Stories of Old Kentucky

Before Kentucky became the Commonwealth, it was a seabed. It was hunting grounds for ancient peoples. It was the contested frontier where Daniel Boone walked and Cherokee leaders ruled. This 1915 collection gathers the stories that early Americans told about the land that would become the Bluegrass State, presenting a past populated by daring pioneers, vanishing nations, and geological wonders that once lay beneath ancient oceans. Grassham and Purcell write for young readers, yet their narratives possess an untamed quality: the frontier's raw adventure, indigenous cultures in their complexity, and a land whose history stretches back to when an ocean covered everything. The book reflects its era, certainly, but it also preserves something precious: the romantic, swashbuckling vision of American beginnings that still captures the imagination.