Legend is that "George Buckhart came
from Virginia and settled at the head of Cranks Creek shortly
after Samuel Howard built his house at Harlan. He made shingles
and covered over a large hollow oak stump, and moved his family
into this hollow stump. It was so large they cooked and slept
in it. To this family was born a son, Isaac Buckhart, while they
were living in the stump. For further protection from animals
they built a brush fence around it, and herded their small flock
of sheep within this fence at night. One day a large bear tried
to catch one of their sheep while it was feeding in the mountains
nearby, and the sheep ran back and jumped over the brush fence
into the inclosure. The bear rushed on to the fence, and while
it was trying to climb over the brush, George Buckhart's wife
shot and killed it. Old George Buckhart was married the second
time at the age of 118, and danced that night to the tune of
some old ballads of some of the old time fiddlers. He lived seven
years after his second marriage, and died at the age of 125."
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Harlan
County, Kentucky, by Elmon Middleton. Big Laurel, VA, James
Taylor Adams & James Taylor Adams II, 1934, pp. 16, 17 |