Hensley Settlement

About Hensley Settlement

Hensley Settlement is an Appalachian living history museum on Brush Mountain, Bell County, Kentucky in the United States. The settlement is part of the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and it is located approximately 10 miles (16 km) north of the park visitor center on Ridge Trail.

The settlement contains twelve homestead log cabins, a one-room school house, and a blacksmith shop. A restored spring house on the property was used by the settlement as food storage. The settlement began in 1903 when brothers-in-law Sherman Hensley and Willy Gibbons settled their families on plots from acreage purchased by Burton Hensley Sr. Most inhabitants belonged to either the Hensley or Gibbons families. The settlement never developed modern infrastructure or technology.

The last resident was Sherman Hensley, who left in 1951. The school, together with some forty-five settlement structures and the agricultural environment, were restored to their original state in the 1960s by the Job Corps.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos of Hensley Settlement

  1. Hensley Settlement, Bell County01Bell CountyNational Park Service · Public domain
  2. Settler's Cabin at Hensley Settlement Cumberland Gap02Settler's Cabin at Hensley Settlement Cumberland GapPeggyElla66 · CC BY-SA 4.0
  3. Cornshuck dolls in cabin window - Cumberland Gap03Cornshuck dolls in cabin window - Cumberland GapPeggyElla66 · CC BY-SA 4.0
  4. Apple trees at Hensley Settlement Cumberland Gap National Historical Park - October 2008 (dd85d16f-d7a1-4953-9672-d455144901d6)04Apple trees at Hensley Settlement Cumberland Gap National Historical Park - October (dd85d16f-d7a1---d455144901d6)NPS Staff · Public domain
  5. Apple trees at Hensley Settlement Cumberland Gap National Historical Park - October 2008 (6fda59f3-aff7-43dc-9090-ba6fa7c1be82)05Apple trees at Hensley Settlement Cumberland Gap National Historical Park - October (6fda59f3-aff7-43dc--ba6fa7c1be82)NPS Staff · Public domain
  6. Hensley Settlement Homestead06HomesteadPeggyElla66 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Shared by photographers under free licenses on Wikimedia Commons. Tap a photo to see it full size there.

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Nearby museums

Make a day of it. 4 more museums are within 29 miles of Hensley Settlement; the closest, Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, is about 9.5 miles away.