by Chris . 9 comments So one evening I was driving down a road . I didn 't know where I was going or how far it was from home , but I was positive that I needed a vacation . One thing I did know was that I was somewhere in Kentucky . I looked at the fuel gauge and saw I needed gas badly and I was , of course , in the middle of nowhere . I soon came up to a sign that said , " Welcome to Spottsville . " I thought , " What a peculiar name for a town like this ? " I mean it looked pretty nice . There weren 't too many people living there . I would guess around maybe 200 people , more or less . As I pulled up to the nearest gas station , I hopped out of my car and saw the cashier standing inside the window peering out at me like I was some kind of alien . I knew I wanted to find out how this town got its name . So once I filled my tank up I walked inside to get a better look at the place and asked why he was staring at me . He saw me headed toward the front door of the gas station and acted as if he was busy . I slowly walked across the room to the cooler and I stuck my head inside to see what kind of beverages they had and I decided to pick a regular bottle of pop . I then wandered up and down the aisles to see what sort of snacks they carried . I then found my favorite bag of chips and went to the cashier . As I headed in his direction , I saw that his nametag said " Seth . " When I reached the counter he asked me what I was doing here , and I said that I was on a road trip to see my family . Okay , so I told a little white lie because to me he looked a little freakish up close and I wanted to get out of there . Then Seth asked me what I thought of the town . I said I thought it looked pretty nice . I mean it did . There were a few scattered trees and few nice houses . They had some really bizarre buildings though . I believe they were all office buildings but they all looked old , dusty and had brown spots . They looked like spheres ; some weren 't perfectly round , but close enough . I had been thinking it was odd , but figured it was some kind of special architecture that they liked . I told him I felt a sort of relaxed feeling while in the town , but I was in kind of a hurry to get some rest . So I asked if there was nearby hotel . He gave me the directions and I was off . I found the hotel easily and I was so exhausted . I checked in and then realized I had forgotten to ask about the name of the town . I figured I would ask in the morning . I got up bright and early to continue my grand adventure throughout the state of Kentucky , but I remembered I wanted to ask the story of the town 's name . I jumped in my car and headed toward the gas station I had been at the night before . I went inside and saw Seth , the cashier . Looking at him now , in broad daylight , he wasn 't as intimidating as I had thought . He looked more like a giant teddy bear with a few creepy features here and there , but still a softer face in the light . I went over to the cooler again , got my same drink and the same kind of chips as before . I went back up to the counter and he and I had a long conversation about this little town of Spottsville , Kentucky . It turned out these buildings had been here before people even started settling here , a long time ago . The settlers had noticed the buildings and were just fascinated by them . They went inside to see if anyone was there , but sadly there had been no one there for a long time . They didn 't know who built the strange buildings or why they left , but they had loved the buildings so much that they had decided to keep them but try and rebuild them so they were more stable and better looking . They kept the color of the buildings though , with the brown spots and everything . I finally understood why the town was named Spottsville , and the name was nothing how I imagined it to be , but that 's life . Even though it was an unusual town with an unusual name , I 'll always remember that odd town I had stopped in on my great journey , as I will with the other cities and towns I stopped in that year . It 's one of the few towns trying to keep their history alive and they will always remember it wherever they go . Personally , I 'll go back to that town once a year to visit my friend Seth , the cashier . We now sit and talk for a long time and we have become great friends . I am still traveling because after going to Spottsville , I 've realized that I 'd rather travel and see new and interesting places than work in an office . I find other nice towns in Kentucky and other states , and amazing stories that go with them , but I know that Spottsville , Kentucky will always be my favorite . by Chris . 3 comments Morton 's Gap is a quiet , peaceful town . It may be small , but it has a lot of memories for Joy Morton , who just happened to stumble upon it one day . Joy Morton was a loving , kind , young man . Joy was the founder of the Morton Salt Company . He had become very wealthy since his business took off in 1848 , and had come a long way since eating beans and rice for dinner every night . He had a magnificent house and I think one of the prettiest yards I 've ever seen . But his father , however , still lived in a small town in Kentucky called Earlington . On May 26 , 1851 , Joy decided to go visit his father . He hadn 't seen him since his business took off , which is by far too long to go without seeing your own father . So , he called his father and arranged a visit . Joy left in the morning because he didn 't want to drive in the dark . It was so early when Joy left that the grass still had dew on it and the sun was a pretty pinkish - yellow color . It was very foggy and mysterious on the streets Joy drove down . He was about ¾ of the way there and it was daytime now . He emerged to a giant , black , and mysterious gap in the middle of a road . It was an amazing sight ! He was absolutely astonished . He had never seen such a sight in his life . He didn 't know what to do . He looked around to try and look for any signs of human life , or even existence . There weren 't any ! The dirt roads looked deserted , like they had never been driven . Joy 's tire treads were the only ones on the road . He called his father to tell him , and his father was astonished too . The town was lonely , forgotten , and extremely empty . Joy had never heard of an empty town before . But , as he thought about it , he hadn 't seen any signs as he was on his way there . As Joy eagerly talked to his father , he decided to name the town , since there weren 't any previous owners . He named it Morton 's Gap . He made a sign and posted it up the road . Ever since that day , the town has been called Morton 's Gap . by Chris . 3 comments Two weeks before our wedding my fiancée , Christian and I were going to visit his sister , Lisa . She lived in this hushed , quaint , miniscule town named Smithmills . It sat south of the Ohio River . We went to a diner to meet her for lunch . It was pretty empty except for the two waitresses and about six customers . When we were talking about good places for our honeymoon I brought up the name of this town . It was about 29 years ago when the Smithson family came and settled . There was Ms . Mary Smithson , little Johnny Smithson , and their dog , Sam . When they first got to this rugged place nothing was here . The only thing here was a bunch of cabins , some small fields , and a stream . They moved into a nice cabin along a river in the back . Johnny 's father died in a fire three years ago . His mom got a job at the general store and Johnny and Sam built stuff in their backyard each day . You see , Johnny had a hard time making friends . One day when Sam and Johnny were walking they met some children . Their names were Millie , Billy , Clare , and Chuck . They were all around Johnny 's age . When he introduced himself to them they thought he was strange . All the kids ran off except for Millie . Millie was a tall blonde ten year old . She thought Johnny was cool and friendly . The day she moved he sat in his backyard building things . A few months later this town ran out of running water . People didn 't know what to do about this crisis . Some people thought about using water from water bottles , but it ran out too quickly . Others thought about getting water from the river , but it wasn 't clean . Around this time Johnny was lonely and everyone was worrying about their own problems . Johnny thought about how to get everyone to settle down and become happy again . He started with the running water problem . When his mom , Mary , went to work Johnny would go into town . He found things he needed to fix the water problem . The river behind his house helped him test out his different inventions . Johnny worked every day and night until he came up with a solution . When the day finally came to show his invention , no one thought it would work . So the next week he built a prototype . The prototype was a spinning wheel with filters and a bucket set to fall and pour out running water . Everyone from town came out to see this . When the people of the town saw the working model they were surprised . Over the next few days everyone was getting new running water systems in their backyards . People were wondering what these new contraptions were called . Johnny really couldn 't think of anything until he thought about Millie . The next week the mayor of the nameless town came to the Smithson 's household . He wanted to tell Johnny and his family that the town had a new name . The new name was Smithmills . The name was after Johnny 's last name , the mills , and Millie . by Chris . 3 comments In the quaint town of Old Landing , strange things have happened . For instance , how it got its name . Although it was never proven , most still believe in this tale of a magic airplane . People claim it happened about a hundred years ago . The most common story is the most believable . One bright , spring morning in 1903 , Wilbur and Orville Wright were using their engineering talent to create something nobody could ever imagine : a flying machine . They were using the small , Kentucky town because of the large , flat land . They were doing excellent , too . It had taken years , but they had finally finished . They called this magnificent device the Wright Flyer . All that was left to do was to test it . With much excitement , the brothers walked simultaneously , each putting their right foot first , then the left . They did this often , and occasionally even had the same thoughts . Wilbur nodded and got closer to the plane . He reached for the familiar lever when he heard a strange , clicking sound . Wilbur removed his hand , and the brothers inspected the plane thoroughly to make sure it was safe . Nothing seemed to be wrong , so he tried again . Suddenly , right before Wilbur started it , the plane took off without a pilot . The brothers did not know what to do . They just stood there in shock . After a few seconds , however , they both got the same thought . Since they owned a bike shop together , they had plenty of bikes available . They ran to the shop , hopped on the handmade , but dependable bicycles , and headed out . They searched thoroughly for the rest of the day , but found nothing . Eventually , the brothers decided together to give up , and start a new one . Exactly one year from this odd evening , something even more puzzling happened . In fact , the Wright Brothers were so baffled ; even two geniuses like them had no idea what to do at first . While in the same field as the first plane flew away , it happened . A loud , buzzing noise came from overhead . To their surprise , when the Wright Brothers looked in the direction of the sound , they saw a plane ! It was about the same size as the Wright Flyer , and the same creamy color . The brothers watched with curiosity as the device landed . Without a word , they ran over and began to inspect it . It was exactly like the Wright Flyer , only better . There were no faults , or even any minor mistakes ! It was a lot more modern . There was no one flying this flawless plane , but that wasn 't the strangest part . On the right side , there were the letters ' WF ' painted in red . This was the same logo on the Wright Flyer ! The brothers knew this could no be a coincidence , it had to be theirs . Everyone the brothers told about this incident told others , who told others . The locals decided to name the town after this odd event . Everyone voted that Old Landing would be a perfect name . To this day , people still go to that spot , hoping something magical will happen . by Chris . 3 comments Deep , down in Kentucky , there is a small town called Reynolds Station . With a teeny tiny population of 100 , there aren 't too many exciting things happening there , nowadays . It wasn 't always like that , though . Back in 1864 , the town was bustling with activity . There was a gigantic train station in the middle of the town . The town was perfectly manicured ; ideal houses , obedient and caring townsfolk , and a quaint , little atmosphere . Except for one small problem ; a grimy , young , frustrating and crazy besmirchment . Reynold wasn 't a bad person . He just couldn 't hold down a job and keep a family . Since he couldn 't do these two things , he was an outcast . No one would talk to him or allow him in their homes to stay the night . Reynold , eventually found a home . His home was a bench in the train station . He made the best of his new wretched home . Trains would pass in the dead of night arousing him out of his sleep ; local hooligans came and tormented him . Soon , this led him to go insane . Upon going insane , Reynold developed a great fondness for the train station . Whenever a tourist inquired the name of the station , Reynold ran to the person and shouted , " Reynolds Station ! ! " and as quickly as he was there , he was gone . Reynold was like Flash without the costume ; he ran at supersonic speed . Eventually , Reynold 's obsession consumed the whole town . The same thing happened when the name of the town was inquired ; Reynold would run up and scream , " Reynolds Station ! ! " It was as though he had god - like hearing . Now , the townsfolk didn 't know how to comprehend Reynold 's obscene actions . So they shunned him . Soon , they ran Reynold out of town and into the neighboring , ominous forest . With Reynold gone , everything seemed to go back to normal , that is until people started to hear " Reynolds Station ! " being wailed when someone asked about the name of the town . This worried the people of the town . They weren 't sure what to do . That was true until a young , quick - witted man devised an impressive plan to calm Reynold down . He proposed his idea to the townspeople the following night . The people thought it was such a brilliant idea that they put it into action that night . There was much to be done , so they got to work right away . Some embarked into the forest in search of Reynold , while others started to make the signs . The searchers weren 't sure of what they would find . However , when they found Reynold he was still insane but he was more than willing to come back to civilization . Meanwhile , the other townspeople were busy making signs , working so hard that some people 's nail beds started to bleed and their hands blister . When the exhausted searchers and the anxious Reynold emerged from the dark woods , the town had two huge new signs . One sign was in the dead center of town . This sign said , " Reynolds Station . Population 400 " in bright , bold letters . The second sign was at the very big train station . Now , this sign was more crudely put together . The letters weren 't as neat ; it looked as though they were last minute additions , hastily put on . It read , " Reynolds " above the previous sign , " station . " Reynold looked at the new additions with the big deer - caught - in - headlights eyes , but they were full of amazement . He ran around the town with his mouth agape . It looked like he was going to break down in tears of joy . Through the night , Reynold ran around the town trying to take in all of it . In the morning , Reynold ran to all of the newcomers and dragged them to see the signs . This became a problem ; a big one too . But , that is another long , crazy story . In 1886 , Reynold died . He died when a brand new train was coming . He jumped in front of the train ; too eager to show his signs . As soon as the train hit him , he died . When everyone figured out what happeded , they went on with their lives . The only reason people know the truth of the town and Reynold is because of Reynold 's best friend , Rufus . Not only was it Rufus , but it was Rufus 's descendents also . by Chris . 3 comments On November 11 , Russellville celebrates what they call their Independence Day . It 's the day the town got its name . The story goes , " On November 11 , 1645 , the King of Kentucky was coming to visit the most beloved town in their history . It is known that all the people that have fought and died for the King of Kentucky have been born and raised there . The king 's name is Russell and he knows that the town does not have a name . He wants to help and show them how grateful he is . King Russell brought his beautiful blue eyed , black haired daughter , Elizabeth , along for the ride . They got to the town , and noticed all the beautiful things in it . There were tiny brick stores and houses along the streets with blooming , astonishing , shiny ice red roses at each corner . There was what looked like friendly , young children stopping to wave their hat or hand . There were long , rocky driveways that looped along the grass up to the house . There was a huge white three - story house at the end of the town . It was big enough to fit a family of twenty . King Russell noticed the children playing on the front lawn . They seemed to be little girls but they all didn 't have hair . The king was so surprised . He turned so fast that he fell out of the carriage . His daughter was scared that he hurt himself . When she knelt down to see if he was ok , he burst out laughing . Elizabeth was so stunned she gave him a puzzled look . She tried to help him up but the king just said no . He said he wanted to lie in the dirt for awhile . As nightfall came and the sun set over the horizon , a man with snow white hair and a very plump belly asked what was going on . King Russell got to his feet in slow motion moves . With the help of his daughter he finally got to his feet . He shook the man 's hand and explained who he was . The plump man told the king to hold on a moment , and ran into the house . Soon a handsome man with shoulder length black hair and amazing green eyes came to greet them . The man announced that he was the mayor of the town , and held his hand out to the king . They shook hands and exchanged glances . After awhile the king asked about the children that were playing on the front lawn this morning . The mayor told the king the children were suffering from a sickness no one could figure out . They also don 't have anyone to take care of them . The king also asked how many children there were . The mayor told the king that there were not many , but too many for anyone who does not have a lot of money . Plus they 're sick , and they need love and care . The king was upset that people would leave their children in their time of need . He wanted to find these people and demand to know what their problem was . As pitch dark night came they all said their goodbyes . On the ride home to the tiny , tiny hut they were staying in the king mentioned the children only once . Truth was he didn 't like feeling that " pit of the stomach hurt . " The last time he felt that way was when his wife died giving birth to his daughter , Elizabeth . King Russell soon dropped the subject and enjoyed the ride . After they got to their hut King Russell fell into a deep sleep and in it were the sick crying children . As the pinkish and orange sun started to rise , King Russell awoke with the greatest , most wonderful ideal . He knew that the only way he would be at mercy is if he took the children and gave them the most loving and caring home he could . He told his daughter and she absolutely adored the loving and caring man . She decided to let him take the children . So the king took the children and gave them the happiest , gracious life they could have . Years later , Elizabeth found that the town , with children going to heaven way too fast , named themselves after her father . She found the town was now named Russellville . It gave her the most caring , and loving feeling she has ever had . The town has had the name Russellville for more than 100 years . To this day it is still the same . That is the story of Russellville 's Independence Day . by Chris . 5 comments The legend of Keysburg , Kentucky began on a blistery , cold day in December of the year 1923 with the birth of Cory and Casey . The twins were an unexpected surprise to Roberta and Michael . From the beginning , Mr . and Mrs . Carter knew that something was odd about Cory . The doctors knew something was seriously wrong with the small , fragile , and sickly child . They came in one by one and offered their condolences to the parents . The Carters were proud , prominent members of their small community . They were very ashamed of their " different " child . The shame led them to a brutal decision . They decided they would keep Cory 's birth a secret to others around them . From the day the twins came home , Casey was kept in the beautifully furnished nursery , while Cory was kept in a dark and gloomy cellar . There he was , given no human contact except for feedings , diaper changes , and an occasional bath . Casey grew up in a life surrounded by expensive gifts and an abundance of love , but always felt that there was something missing from her life . On Casey 's 13th birthday she was especially sad , empty and alone . Though there were many children to accompany her that day , she decided to go off into the cellar to cry to herself . And cry she did , until she couldn 't cry anymore . Suddenly she was startled to hear a loud cry from the corner of the cellar . The cries came from behind a locked door . She went over to discover who was making those sounds . She spoke , " Who 's there ? " but all she heard was weeping . Casey flew up the stairs , and ran to her parents screaming , " Somebody is locked in the cellar ! " Her parents ignored her cries , and quickly had her party guests leave . They sat her down , and told her to never speak such nonsense again or she would get the worst beating of her life . From that day on , although she would go down to the cellar everyday while her parents were gone , she never once spoke of the noises to her parents again . As the days went by , Casey spent more time communicating with her new friend . The bond they shared was like no other bond Casey had ever known . She no longer felt alone , sad , or empty . During the next several years of Casey 's teenage life , she began to search for the key that would release her new friend from his prison . She started by searching her house and did not stop until she had searched every house in the town . By the time Casey was done trying every last key in the town , she was 16 years old . Those three years filled with hope had become a waste of time because she never found the correct key . On Christmas Day of the year 1939 , Casey went down to the cellar and slipped a present underneath the locked door . Her friend began to squeal with excitement and moved about the room . Moments later , from underneath the door , came a poorly wrapped present for Casey . It was wrapped in the paper that contained his gift . She giggled while opening the present and quickly her giggles turned to tears . As the key fell out of the wrapper , she hesitated for a brief moment . She placed the key into the lock , turned it slowly and there on the floor with tears streaming down his face was " her friend . " She embraced him and he shook at her touch . Although quite frightened , he hugged her back . Casey helped her friend escape his prison and hers that day . Once they got up the stairs Casey finally told everyone about her friend in the cellar . She was no longer afraid for a beating . Her love for him made her feel strong and brave . So brave , that in front of all her Christmas guests she demanded that her parents tell the truth about who the boy was and why he was in the cellar ? The towns ' people and the sheriff demanded to know as well . As the sheriff placed hand cuffs on Mr . and Mrs . Carter , Mrs . Carter screamed out for mercy and begged Casey to forgive her for keeping her twin from her all those years . Forgiveness only came on the year of the twins 18th birthday in the form of a monument shaped as a huge key in the center of the town . The huge key was made from all of metal from every key that Casey had tried on the cellar lock . The only key that remained in this newly named town of Keysburg was the one that hung from a chain around Cory 's neck which fit into the cellar lock . And this is the legend of how Keysburg got its name . Thanks for visiting our blog site . My students would appreciate it you would leave a comment on their stories . The students are eighth graders who are working at improving their writing skills . We hope you enjoy their stories . To leave a comment click the word comment ( s ) just below the title of the story .