First Settlement of Perryville

First Settlement of Perryville (HMV8U)

Location: Perryville, KY 40468 Boyle County
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Country: United States of America
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N 37° 38.889', W 84° 57.13'

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Inscription

Perryville

— The Battle for Kentucky October 8, 1862 —

The area around this cave was the site of Perryville's original settlement, Harbison's Station. Named for its founder, James Harbison, the station was settled in the 1770s. Harbison and the group of Virginians traveling with him chose this location because the cave housed a natural spring and was situated on the banks of the Chaplin River (to your left rear behind the buildings). A fort was built around the cave for protection, and Harbison's Station soon became a center of pioneer life in what became western Boyle County.

Trouble frequently arose with local Native Americans, and the settlers would flee into the fort and cave to seek shelter. If necessary, both men and women would help defend the fort against attackers. During one raid James Harbison failed to reach the cave in time and was captured and executed. His head was discovered about a mile from the fort. A Perryville resident later recalled that Harbison's wife "took the head and managed to keep it in a complete state of preservation for many years."

As more people moved west, Harbison's Station grew into a small town, which was renamed and incorporated as Perryville in 1817. The cave remained a popular site for social events. Stone walls were installed around the mouth in the middle of the 19th Century to prevent erosion, and were reconstructed in 2007 by the Perryville Enhancement Project.

Please use caution walking around the cave mouth.

"The cave?was where most of the Perryvillians obtained their drinking water. The stream was much larger then than it is now."
—Perryville resident Lora Parks, from a memoir
Details
HM NumberHMV8U
Tags
Placed ByThe Perryville Enhancement Project
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Wednesday, October 15th, 2014 at 1:39am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)16S E 680659 N 4168750
Decimal Degrees37.64815000, -84.95216667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 37° 38.889', W 84° 57.13'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds37° 38' 53.34" N, 84° 57' 7.80" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)859
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 200-298 W 4th St, Perryville KY 40468, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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