La Posta January 2002 31
The Post Offices of Knott County, Kentucky: Part II
At the mouth of Nealy Branch (named for area fami-by Robert M. Rennick
33
lies) , 500 yards below Spring Branch, was the Nealy
(continued from Nov. 2001, Volume 32, No. 5)
post office. Nathaniel G. Sturgill ran it from June 4,
For several years Dirk served a community centered 1909 through September 1915.
on a boarding school on the east side of Carr founded
The Drew post office (name source unknown) served
in 1920 by two Massachusetts women, Olive V. Marsh
the head of Nealy Branch, two miles from Carr, from
and Ruth E. Watson. On May 25, 1928 Dirk, by then
September 27, 1910 through April 1913. Mary Jane
at the mouth of Deerlick, was renamed Carr Creek to
Hall was its only postmaster.
honor the local school whose basketball team had just
May, which operated between 1935 and 1955, with
competed in the prestigious national high school tour-
Lawrence Watts, its first postmaster, was established
nament in Chicago. In 1950 the office was moved one
two miles east of Pine Top and two miles west of Ivan
fourth of a mile above Deerlick and closed in 1975.
(which by then was just east of Spring Branch). It too
By then the school had been lost to consolidation.
was moved, at least twice, three fourths of a mile east
The little remembered but aptly named Hemlock post
in 1941 and another one fourth of a mile east, to Ivan’s
office was operated between March 30, 1898 and mid-
last site, in 1948. Whether it was named for one or
September 1904 by Simeon and Bessie Combs. It may
more of eastern Kentucky’s May families needs to be
have been just north of Dirk, probably just below
confirmed.
Shingle Branch. In May 1900 it may have been moved
32
The Little Carr Fork of Carr Fork had four post of-
to the mouth of Little Carr.
fices which will be considered below. In addition, three
On November 30, 1897 Tenna (Mrs. Green A.) Collins
served its Carr Fork confluence. The first of these was
opened the Omaha post office at or near the site of the
Hemlock (see above). Then there was Addie, estab-
old Carson office at the head of Carr Fork (see above.)
lished by Robert Hall on May 15, 1909 just above the
In 1948 it was moved a mile and a half down the Fork
confluence. In September of that year Abraham
to the present Ky 582 (the road between Carr and Right
Tolliver moved Addie a mile up (main) Carr where it
Beaver), and later to the mouth of Meadow Branch of
closed at the end of June 1910. For whom it was named
Carr where it closed in 1984. Why Omaha? This name,
is not known.
also applied to settlements or post offices in Arkan-
The name Addie was suggested for another vicinity
sas, Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, and Texas, was prob-
office, established on June 23, 1922 at the site of the
ably derived from the city in Nebraska or the Indian
present Carr Creek (consolidated) School at the
tribe from which the latter took its name. The area
confluence. When first postmaster Bernard B. Smith
around the mouth of Meadow Branch had an earlier
then submitted the name Little Carr he was advised
post office (May 5, 1906 to March 15, 1907) called
by the Post Office Department to shorten it to its
Amazon. Neither this name nor postmaster James D.
present one word form Littcarr. Local businesses and
Hall’s preferred Afton (then in use in Carter County)
the office, now just below the confluence (8 ¼ miles
has been derived.
south of Hindman), serve the thickly settled and de-
Not to be confused with Ivis was the post office of
veloping resort area at the upper edge of the Carr Fork
Ivan whose name has also not been derived. This was
impoundment.
established on July 12, 1906 on top of the hill, on the
road (now Ky 582) between Carr Fork and Right Bea-
Post Offices In The Little Carr Valley
ver, about a mile north of Carr and 2 ½ miles north of
About half a mile below the head of Little Carr and
Carson-Omaha. It first served a village of some 125
the Letcher County line, Robert Collins proposed a
residents that may have been called Martinsville for
post office. His list of name preferences included Carr,
the family of first postmaster Mary Martin, and this
Port, Collins, and French. But on March 3, 1893 his
was the first name proposed for it. In 1918 it was
office opened as Bath, named for the English town. In
moved one mile south to the Fork; and two years later
1946 it was moved by Anna and Perry Sloane two
it was moved 1 ½ miles down the Fork. By 1935 it
miles down the Fork to the mouth of Big
was just east of Spring Branch where it closed in 1942.
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