By
Cecil E. Goode
There is little romance in most
of the names early settlers gave to streams, hills, other geographic features an
to their settlements. In fact, most
places were not deliberately named, but names merely evolved from the names of
families living nearby or from other facts or natural features such as
undoubtedly resulted in Slick Rock, Bear Wallow and Rocky Hill.
Temple Hill is an exception. Its
name suggests romance, inspiration and exhilaration of the spirit.
Temple Hill is situated on one of
the most impressive and beautiful eminences in the county.
It could not be better named even if it is named for a person or family
named Temple, as one legend has it. I
prefer to believe that the originator of the name had romance in his soul.
One legend relates to a wanderer who slept in an old log church located
in what is now Temple Hill. The
next morning, according to the legend, he inscribed the words on the rough-hewn
church door before he departed: “Temple Hill”.
Another theory is that the
settlement was named for Temple Tunstall, son of Joseph Tunstall, who lived near
Nobob and was one of the early settlers.
Anyway, the settlement
originally was called Skaggs Creek: at least, that was the name given to the
first post office, established in 1839. The
post office continued under this name until 1858, when it was changed to Temple
Hill. Temple Hill, like most of
Barren County settlements, has never been incorporated as a village or town.
Unfortunately, many of Barren County’s early settlements have
disappeared, some with hardly a trace; but Temple Hill still flourishes, not
formally as a town but as a recognizable school, social and business center of a
rural area.
EARLY SETTLERS
The earliest settlers in
the area included Edward Bullock, Hugh Norvell, John Ritter, Francis Scott,
William Wilkinson, Solomon Lough (who married Elizabeth Howard, granddaughter of
Obediah Howard), Moses Peden, Joseph Tunstall, William Wells, Anderson Underwood
and D.B. Ritter. Settlers moving
into Temple Hill area later included Peter Starr, Jacob Sherfey, Nicholas Wren
Jones, John Harris, Joseph Goode and George Oliver.
The well known Poplar Log
Church, dating from 1820 or before, is located in the area. The earliest graves to be found in the churchyard are around
1820. The church was originally
called Skaggs Creek Baptist Church. There
is another Baptist Church located in the heart of Temple Hill today, which was
organized much later. Formerly,
there was a Methodist church, but it ceased to exist some years ago.
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Index of Supporting Documents