“Happiness starts with you, not with your relationships, not with your job, not with your money, not with your circumstance, but with you.” ~ Unknown
This newest exchange on the Mountain Parkway in Clark County lies in Indian Old Fields, also know as Indian Old Corn Fields or Eskippakaithiki. It’s considered the last Indian village in Kentucky (though Kentucky had only three confirmed settlements as it is believed to have been more a hunting ground than land of settlement). I have no idea how to pronounce Eskippakaithiki, but I learned the term “old field” is common on many old maps marking the clearings made by Native Americans for farming or settlement. I found some conflicting information about the founding of this particular Old Field. Some say it was settled by Shawnee chief Peter Chartier around 1745. Others date Eskippakaithiki’s settlement as 1718 and abandoned (I assume) by 1754, and claim the early Scottish traders called the village Little Pict Town, so called after the Piqua (Pict) Shawnee who lived here. Some say it was settled even earlier in the mid-1600’s. To give some perspective, Kentucky didn’t became the 15th state until 1792. The historical marker at Indian Old Fields reads, “Site of Eskippakaithiki, sometimes called ‘Kentake’ located on the Warrior’s Path. This meeting place for traders and Indian hunters was the last of the Kentucky Indian towns. Occupied by the Shawnee c. 1715-1754 John Finley had a store here and traded with the Indians, 1752. Daniel Boone viewed ‘the beautiful level of Kentucky’ from this point, June 7, 1769.” I always wonder what life was like in this village as I pass exit 10 going home. The Appalachian foothills rising in the Southeast and the cane brakes of the Bluegrass to the Northwest must have been something to behold. Centuries later I still enjoy the view, even from the car.
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