A Town In Kentucky Could Be Wiped Out Because Of This Dangerous Tradition

The small town of Pineville was established in 1781 under the name Cumberland Ford. The name was due to the community’s location along the Cumberland River by the renowned Wilderness Road. The land was on Governor Isaac Shelby’s property, but became part of Bell County in 1867. The name changed to Pineville, which became the county seat around 1869. It was incorporated under that name in 1873, but the community had an unknown danger hovering over the people and town in its entirety. The problem of the giant chained rock in Kentucky went as national as news could go back in the 1800s.

6. What made a huge rock so dangerous?

For starters, it was a HUGE boulder hanging off the mountain, hovering directly over the town. Nothing holding it but the dirt and tree roots Mother Nature surrounded it with as it formed.

AC Dixon

The 1930s brought the creation of the Chained Rock Club to discuss and prioritize concerns surrounding the rocky disaster waiting to happen. It didn’t take long for the notoriety of the chained rock to spread across the country. Parents told their children not to fear the boulder, as it was chained.

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The rock was not chained until 1932. At that point, an enormous chain was attached from the boulder to the opposite side. This design would cause it to swing across and not down, preventing any damage to the town.

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Jimmy Emerson

One says it was put into place because parents had already been telling their children it existed. Another says that word of the nonexistent chain spread so quickly, Pineville needed to add it because of the traveling tales. Thirdly, the chain was put in place after a rock slide that could have potentially destroyed the town. Word of mouth that has been written down over the decades, or is still told is the only proof we have about this lore.

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...that around 50 local citizens, Kiwanians, Boy Scouts, and CCC members created the Chained Rock Club. The reasons were supposedly to turn the chained rock "story" into a reality. They also planned to create some local tourism for the community based on the chained rock.

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The chain is said to weigh more a ton and stretches across the valley holding the 75-foot-wide and 200 foot long boulder securely above the community of Pineville. It took a team of four mules, a Boy Scout troop and several other volunteers to get the rock up the mountain so it could be secured into the boulder and the anchor utilized.

The history of the chained rock in Kentucky is a little surprising, considering it started out as a tall tale. The lore about the parents wanting to make their stories true is a sweet little small town story, which could be based on truth. The events that followed have brought some tourism to the county, as security based on a big chained up rock is pretty interesting. Here are some more interesting tales about historical gems in Kentucky.