Description: Robert Triplett built the first railway in Kentucky, 1826. Coal was moved from Bon Harbor hills to steamboats on the Ohio River. Triplett was the first to get coal substituted for wood as fuel on the river boats below Louisville. Coal was shipped south, sold by barrel. Built cotton, woolen mills and laid out town of Bon Harbor, 1842, 21/2mi North, which failed.

Description: Hancock County and Hawesville were created by Kentucky law January 3, 1829. County seat was named for Richard Hawes who donated land for town. His son, Richard, Jr. became Confederate governor of Ketucky, 1862. Hancock's first cannel coal produced commercially in 1832; mine operated by Charles Landers. Venture drew workers and investors from as far away as England and Ireland.