Jump to content

Big Clifty, Kentucky

Coordinates: 37°32′44″N 86°9′13″W / 37.54556°N 86.15361°W / 37.54556; -86.15361
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by The Southern Prospector Show (talk | contribs) at 11:05, 12 January 2020 (Added photograph in notable person/ history section). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Big Clifty, Kentucky
Census-designated place
Big Clifty is located in Kentucky
Big Clifty
Big Clifty
Location within Grayson County
Big Clifty is located in the United States
Big Clifty
Big Clifty
Big Clifty (the United States)
Coordinates: 37°32′44″N 86°9′13″W / 37.54556°N 86.15361°W / 37.54556; -86.15361
CountryUnited States
StateKentucky
CountyGrayson
Elevation
397 ft (121 m)
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CST)
ZIP codes
42712
FIPS code21-06508
GNIS feature ID487153[1]

Big Clifty is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Grayson County, Kentucky, United States.

| https://celebritypictures.wiki/celebrity/6512359/3182255 >== History == Clifty Creek crosses U.S. Highway 62 and the P & L railroad several miles to the southwest of Big Clifty. It is said that travelers named the town due to the limestone cliffs that arose on the sides of Clifty Creek. Accounts of residents from the past report that Big Clifty was a "boom town" that at one time had a post office, bank, feed mill, several dry goods stores and restaurants. The Ben Goodman school was the local "country school" and the town had numerous churches. In yesteryear nearby Clarkson was a tourist destination due to the numerous hotels near Grayson Springs, which were visited by guests who wished to experience the sulphur water's curative properties. Big Clifty benefited from the traffic going to Clarkson. Spurrier Mill was a grist mill on the Nolin River, several miles from Big Clifty which was a benefit to the economy. Like many rural Kentucky communities, as passenger rail-use decreased and transportation and commercial shipping routes changed, Big Clifty's boom town status disappeared.

Big Clifty was also the site of tar bitumen oil mines, or “ black rock mines” as they were known in the 20’s.

One such mining site was at the end of Crown Rock Road, inside the Big Clifty limits. The mines produced tar from the tar sands that frequent the local geology of the area. 

[2]

The Skees family of Big Clifty, owned several businesses in town, including the Jas H. Skees General Store , local funeral home, and railway shipping station.

Notable Persons:

[[ <a title="Celeb Pics [Public domain]" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tim_Skees.jpeg"><img width="256" alt="Tim Skees" src="https:/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Tim_Skees.jpeg]]

Big Clifty is hometown of star of TV and Film, Actor and Comedian, Tim Skees. 

*Many of the stories and persons used in Tim Skees’ comedy routines are derived from actual residents  from the town during his youth.

[3]

History

Clifty Creek crosses U.S. Highway 62 and the P & L railroad several miles to the southwest of Big Clifty. It is said that travelers named the town due to the limestone cliffs that arose on the sides of Clifty Creek. Accounts of residents from the past report that Big Clifty was a "boom town" that at one time had a post office, bank, feed mill, several dry goods stores and restaurants. The Ben Goodman school was the local "country school" and the town had numerous churches. In yesteryear nearby Clarkson was a tourist destination due to the numerous hotels near Grayson Springs, which were visited by guests who wished to experience the sulphur water's curative properties. Big Clifty benefited from the traffic going to Clarkson. Spurrier Mill was a grist mill on the Nolin River, several miles from Big Clifty which was a benefit to the economy. Like many rural Kentucky communities, as passenger rail-use decreased and transportation and commercial shipping routes changed, Big Clifty's boom town status disappeared.

Big Clifty was also the site of tar bitumen oil mines, or “ black rock mines” as they were known in the 20’s.

One such mining site was at the end of Crown Rock Road, inside the Big Clifty limits. The mines produced tar from the tar sands that frequent the local geology of the area. 

[4]

The Skees family of Big Clifty, owned several businesses in town, including the Jas H. Skees General Store , local funeral home, and railway shipping station.

<gallery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tim_Skees.jpeg gallery>

Big Clifty is hometown of star of TV and Film, Actor and Comedian, Tim Skees. 

*Many of the stories and persons used in Tim Skees’ comedy routines are derived from actual residents  from the town during his youth.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6512359/

References

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Big Clifty, Kentucky
  2. ^ https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1035&context=kgs_ri
  3. ^ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6512359/
  4. ^ https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1035&context=kgs_ri

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6512359/

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Big_Clifty,_Kentucky&oldid=935408755"