The sun begins to set on the Edmonson County Courthouse in Brownsville on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. (Grace Ramey/grace.ramey@bgdailynews.com)

BROWNSVILLE — If you drive around Edmonson County and are of a certain disposition, you might start paying attention to what you won’t find there – no stoplights, virtually no interstate access and little industrial presence.

What the county lacks in those characteristics it more than compensates through what’s more readily apparent – the lakes and rivers that attract visitors and the residents who welcome them.

“I’m partial because I live here, but I will say through all my travels over the years, there’s a reason why I still live here,” said Darren Doyle, executive director of the Edmonson County Chamber of Commerce, from his home office. “I’ve seen about everything America has to offer, and it’s obviously the greatest place in the world, but when it comes down to it, this is where I chose to raise my family. It’s the people here that make a difference … I love being able to drive from here six miles to Brownsville and every third car you see is probably somebody you know who’ll wave at you.”

Doyle likens the county to a “modern-day Mayberry,” and Edmonson County’s rural character offers a contrast to the more urbane trappings of neighboring Warren County.

The 2020 U.S. Census lists Edmonson County’s population at 12,126, the 90th-most populous of Kentucky’s 120 counties.

With a population of 875, Brownsville is one of the smallest county seats in the state.

The county was founded in 1825 from portions of Hart, Grayson and Warren counties, formally established at a meeting among local leaders at Bryan’s Tavern in Chameleon Springs.

Capt. John Edmonson, who was killed in action during the War of 1812, is the county’s namesake.

Many Edmonson Countians made a living by working the land, but not through farming – communities with names like Rocky Hill, Asphalt and Windyville indicate how inhospitable much of the land was for row crops.

“You didn’t have the good agricultural land you had in Warren County, it was steep and rocky,” said Norman Warnell, a local historian and retired educator. “Someone once said that for an area that had such poor soil and steep hills, it produced more than its share of teachers, preachers and lawyers.”

Early settlers cut and sold timber, bundling up the logs and floating them up Green River to destinations like Bowling Green and Evansville, where they would be sold.

Warnell said that most farming in the county’s early days was done on a subsistence level, with scattered homesteads planting modest tobacco crops that would bring in just enough money to pay for a year’s worth of groceries and other provisions.

The county’s natural resources have been the main economic driver.

The area was a notable iron producer in the 19th century, but the most significant industry was arguably the Kentucky Rock Asphalt Co.

Deposits of asphalt found along Nolin River, a tributary of Green River, were mined and processed at the company town of Kyrock from 1920 to 1957.

The asphalt produced at Kyrock would go on to pave Kentucky streets, along with the turns at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, said Jeff Houchins of the Edmonson Historical Society.

“Kyrock was a big deal at that time,” Houchins said. “They had their own homes, their own commissary, their own school. People used to work there and pay for everything with their own scrip. It was basically about the only industry in the county at that time.”

Competition from synthetic asphalt makers and high labor costs factored into the closing of the mining company.

In the southern half of the county, the community of Chalybeate (pronounced ‘klee-bit’ or ‘kuh-lee-bit’ by the locals) hosted the Chalybeate Springs Hotel, a popular resort for more than 100 years before it closed in the 1940s.

While visitors flocked to Chalybeate in those days to test the supposed healing powers of the springwater there, the community has experienced residential growth more recently.

Developers this decade have undertaken the building of a planned 190-home subdivision in the unincorporated community.

“The growth over there has been tremendous,” said Edmonson County Judge-Executive Scott Lindsey. “We’re looking at some things right now to help promote that growth. The great thing about it is we are in a prime location between some big industrial sites. We want to welcome growth in the housing market, because when you get that tax base, that’s a renewable resource that makes it better for everybody.”

Two industrial parks totaling 76 acres await development, but the economic priorities appear to consist of embracing small businesses and promoting tourism.

Nolin River Lake State Park offers shoreline camping and an abundance of hiking trails and relaxation on the water, and more campsites can be found at Moutardier Campgrounds at Nolin Lake.

Lindsey said the county is applying for grant funding to construct a county park in the Lincoln Community near the lake.

A significant portion of Mammoth Cave National Park’s 52,830 acres can be found in Edmonson County, and the Green and Nolin Rivers Blueway presents 36 miles of navigable rivers for fishers and rowers.

“That side of our tourism is one of our top-rated parts of the county, and that comes from somebody who’s utilized them,” Doyle said. “We stayed in a kayak or canoe or fishing boat the whole time I was growing up.”

Edmonson County is in the midst of navigating some choppy waters, however.

The removal this decade of one dam in the county and the partial removal of another led to reductions in water levels at Green River unforeseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which recommended the removal of the dams in a study in the previous decade.

The drastically lower water levels have caused buildups of sand and other debris at the Wax Water Treatment Plant intake, affecting water supply for thousands of Edmonson countians and leading to numerous boil advisories.

The removal of Lock 5 in Roundhill was paused in 2022 at the urging of the Edmonson County Water District, but permanent solutions beyond double- or triple-filtering water coming through the tap would take years to implement and carry a hefty price tag.

“With that situation, there are some unknowns and there’s some unrest and fear, quite honestly, in the community,” Lindsey said. “In my seat as judge-executive, it is a responsibility to make the best decisions that I possibly can with the information I have to make our community better and do the right things every day, and I don’t take that lightly. You never turn off caring for your community.”

The unrest has created a difficult environment, but Lindsey said he meets regularly with county water district officials, the judges-executive in Hart and Grayson counties also served by the river and he communicates with state and federal lawmakers, and he feels that the different entities are on the same page in their efforts to improve water quality.

In a rural county, stakeholders wear a number of different hats almost by necessity.

In addition to heading up the chamber of commerce, Doyle works as the founder and operator of the Edmonson Voice, an online news outlet.

Lindsey partners with Doyle in the production and coverage of Edmonson County High School sporting events. 

Lindsey’s predecessor as judge-executive, Wil Cannon, had been the county sheriff before winning election to judge-executive.

Doyle said he takes on his myriad responsibilities out of a sense of civic pride.

“It’s not really a matter of bringing home trophies. It’s just being involved in your community and trying to make it better,” Doyle said.

Doyle leads a chamber that is two years into a concerted effort to rebuild relationships with small businesses in the community and foster ties that go beyond the annual payment of dues.

“Our goal as a chamber is not to try to get people to put in a manufacturing plant at the industrial park, not that I’d be against it,” Doyle said. “What’s more realistic is trying to get county officials and city officials to help this couple over here set up a coffee shop on the square, or let’s look at this ratty building that’s been sitting untouched for several years – how do we make it attractive for someone who wants to put in a little cafe?”

Lindsey and the magistrates on the Edmonson County Fiscal Court will soon craft a strategic growth plan to identify and address the county’s long-term needs.

Next year marks the county’s bicentennial, and plans are afoot to celebrate the occasion.

“We’re trying to get some things in place this year to make next year off the chain for the community,” Lindsey said. “We’re going to try to do something monthly on the courthouse square and try to bring people back onto the square.”