Buildings in Harlan County have a sentimental value in Harlan County as they do in every town. Some of the people have preserved stones from old buildings that have long ago been torn away.

In 1838 Harlan's second court house was to be built, replacing the first one that burned during the Civil War. It was then the Mount Pleasant Court House.

When the first one was built, little if any excavation was done. Citizens decided the mound on Main Street needed to be dug off a little in order to get a better foundation for the building.

After digging a few feet in the earth, they discovered a human skelton in a sitting position. The teeth were in the sockets and perfect. Close by the bones was a kind of a pot much superior to modern ware. It was made of clay and of periwinkle pounded into powder.

The inside of the pot was glazed and the outside was covered with rough knots about an inch long. Clay pipes were uncovered, too. The objects were found about three to five feet below the surface.

In 1870 more bones were dug up along with pipes made of hard blue stone. Over on laurel Mountain was a thin-bedded sand stone. It was near the water level and could be removed in large slabs.

The stones were very thin and were sometimes used for covering bee hives.

Even as late as 1870 the value of land in Harlan County was seventy cents an acre. The county known as Mount Pleasant came into being in 1819 out of parts of Floyd and Knox counties. It was the 60th in Kentucky.

About 48 years later an area now known as Bell county was taken off of Harlan County. "That took about 200 of our voters," 'said an old politician. The town of Mount Pleasant contained a court house, four lawyers, five stores, a grist mill, a saw mill and a tavern. The population was 50.

One Doctor In County

Scattered over the county was one lawyer, one doctor, three stores, two saw mills and seven grist mills. The population for the whole county in 1820 was 1,961

Shortly after the turn of the center, the name Mount Pleasant was changed to Harlan. the county was named for Major Silas Harlan, a Civil War leader.

Major Harlan was born in virginia. He came to Kentucky and took part in battles with the Indians. General George Rogers Clark once said, "he was the bravest and most accomplished soldier that ever fought on my side."

Sunday February 28, 1954

Volume 53 Number 49

Pages 1 & 8

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