Carter County Books To Read

Olive Hill: Volume 2: 1884 -1959


Carter County, Kentucky was blessed with an abundance of diverse natural resources, including timber, iron ore, coal, and limestone. During the Industrial Revolution one of its towns, Olive Hill, became the center of a 600 square mile hotbed of fireclay, a unique heat-resistant clay used to make firebricks. For decades, thousands of hard-working Olive Hillians dug, moulded, and fired that uncommon clay into hundreds of thousands of firebricks per day to line open hearth steel furnaces, locomotive fireboxes, and steamship boilers. Without the steel, there would be no skyscrapers and no rail lines. Without the trains and ships, there would be no movement to expedite a growing nation. Olive Hill firebricks helped make this possible. Olive Hill and its people gave all that it had in a time it was most needed until a time it was needed no more. More people need to know the Olive Hill story. More people need to know more American History. Olive Hill the book is a historical fiction novel that follows the Reed family from May of 1800 thru June of 1959. It tells the Olive Hill story as I see it.

Purchase here: Amazon



"Olive Hill: Volume 1: 1800 - 1884"


Carter County, Kentucky was blessed with an abundance of diverse natural resources, including timber, iron ore, coal, and limestone. During the Industrial Revolution one of its towns, Olive Hill, became the center of a 600 square mile hotbed of fireclay, a unique heat-resistant clay used to make firebricks. For decades, thousands of hard-working Olive Hillians dug, moulded, and fired that uncommon clay into hundreds of thousands of firebricks per day to line open hearth steel furnaces, locomotive fireboxes, and steamship boilers. Without the steel, there would be no skyscrapers and no rail lines. Without the trains and ships, there would be no movement to expedite a growing nation. Olive Hill firebricks helped make this possible. Olive Hill and its people gave all that it had in a time it was most needed until a time it was needed no more. More people need to know the Olive Hill story. More people need to know more American History. Olive Hill is a historical fiction novel that follows the Reed family from May, 1800 thru June, 1959. This is the Olive Hill story as I see it!

Purchase here: Amazon



"Indian Trails of the Southeast"

1925 publication which has become the primary source for information on the topic.

By William E. Meyer

Link to selected pages of the book

Highly recommended

"Ghost Towns of 174"

Memories of the people and places of the Limestone, Lawton, Enterprise, Hayward, Soldier and Haldeman
area of Carter County, kentucky

By Willie Davis

Link to selected pages of the book

Highly recommended

"The Long Hunt"

Death of the Buffalo East of the Mississippi

By Ted Franglin Belue

Link to selected pages of the book

Well documented research and full of interesting details. Some interesting pictures, although the maps are very
poorly presented. Probably the best book available on this topic.

"Kentucky's Frontier Highway"

By Karl Raitz and Nancy O.Malley

Link to selected pages of the book

A well-researched and very readable history of early roads and travel and the in-depth story of the Maysville Road.

Three quarters of the book is a fascinating roadside travel guide to points of historic interest along the road.

Great for a weekend driving trip for you history buffs.

Available on Amazon.com

The Comets' Tale - Olive Hill High School Athletics

Compiled and Written By Jack Fultz

780 images. "With Memorabilia of the Era 1917 - 1971"

The quintessential book on Olve Hill High School Athletics. Published here by permission of Suezanne (Fultz) Steele.

Note that the book images will be opened in a new window/tab. You may close the book's Windows tab when you wish to exit viewing the book album.

Carter County Books for Sale

"Daniel Carroll family history"

The Carroll Family genealogy book is now available. It contains 525 pages, 40 are in color. It includes a table of contents and an index for easy searching.
It is in a nice brown with gold lettering 3 ring binder. This will make it easy to add to and take out pages.

Each book will include a picture/document CD with over 1,000 jpg files. Also, a piece of wood from the original Daniel Carroll cabin is included.

Cost for all of this is $80.

We are also offering this book on CD in a PDF format, which includes picture/document CD and piece of wood for $60.

Send checks made out to Rattlesnake Ridge Genealogy Group, 8028 Grahn Rd., Olive Hill, Ky 41164.

Any questions can be sent via e-mail to vicgilbert@yahoo.com

A Moment in Time - The Biography of Matthew B. Sellers, II

By Barbara Sellers

552 pages. Matthew's personal diaries, laboratory notes, correspondence, patents, magazine articles he wrote and over 200 pictures

Introducing “The Kitchen Family – The Genealogy of James Kitchen and Jane Patterson” by Lennie M. Carter.
2 volume set – Over 1,400 pages traces James Kitchen and Jane Patterson from Greenbrier Co., W. Va. To Carter Co., Ky.

This completely re-written and expanded genealogy of James and Jane from the 1986 edition, with the family history
of the oldest 2 children of James and Jane: James who settled in Indiana and William Antony who settled in Missouri,
as well as additional information on John who settled on the Carter/Lawrence Co., Ky. line, Andrew, Sarah Elizabeth and Mary Alice
who all settled in Carter Co., Ky.

Photos, maps, obituaries, newspaper articles – fully indexed
To reserve a copy, email Lennie Carter at lennie3@attglobal.net
You will be invoiced prior to the mailing of the books.
Cost of 2 volume set: $95 plus $10 shipping and handling.

Kentucky Birth, Marriage, and Deaths Databases,
a 3-CD set containing all births, marriages, and deaths on file in the state of Kentucky (Yes, this is the same data already available online.) Available from the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives (KDLA)
send a written request (with check or money order) to:

Alice Yeager
Kentucky Dept. for Libraries and Archives
300 Coffee Tree Road
Frankfort, Kentucky 40602
$30.00 ppd -
Ky residents add $1.80 tax

Make checks or money orders payable to Kentucky State Treasurer.

The Picklesimers of Eastern Kentucky
by John Wayne Picklesimer, Sr. and John Walter Picklesimer, Sr.

Hardback consisting of 384 pages, including the full name index.

Order from:
John W. Picklesimer, Sr.
2881 Middlesex Way
Lexington, Ketnucky 40503-2827
$33.00 ppd




KY residents please add $1.80 sales tax

1860 Carter County Census, transcribed
Lukas Murphy
Order From:
The East Kentuckian
134 Mills Rd.
Wilmington, Oh 45177
$20.00, plus $3.00 shipping
1870 Carter County Census, transcribed & indexed

Order From:
Rattlesnake Ridge Genealogy Group
c/o Vicki Gilbert, Tres.
8028 Grahn Road
Olive Hill, KY 41164
$25.00, plus $3.00 S & H
The Blankenships of Carter County, Kentucky - An addendum to Col. Leslie C. Blankenship's The Blankenship Family History
by C. Fred Blankenship, MD, 1905-1982, and Lee Ann Blankenship of Kent, Ohio

Order from:
Nancy Blankenship Brinly
1614 Dunbarton Wynde
Louisville, KY 40205-2778
$27.50 ppd

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Eastern Kentucky Books For Sale page



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