Appalachian Community Histories – Antioch, Pulaski County: The Schoolhouse, Antioch Church, and Life Before Lake Cumberland
In southern Pulaski County, Kentucky, the history of Antioch survives in scattered newspaper reports, historical maps, and the names of families who lived in the countryside surrounding Burnside. Although Antioch never developed into a large town, the surviving records establish that it was an identifiable rural community during the early twentieth century, with farms, a schoolhouse, and connections to the neighboring settlements along the Cumberland River. Its history reflects the experiences of many small Appalachian communities whose development depended upon agriculture, local institutions, and access to larger centers of trade.
The landscape surrounding Antioch was shaped by the Cumberland River and its tributaries, whose valleys and wooded ridges influenced settlement throughout southern Pulaski County. Burnside, situated near the meeting of the Cumberland River and its South Fork, became an important regional transportation and commercial center during the nineteenth century. Steamboats, railroad connections, lumber mills, and local merchants attracted business from the surrounding countryside, providing rural families with access to markets beyond their immediate communities.
The relationship between Antioch and this larger transportation network is an important part of its history. While Burnside developed into a river port and railroad town, Antioch remained a smaller settlement associated with the agricultural countryside. Families could maintain their farms while participating in the commercial and social life of neighboring communities, and the surviving newspapers demonstrate that Antioch residents maintained connections with Burnside, Somerset, and places farther beyond Kentucky.
The precise date of Antioch’s establishment remains uncertain, as does the origin of its name. However, contemporary newspaper references from 1920 and 1921 establish its existence as a recognized community, while later government maps preserve the names Antioch Church and Antioch Bend. Together, these records provide the foundation for reconstructing a history that otherwise received relatively little attention in published county histories.
Farms, Landownership, and the Early Twentieth Century
Agriculture was central to the rural landscape surrounding Antioch, and one of the clearest surviving references to the community appears in the April 2, 1920, edition of The Somerset Journal. In its news from the Meece neighborhood, the newspaper reported that William Roberts had moved onto a farm he had recently purchased at Antioch. Although the report did not identify the acreage, the previous owner, or the exact location of the property, it documents a land transaction and the arrival of a resident during a period when farming remained an important part of Pulaski County’s economy.
For communities such as Antioch, farms represented more than individual agricultural enterprises. They were family homes and an important part of the surrounding rural economy. Property ownership, inheritance, and marriage helped determine how land passed between generations, while neighboring households formed social relationships that extended beyond the boundaries of individual farms. The Roberts purchase offers a starting point for investigating this wider history through Pulaski County’s deed books and tax records.
The county’s surviving courthouse records provide opportunities to trace settlement in the Antioch area considerably earlier than the twentieth-century newspaper references. Original deeds, court orders, and tax assessments can help identify the families who owned the surrounding property before Antioch became a recognizable community name. However, establishing the exact boundaries of the historical settlement requires matching those records with contemporary maps and identifiable geographic features.
The broader history of Pulaski County also helps explain the circumstances in which Antioch developed. During the decades following the Civil War, railroad construction transformed the county’s transportation system and encouraged commercial expansion in Somerset and several smaller communities. A National Park Service historical survey identifies the railroad’s arrival in 1877 as a major turning point, noting the subsequent development of communities including Eubank, Science Hill, and Tateville. Burnside benefited from both railroad transportation and improvements to navigation on the Cumberland River, eventually becoming a significant lumber-processing and shipping center.
Although the surviving evidence does not establish how many Antioch residents worked in Burnside or used its transportation facilities, the neighboring town’s commercial importance helps place Antioch within the changing economy of southern Pulaski County.
The Antioch Schoolhouse and Community Life
One of the most revealing historical references to Antioch concerns its schoolhouse, which was serving as a gathering place by October 1920. In its October 29 edition, The Somerset Journal reported that a large gathering of young people had attended a pie supper at the Antioch schoolhouse the preceding Saturday night. The brief account offers direct evidence that the community possessed a school building and that its residents used the property for social activities beyond ordinary classroom instruction.
Rural schoolhouses occupied an important place in the social life of Appalachian communities during this period. In addition to educating children, they frequently hosted gatherings that brought together neighbors who otherwise lived some distance apart. Pie suppers were particularly common community activities, providing opportunities for entertainment, socializing, and, in some cases, fundraising for schools or other local causes.
The newspaper does not explain whether Antioch’s October gathering was intended to raise money, but its description of the attendance demonstrates the schoolhouse’s importance as a local meeting place. Such events also created opportunities for young people to meet friends and maintain relationships across the surrounding countryside, reinforcing the connections that helped sustain small rural settlements.
The schoolhouse’s precise location, construction date, and eventual closure have not yet been established. Pulaski County’s surviving school board minutes, teacher registers, district maps, and property records may provide answers to those questions. The 1920 newspaper report nevertheless preserves an important part of Antioch’s educational history, documenting a local institution that might otherwise have disappeared from the written record.
Antioch Families, Marriage, and Military Service
The community’s connections to the wider world become particularly evident in newspaper reports published shortly after the First World War. On January 2, 1920, The Somerset Journal carried an account of the Christmas Day marriage of Claud Shadoan and Estell Paul. The groom was identified as the son of William Shadoan of Antioch and had served in the military, spending several months in France. Following their marriage, the couple departed for Sidney, Ohio, where they intended to establish their home.
This brief marriage announcement provides several important details about Antioch’s history. It identifies a family associated with the community, establishes a direct connection between one of its families and American military service during the First World War, and documents the movement of a young couple from Kentucky to Ohio.
The Shadoans’ decision to settle outside Kentucky also illustrates the geographic reach of family connections during an era when Appalachians increasingly traveled beyond their home communities. The announcement does not explain why the couple selected Sidney, but their departure provides a documented example of the movements that would become an increasingly important part of the region’s history during the twentieth century.
Other newspaper reports preserve similar glimpses of Antioch’s residents. In March 1921, the Burnside news published by The Somerset Journal announced that H. C. Beaty and his wife of Antioch had welcomed a son, Robert William, on March 9. The same report recorded the marriage of Charlie Jones of Antioch to Lue Cline of Burnside, which had taken place in Oneida, Tennessee, the preceding week.
These announcements reveal how closely Antioch’s families were connected with neighboring communities and places beyond the Kentucky state line. Births, marriages, and other family events routinely appeared in the regional newspapers, creating a record of ordinary lives that is particularly valuable for reconstructing the histories of small settlements.
The Shadoan, Roberts, Beaty, and Jones families are among those directly associated with Antioch in the surviving newspaper accounts. Their appearances provide useful starting points for further investigation through census returns, marriage records, military service documents, and county property records.
Antioch Church and the Community’s Religious Heritage
Religion formed an important part of the institutional history of southern Pulaski County, and Antioch’s name survives in connection with a local church. The United States Geological Survey’s 1965 Burnside quadrangle, published in 1967, identifies Antioch Church among the religious buildings of the surrounding countryside. The same map identifies Antioch Bend, preserving another geographic feature associated with the name.
The existence of Antioch Church on this map establishes that the name remained part of the area’s religious geography decades after the newspaper references of the early 1920s. However, the church’s founding date, original denomination, and earliest congregation have not yet been established from the available records. It is also unclear whether the church shown on the map occupied its original location or had been rebuilt or relocated during an earlier period.
The name Antioch has biblical associations, referring to the ancient city where, according to the Book of Acts, followers of Jesus were first called Christians. Numerous American congregations adopted the name, although its religious significance alone does not establish the circumstances in which the Pulaski County community or its church acquired it.
Robert M. Rennick’s extensive research into Kentucky place names offers one avenue for investigating that question. His Pulaski County manuscripts, preserved by Morehead State University, are accompanied by a 1939 survey of county post offices and place names associated with the Works Progress Administration. These materials may help clarify the relationship between the settlement, the church, and the surrounding geographic features, although a specific account of Antioch’s naming has not yet been confirmed.
The Railroad, Burnside, and the Changing Cumberland River
While Antioch remained a rural community, the surrounding region experienced significant economic and geographic changes during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Burnside’s development was particularly important because of its position along the Cumberland River and the railroad system connecting southeastern Kentucky with markets farther north and south.
A National Park Service historical survey describes Burnside as a significant regional trading center during the late nineteenth century, when steamboats transported goods along the Cumberland River and local industries processed timber from the surrounding countryside. However, the expansion of railroad transportation eventually reduced the importance of river commerce, contributing to changes in Burnside’s economy during the early twentieth century.
The most dramatic physical transformation of the region came with the construction of Wolf Creek Dam and the creation of Lake Cumberland. Authorized through federal legislation in 1938 and 1946, the project began construction in August 1941 but experienced delays during the Second World War. The dam was completed for flood-control operations in 1950, and the project achieved full beneficial use in August 1952.
The creation of the reservoir permanently altered the landscape surrounding Burnside. Much of the old town was cleared as preparations were made for the impoundment of the Cumberland River, removing buildings and streets that had developed during Burnside’s years as a river port. The National Park Service’s historical survey records the destruction of much of the old town area in 1951, an event that fundamentally changed the community’s physical appearance.
For Antioch, the historical maps offer a useful means of understanding the surrounding landscape before and after the reservoir’s creation. The USGS produced a Burnside quadrangle in 1932, preserved in Morehead State University’s Robert M. Rennick Map Collection, providing a record of the region before the lake existed. The later 1965 quadrangle depicts the transformed landscape and identifies Antioch Church and Antioch Bend among the surviving local place names.
The available evidence does not establish whether individual Antioch homes or farms were flooded or acquired for the reservoir project. Nevertheless, the lake’s creation substantially changed the wider Burnside area, replacing sections of the old river landscape with an extensive reservoir and creating new opportunities for recreation and tourism.
Antioch on the Historical Map
One challenge in researching Antioch is determining the extent of the historical community. Unlike Burnside and other settlements that appeared prominently on maps, Antioch is not separately identified as a town on the 1965 USGS Burnside quadrangle. Instead, the names Antioch Church and Antioch Bend provide geographic reference points for locating the surrounding area.
This distinction is important because rural communities did not necessarily possess clearly defined municipal boundaries or a commercial center. Some were identified primarily through their churches, schools, or the families who occupied a particular section of the countryside. Antioch’s appearance in newspaper accounts demonstrates that residents and reporters recognized it as a community during the early twentieth century, even though later government maps emphasized individual geographic features rather than identifying a separate town.
Historical maps also provide opportunities to investigate the relationship between Antioch and the surrounding network of roads, waterways, and settlements. Comparing the 1932 and 1965 Burnside quadrangles with property deeds, census enumeration districts, and school records may eventually help establish the community’s approximate historical boundaries.
These investigations are particularly important for small Appalachian settlements because modern road names and postal addresses do not always preserve the distinctions that existed between neighboring communities. A household historically identified as belonging to Antioch might appear in other records under Burnside or another nearby locality, depending upon the institution responsible for producing the document.
Preserving the History of Antioch
The history of Antioch illustrates how much can be recovered from the surviving records of a small rural community, even when no comprehensive local history has been published. A farmer’s purchase of property, a gathering at a schoolhouse, the marriage of a returning soldier, and the birth of a child provide evidence of a community whose everyday experiences rarely attracted attention beyond the surrounding county.
The newspaper accounts from 1920 and 1921 are particularly valuable because they preserve the names of residents and document institutions and relationships that might otherwise have been forgotten. The subsequent appearance of Antioch Church and Antioch Bend on a federal map demonstrates that the name continued to identify part of the Pulaski County landscape as the region entered the Lake Cumberland era.
Important questions nevertheless remain about Antioch’s earliest settlement, the history of its church, the location and operating years of its schoolhouse, and the families who occupied the area during the nineteenth century. The original county records, historical maps, contemporary newspapers, and surviving family documents provide opportunities for reconstructing a more complete account.
Antioch’s story belongs to the broader history of rural Appalachia, where the lives of small communities were shaped by agriculture, education, religion, transportation, and the movement of families between neighboring settlements and distant states. Its surviving records remind us that the region’s history was not confined to its largest towns or most prominent industries. It was also made in schoolhouses, farmhouses, churches, and family homes scattered across the countryside.
Sources & Further Reading
The Somerset Journal. “Burnside.” January 2, 1920. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/1_2_1920.htm .
The Somerset Journal. “Meece.” April 2, 1920. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/4_2_1920.htm .
The Somerset Journal. “Burnside.” October 29, 1920. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/10_29_1920.htm .
The Somerset Journal. “Burnside.” March 18, 1921. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/3_21/3_18_1921_2.htm .
United States Geological Survey. Burnside, Kentucky. 15-minute topographic quadrangle. 1932. Robert M. Rennick Map Collection, Morehead State University. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/rennick_maps_all/858/ .
United States Geological Survey. Burnside, Kentucky. 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle. Surveyed 1965, published 1967. Historical map reproduced by Pastmaps. https://pastmaps.com/map/burnside-pulaski-county-ky-usgs-topo-1965-p1967 .
Rennick, Robert M. “Pulaski County: Place Names.” Robert M. Rennick Manuscript Collection, Morehead State University, digitized 2016. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/rennick_ms_collection/123/ .
Rennick, Robert M. “Place Names Beginning with the Letter A.” Robert M. Rennick Manuscript Collection, Morehead State University. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/rennick_ms_collection/6/ .
Works Progress Administration and Robert M. Rennick. “Pulaski County: Post Offices & Place Names.” 1939. County Histories of Kentucky, Morehead State University. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/kentucky_county_histories/284/ .
Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey. “Pulaski County.” 1936. County Histories of Kentucky, Morehead State University. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/kentucky_county_histories/56/ .
National Park Service. “Pulaski County Multiple Resource Area.” National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form, 1984. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/64000251_text .
Arnow, Harriette Simpson. Old Burnside. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1977. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_english_language_and_literature_north_america/8/ .
Tibbals, Alma Owens, comp. A History of Pulaski County, Kentucky. 1952. https://books.google.com/books/about/A_History_of_Pulaski_County_Kentucky.html?id=hUh4D_2eUFMC .
Ramey, Clarice Payne. History of Pulaski County. Master’s thesis, University of Kentucky, 1935. https://books.google.com/books/about/History_of_Pulaski_County.html?id=PSYInwEACAAJ .
Rennick, Robert M. Kentucky Place Names. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1984. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt13x1s3p .
Pulaski County Public Library. Digital Archives of the Pulaski County Public Library. Historical newspapers, court records, tax lists, deeds, and genealogical collections. https://pulaskilibrary.advantage-preservation.com/ .
Kentucky Historical Society. “Kentucky Newspapers on Microfilm: Alphabetical by County, Then Sorted by Title.” Kentucky Historical Society Digital Collections. https://www.kyhistory.com/digital/api/collection/LIB/id/1469/download .
Pulaski County KYGenWeb. “Pulaski County, Kentucky, Cemeteries.” Cemetery records and genealogical transcriptions. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/cemetery/cemeteries.html .
United States Geological Survey. “topoView.” Historical Topographic Map Collection. https://www.usgs.gov/tools/topoview .
United States Geological Survey. “Geographic Names Information System.” National geographic names database. https://www.usgs.gov/tools/geographic-names-information-system-gnis .
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville District. “Wolf Creek Dam.” January 11, 2024. https://www.lrd.usace.army.mil/Missions/Projects/Article/3642683/wolf-creek-dam/ .
Kentucky Educational Television. “Life in the Old Pulaski County Town of Burnside.” Kentucky Life, season 3, episode 12. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/video/old-burnside-a015ar/ .
Author Note: Antioch’s history survives through newspaper reports, historical maps, and the families who built their lives in the countryside of southern Pulaski County. I hope this article helps preserve their stories and encourages readers with family photographs, records, or memories of Antioch to contribute to its history.