Zion Station

by Linda Beach

Zion Station lies in a little valley between high hills, with Ten Mile Creek flowing in the same valley along the L & N Railroad.  It has been said that the track is so crooked that a man throwing coal in the4 coal box once threw a lump into the caboose.  At one time there was a tunnel at the lower end of Zion, but it has been cut out in recent years.  The Pleasant View Baptist Church sots on top of a hill on the west, over-looking Zion.

Zion Station was  named by Jimmy Green, who said that he would donate the land for the Post Office and for a stock pen if the L & N would name it Zion, because it lay in the valley below Mt. Zion.  The railroad was built in 1868.

The first church here was a log building; the second was frame, built in 1888 by John Molder; the third was built by John Watkins; the church now standing, but remodeled, was built in 1908.  The old church once had stile blocks so that the women who rode horseback to church could dismount with ease.  The women wore long, black riding skirts to cover their clothes.

Zion had a one-room school house called Newcutt and Briniges school, located on Newcutt Road, which has not been in use for man years.  The school burned in 1933.  The railroad company did away with the depot on July 1, 1930, and the government did away with the Post Office on May 31, 1952.

A few weeks ago a bit of history was repeated.  A little Civil War engine called the "Little General," which had been stolen three times during the Civil War by Rebels, made another journey from Cincinnati to Sparta under its own power and pulling one coach. The "Little General" was one its way to a museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The people of long ago walked through the cold and snow to New Year's Eve parties and Christmas plays at the church.  They also had Halloween parties and ice cream socials.  They made their own ice cream instead of buying it as we do today.  Every Sunday afternoon they had picnics and dances at a place called Horseshoe Island.

However there were other occasions that were not so gay, such as the day Doc Lillard killed his sister and late himself.  The incident occurred on Christmas Sunday, following the June in which their mother drowned in the cistern.  The house is still standing, and the blood stains can still be seen on the floor where they died.

From a collection of essays written in American Literature Eleven.  The class was taught by Ms. Hazel Ogden of Grant County High School in the 1963-1964 school year, and was typed by the typing classes of Mrs. Mattie Cox.  It is copyrighted by the Grant County Schools, and is used here with their kind permission. We found a copy in UK's King Library.