Before There Was a Town, There Were Claims…
We did a story about the settlement Forks of the Licking that became Falmouth, KY. Before this there were early pioneers who made claims. While the ink was barely dry on the Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4, 1776, there were already men in the wilds of Kentucky staking claims on land that didn’t “officially” belong to them yet. And one of the most sought-after spots? The Forks of the Licking, where two branches of the river collide in what we now call Falmouth.
This wasn’t just some pretty landscape. It was a power move.
Even before the first land warrants were filed, longhunters and scouts like Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton were cutting trails and whispering the name “Licking” like a promise. Boone’s 1775 expedition, blazing the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap, cracked the whole region open. By the summer of 1776, men were pouring into Kentucky from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the Carolinas, many of them armed with rifles, grit, and a complete disregard for treaties or indigenous land rights.
They weren’t waiting for permission. They came with axes, survey chains, and ambition.
At the Forks of the Licking, a major crossroads formed. Native American hunting trails converged there, and buffalo paths cut straight through the flats. The land was fertile, the water ran fast, and the overlook bluffs offered natural defense. If you were going to carve out a foothold in the wilderness, this was the kind of place you’d risk everything for.
It’s worth noting:
There were no formal settlements at the Forks in 1776, just scattered encampments and whispered claims. The first known cabins in what would become Falmouth wouldn’t appear until the 1790s, when John Waller began formalizing settlement in the area. But the roots go deeper. They go back to men like Boone, who may not have stayed, but who left behind trails others would follow. So while the new American government was writing liberty on parchment in Philadelphia; Men were staking freedom by firelight on riverbanks like ours.
And they weren’t waiting for anyone’s approval.
SOURCES:
Bakeless, John. Daniel Boone: Master of the Wilderness. University of Nebraska Press, 1989.
Clark, Thomas D. A History of Kentucky. John Bradford Press, 1937.
Jillson, Willard Rouse. The Kentucky Land Grants. Kentucky Historical Society, 1925.
Collins, Lewis. History of Kentucky, 1847.
Pendleton County Historical Society Records & Early Survey Maps
Have a great Sunday Falmouth.
Whisper One Out