Charleston

Here are two pictures of the Island which was in the Ohio river below Maysville & Charleston Bottoms, I can remember Pa-Paw Chamblin & others saying that there was somewhere around 100 acres of it above water in summer months when river was stationary prior to the Dam downriver being built. The picture showing the lower half was taken by me on June 14, 1957, and if I'm not mistaken, that was the same day that a friend/school classmate (one year ahead of me in school) drowned in the Ohio River at Dover, Ky. His name was Macon Thomas and his family lived just a small piece east from Dover on Route 8.

There was a very small clump of trees towards the middle or upper end and a much larger bunch on the lower end, which was the highest part of the island.

The large house boat that my sister talked about getting stuck on the dry bar one year was named “The Clark Bar” I think it was owned by a family from the Ripley Ohio area, The owner stated that when he pulled in the night before and dropped anchor he was in four feet of water. When he awoke the next morning his boat was probably 70 to 100 feet on dry sand from the water, But there was a very small slope on the Kentucky side of the island where he was, You could walk out in the water from the island in that area maybe 50 to 60 feet and still just be in waist deep water. It was a wonderful place to swim in the summer time on the Kentucky side of Island, and if you went in the water from Kentucky shoreline just above the mouth of Lawrence creek you could almost walk to the island without having to even swim. I had never done this, but I knew a few guys that did. Pa-Paw Chamblin sold the Island (Which at time of sale he had never known he even owned it). He was was contacted by a lawyer from the J.F. Hardymon Co. while we were in the stripping room stripping tobacco when they showed up at the door. I'm thinking this was somewhere in the time frame of 1955/1957. He was offered $1,000.00 for the island. He didn't know it at the time but was told by their Lawyer that if any Kentucky landowner had land that bordered the Ohio river, that they actually owned the length of their land/farm all the way to the Ohio shoreline. That was back then; law may be different now. The truck is Pa-Paws 1949 1 & 1/2 ton Ford truck, with the farm name on both doors “Island View Farm”.

From a Facebook posts by Bob Chamblin