Hardscrabble

by Joe Sowder

Several years ago a small community about three miles south of Williamstown was known as Hardscrabble.  At one time, the name was quite fitting.  With insufficient farming tools and poor farming methods, it was really a hard scrabble to make a living. The most important place in Hardscrabble was the general store, owned and operated by George W. Hill, who later moved his business to Covington.  The store was important because it furnished the people of the surrounding area with household supplies, farming implements and other items.  When the Spicer family moved here from Falmouth, Mr. Spicer bought the store and continued to operate it and also opened a blacksmith shop.  From the skilled hands of the blacksmith came such items as plows, hand tools, and horseshoes, as well as many others.  The Hardscrabble school, a one room log building, stayed open for five months of the year.  One of its well-remembered teachers was Miss Florence Weaver.  Another favorite place was Jim Elliot's tavern, a large, two story frame structure where a traveler could get a room and meals, and also find a place to bed his stock as he drove them to the Cincinnati market.     

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.