Cloverport, Kentucky

History

The town was once known as Joesville after its founder, Joe Huston. Established around 1798 (or possibly 1808) on the east side of where Clover Creek meets the Ohio River. The town was the site of the ferry where, in 1816, Jacob Weatherholt piloted the family of Abraham Lincoln, then seven, across the Ohio River on its way to a newly acquired farm in Spencer County, Indiana.

Around 1820 a building was constructed that became the town's first school and was shared by the Baptist and Methodist congregations as a church on Sundays. The town's first graveyard, known as the Scott Cemetery, was beside this building which was located south of present Murray Avenue and east of Cherry Street.

The town was renamed Cloverport in 1828 after nearby Clover Creek. Seven years before, in 1821, the Kentucky Legislature had built a toll road between the town and Bowling Green. 1828 also saw the town open a post office with George LaHeist as post master.

In 1829, the Baptist congregation built their own church. In 1831, a new graveyard, known as the Murray Graveyard, was established on the north side of Main Street near the Cherry Street intersection. The Methodist congregation built their own church in 1840 on east Huston Street. The old building then became a church for the town's black residents. The Methodist moved again in 1871 to a site on Elm Street.

From the History section of Cloverport, Kentucky on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.