Francis Cabin

Thomas Francis Cabin

The cabin was originally built by Thomas Francis who came to Kentucky from North Carolina sometime after 1816 and settled between Hindman and Cody. He built the double two story structure of logs cut and hewn by hand from the large trees found surrounding the building site on the banks of Carr Creek. The ends were notched, and the chinks were filled with mud of a clay-straw mixture. The roof was made of split boards now called shingles. Thomas Francis Cabin

Attached to the back of the house was a small two-story structure where the slaves lived. On the first floor was a fireplace which was ten feet long. In front of the fireplace was a trapdoor where soldiers found a young slave boy hiding when able-bodied men were being conscripted for service. Near the house was a huge two-story barn used for storing hay, cotton and tobacco. It also housed stables for the livestock. Also located near the cabin were a well-equipped blacksmith shop, a saddle room, a corn crib, a spring house and a smokehouse.

Across the creek from the cabin was a cemetery used mostly by slaves. Later, members of the Francis family and other community members were buried there, It is said that Thomas Francis’ daughter, Jan Francis Combs, was the first white person to be buried there.

After Thomas Francis had completed the cabin, he brought his wife and children from North Carolina. He became a very involved pioneer. He was continuously buying and selling land. (it is thought that Francis once owned most of Carr Creek.) He was also a diligent farmer. He owned slaves who helped work the land, and he taught his children to work alongside them.

After President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation Act, the Francis Family freed the slaves. It is said that Francis treated his slaves so well that they did not want to leave.

Jane Hammond Francis died in 1834; and shortly thereafter, Thomas Francis married Lurany Polly Hagins. She had six children by her first husband and four others with Thomas.

The Francis’ were very strong Democrats. Back in those days, it was said that if you favored the North you were a Republican and if you favored the South, you were a Democrat. A story says that Samuel Francis’ brother-in-law was a Republican because Samuel was a Democrat. Because of this his brother-in-law decided to have Samuel killed. He hired some men to shoot him, but they failed to do so. Ever since that time, the Francis’ vowed to remain Democrats forever.

Although the cabin, where so much history has taken place, was built by Thomas Francis, it became known as the Stamper home. Thomas’s daughter, Anny, married Hiram Stamper, a Captain in the Civil War. From then until the reservoir construction made them move, generations of Stampers lived in the house.

Today, the cabin can be visited, as well as several other historic family cabins. The grounds and cabins are maintained by the LKLP CAC, Inc. in conjunction with the Knott County Development Association. The Francis cabin doubles as the Pioneer Village Gift Shop, Opened in 1988, the shop showcases the talent of many local artisans and crafts people in Eastern Kentucky.