interesting old article about Valley station (school, live, club)

[missymomof3]

Valley Station: Farmers cleared their own road | courier-journal.com | The Courier-Journal

[JefferyT]

I recall that article. It relies somewhat on the old Valley Womens Club history, which is an invaluable source since it was published when some of the old farming families, or their descendents, were still around.

There is mention of Lynds Dodge. He also owned farmland, hence Dodge Lane, and one of the knobs back around Blevins Gap is named Dodge Hill, indicating his property extended back across Pond Creek into the Knobs.

The article also mentions the rural black community in Valley Station. I think I posted on this before, but there was a black church in the 19th century around where Pages Lane meets Old Third Street, and another one (with a cemetary) on Johnsontown Road and Mill Creek, roughly. Folks old enough to remember him probably know about "The Roadrunner", the elderly black man who used to walk down Old Third Street Road. He might have been from this community as I believe he lived in an old farmhouse near the intersection of Arnoldtown and Old Third Street.

From the article:

"Hockett especially remembers the beauty of Easter sunrise services that were held atop Thompson Hill, near Johnsontown Road, on what is now the site of the Beth Haven Baptist Church and School. From that breathtaking site, the worshipers could see all the farm land between them and the river, she said. But the hill no longer stands. Much of it was hauled off by the truckload for a glass company that needed sand more than 50 years ago, according to her son, C. G. Hockett."

I know this area well. This abandoned sand pit is now bisected by the extension of Stonestreet to Johnsontown Road and extended beyond the former Beth Haven property toward Timothy Hills. By the time I became aquainted with it, and its deep ravines and big highwalls, it was partly overgrown, but enough was open to see the effects of the mining. A vertible miniature badlands. Popular place with dirt bikers (which I was at the time).

Little known fact is that most south facing slopes of all the hills in Valley Station & Pleasure Ridge/St Andrews Church Road are giant prehistoric sand dunes, mostly stabilized now due to vegitation and the passing of time. Another old dune belt runs between Pond Creek to, roughly, Lane Elementary and JCC Southwest...the hummocky land you pass through between Stuart and Villa Anna, where the old Kennedy place is, and Dodge Lane.

Old timers will recall this was sand mined, too, by the Hartlage family, but closer to the hospital and that big rock cutting on the Stonestreet extension.

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by JefferyT

I recall that article. It relies somewhat on the old Valley Womens Club history, which is an invaluable source since it was published when some of the old farming families, or their descendents, were still around.

There is mention of Lynds Dodge. He also owned farmland, hence Dodge Lane, and one of the knobs back around Blevins Gap is named Dodge Hill, indicating his property extended back across Pond Creek into the Knobs.

The article also mentions the rural black community in Valley Station. I think I posted on this before, but there was a black church in the 19th century around where Pages Lane meets Old Third Street, and another one (with a cemetary) on Johnsontown Road and Mill Creek, roughly. Folks old enough to remember him probably know about "The Roadrunner", the elderly black man who used to walk down Old Third Street Road. He might have been from this community as I believe he lived in an old farmhouse near the intersection of Arnoldtown and Old Third Street.

From the article:

"Hockett especially remembers the beauty of Easter sunrise services that were held atop Thompson Hill, near Johnsontown Road, on what is now the site of the Beth Haven Baptist Church and School. From that breathtaking site, the worshipers could see all the farm land between them and the river, she said. But the hill no longer stands. Much of it was hauled off by the truckload for a glass company that needed sand more than 50 years ago, according to her son, C. G. Hockett."

I know this area well. This abandoned sand pit is now bisected by the extension of Stonestreet to Johnsontown Road and extended beyond the former Beth Haven property toward Timothy Hills. By the time I became aquainted with it, and its deep ravines and big highwalls, it was partly overgrown, but enough was open to see the effects of the mining. A vertible miniature badlands. Popular place with dirt bikers (which I was at the time).

Little known fact is that most south facing slopes of all the hills in Valley Station & Pleasure Ridge/St Andrews Church Road are giant prehistoric sand dunes, mostly stabilized now due to vegitation and the passing of time. Another old dune belt runs between Pond Creek to, roughly, Lane Elementary and JCC Southwest...the hummocky land you pass through between Stuart and Villa Anna, where the old Kennedy place is, and Dodge Lane.

Old timers will recall this was sand mined, too, by the Hartlage family, but closer to the hospital and that big rock cutting on the Stonestreet extension.

Very cool info, thank you Jeff!