Screamersville

by Arnold Blogg

   About six miles from Cherry Grove on the Leesburg Pike, (Route 36) there was a thriving metropolis ion the late 1800's known as Screamersville.  Its boundaries extended from the old Hardshell Baptist Church at the foot of Mt. Pleasant hill to the concrete bridge which spans Lick Fork Creek.  The Hardshell Baptist Church is believed to be one of the first churches established in Northern Kentucky.  At one time it had about twenty members.  It was situated close to the creek where Lincoln Ridge Road meets Highway 36.  This old church was an interesting place. The people of Screamersville had only two troubles; the creek ford and the gypsies.  Whenever it rained, the water rose over the crossing and the people had no way to get across the creek, and when the gypsies came through the county, they stole livestock, or vegetables, or anything else they could carry away.  (Note:  Parents sometimes scared their noisy children by threatening to sell them to the gypsies.  Sometimes the gypsies traded tea sets and other interesting pieces of china to housewives for food.  Some of these items are probably still in cupboards around here).

The concrete bridge across Fork Lick was built in 1922, one of the first concrete bridges built in Northern Kentucky.  Most bridges before that time were old covered wooden bridges.  This bridge was built entirely by hand, and the abutments were laid by hand.  When the men were digging in the creek bed for the abutments, they discovered a spring that they covered over with rock, cement and dirt.  Later they learned that it was a sulfur spring.  A grist mill was across the street from the blacksmith shop.  The mill was powered by water.  The people had made a dam of layered rock, and as the water ran over the dam, it turned the large water wheel which then turned stones to grind the grain.  You can still see part of the rock pier that supported the grist mill, and the cable which secured the mill to the pier.

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.