We are off on a different kind of train trip. This time we are not rolling on the rails, but enjoying some non-moving and miniature train experiences.
But we have to see a few things along the way. First up – a stop in Pikeville, KY, a key location for the famous Appalachian Hatfield and McCoy feud.
Other than feuding families, Pikeville is best known for the Pikeville Cut-Thru, and the now-convenient Overlook. The Cut-Thru was an ambitious 14-year endeavor to move a river, highway, railroad, and impoverished housing. When the project was completed in 1987, it was the largest engineering feat in the US, and second only to the Panama Canal on the world stage. They moved 23 million cubic yards of rock and 18 million cubic yards of dirt; a task that involved 20 state and federal agencies (20! that is really beyond belief). The pics above show the town and river from the overlook.
Pikeville’s 1871 Dils Cemetery is part of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud Historic District and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Lasting from the Civil War until the 1890s, the two-family conflict eventually involved governors from Kentucky and West Virginia. There are cemeteries in other locations for each family, but this is the only one with burials from both. Randolph McCoy, who was the leader of the McCoy family, is buried here. Randolph outlived the feud until the ripe age of 88 but had an awful death afterward from severe burns resulting from a fall into a kitchen fire. Take a close look at his tombstone. I wonder who it was that couldn’t spell feud?
Dils is also the first known integrated cemetery in Eastern Kentucky, and 130 of the 500 graves are African Americans.
The site needs a bit of tender loving care, with overgrown areas and four sets of rickety stairs leading up to the graves.
On arrival in Indianapolis, we checked in to the Crowne Plaza Downtown. The only hotel with real train cars now under roof as hotel rooms. They have really done a terrific job. These are real 1920s Pullman Train Cars, and they actually ran on these tracks. They have been nicely remodeled into modern, comfortable rooms. The hotel was built around the ironwork, and it was reported that only three were cut during construction. Many famous people have passed through these halls, but my favorite story is about Thomas Edison, who worked here as a Telegraph Operator and was fired for conducting too many “useless” experiments! There is an incredible amount of history here, and if you’d like more, this link will take you to a brochure about the station’s history and repurposing as a hotel.
“Ghost” statues are throughout the property, attired in period clothes and helping stimulate visitors’ imagination about what the busy station was like in decades past.
Regular hotel rooms overlook the steel structure and the train cars. Even the sconces along the corridors display nostalgic touches of past glamour.
