-Rand-McNally-map-Somerset-Burnside-Science-Hill.html
Rennick, Robert M. Kentucky Place Names. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1984. https://www.kentuckypress.com/9780813101798/kentucky-place-names/
Rennick, Robert M. “The Post Offices of Pulaski County, Kentucky, Part I.” La Posta: A Journal of American Postal History 38, no. 3 (2007): 64 onward. https://www.lapostapub.com/Backissues/LP38-3.pdf
Rennick, Robert M. “The Post Offices of Pulaski County, Kentucky, Part II.” La Posta: A Journal of American Postal History 38, no. 4 (2007): 58 onward. https://www.lapostapub.com/Backissues/LP38-4.pdf
Rennick, Robert M. “The Post Offices of Pulaski County, Kentucky, Part III.” La Posta: A Journal of American Postal History 38, no. 5 (2007): 59 onward. https://www.lapostapub.com/Backissues/LP38-5.pdf
Rennick, Robert M. “Pulaski County: Post Offices.” County Histories of Kentucky, no. 388. Morehead State University, 2000. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/kentucky_county_histories/388/
Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). November 21, 1919. Keno community correspondence documenting the Wilson and Branscum families and religious meetings at Little Indian Creek. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/11_21_1919.htm
Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). December 19, 1919. Keno community correspondence documenting family visits, illness, and employment in the Winchester oil fields. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/12_19_1919.htm
Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). December 26, 1919. Keno community correspondence reporting the death and burial of James Nevels. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/12_26_1919.htm
Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). January 9, 1920. Keno community correspondence documenting the Branscum family’s migration to Hazard and local family relationships. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/1_9_1920.htm
Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). February 6, 1920. Keno community correspondence documenting the Wilson, Davis, Alsip, and Branscum families. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/2_6_1920.htm
Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). March 26, 1920. Keno community correspondence recording influenza, employment, agricultural activities, and new housing. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/3_26_1920.htm
Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). April 16, 1920. Keno community correspondence reporting the marriage of Herbert Wilson and Sarah Alsip. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/4_16_1920.htm
Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). May 14, 1920. Keno community correspondence documenting religious services, family relationships, and migration. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/5_14_1920.htm
Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). February 4, 1921. Keno community correspondence reporting the Cassada farm transaction and visits to Indiana and Ohio. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/2_21/2_4_1921_3.htm
Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). April 8, 1921. Keno community correspondence reporting the death of Civil War veteran J. D. Thach, the destruction of Newell Morrow’s corncrib, and migration to Indiana. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/4_21/4_8_1921.htm
Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). April 15, 1921. Keno community correspondence documenting Mount Union Church, Reverend George Godsey’s reelection as pastor, migration to Kansas, and reported mineral discoveries. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/4_21/4_15_1921_2.htm
Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). “Obituary of J. D. Thach.” April 1921. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/obits/thatch_jd.htm
United States Geological Survey. Burnside Quadrangle, Kentucky. Topographic map, surveyed 1954, published 1955. https://store.usgs.gov/product/261289
University of Kentucky Libraries. Harriette Simpson Arnow Papers, 1907–2004. Collection 81M2, Special Collections Research Center. https://libguides.uky.edu/c.php?g=1231358&p=9011407
Works Progress Administration and Robert M. Rennick. “Pulaski County: Post Offices & Place Names.” County Histories of Kentucky, no. 284. Morehead State University, cataloged as 1939. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/kentucky_county_histories/284/
Author Note: Keno’s surviving records offer a rare opportunity to follow the everyday lives of an Appalachian community through its families, church gatherings, farmland, and local newspaper reports. I hope this history also introduces readers to the remarkable connection between Keno and Harriette Simpson Arnow, whose former farm is now protected as the Arnow Woodland Preserve.