Pieces of History – Freestone

Freestone was home to one of the many rock quarries in the Farmers area and was a railroad town for the C&O Railroad. Freestone commanded one of the largest outputs of rough and dressed freestone in the country, constantly operating a large stone mill and numerous quarries of the first class architectural and building stone, which was demanded by many foreign as well as domestic towns.

Three of these stone quarries operated in the Triplett Creek valley. One of the largest quarries was Cushman Stone Inc. that mined rough stones and shipped them worldwide, located near Long Hungry Branch. The Kentucky Bluestone Company was located at Rockville, now Bluestone and the third was the Rowan County Freestone Company at Farmers owned by Doctor Howard Van Antwerp.

Both Freestone and Bluestone were named for a fine grained and even textured sandstone of medium hardness, grey to blueish in color and comparatively easy to cut in all directions without splitting. It was very popular as building material in the late 19th and early 20th century and was quarried in both locations.

These quarries were the economic backbone of this area. The stone was sawed into various sizes and used to build bridge abutments for the many rivers and streams that had to be crossed as the C & O Railroad laid track toward Ashland and on into West Virginia.

The Freestone Post Office was established in 1883 with Henry F. Martin as Postmaster. The office was two miles east of the Farmers post office, 51 yards from the Elizabethtown, Lexington & Big Sandy Railroad station and five miles west of Morehead.

The mail was carried six days a week by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (C&O) and the new post office would be directly on that route. The post office was about 50 yards south of the Freestone Railroad station. Freestone Railroad Station was just past and on the opposite side of the road from Hungry Hollow Road. The population for the area was at least 500.

As World War I approached and the depression continued, the demand for stone slowed down and many workers left the area to find employment.

The Freestone Road Bridge formerly carried US Route 60 over Triplett Creek in Rowan County, Kentucky. The Camelback through truss bridge was constructed in 1921 by HIPCO of Ligonier, Indiana, but the bridge was bypassed when US Route 60 was realigned in 1948. The bridge is still there but closed to the public.

Article by Cindy Leach

Sources

The Road Materials of Kentucky. A Preliminary Report Covering Field and Laboratory Investigations of Rock, Gravel and Bituminous Sandstone Deposits Occurring Within the Commonwealth · Volume 22 By Charles Henry Richardson · 1924

https://quarriesandbeyond.org/states/ky/ky-photos.html

http://www.cassidyfamilyassociation.org/index.html

Rowan County, Kentucky Place Names, Robert Rennick

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/rennick_ms_collection/137/

Notes via Juanita Blair and Fred Brown