Georgie's Hole

Howard Hardaway became a writer during his many trips to Canada each summer for a one-day hike. The Louisville Courier called him in and wanted him to write up some of his experiences. He averaged several pieces a year for the journal and some for other publications at the time of this interview. Hardaway referred to himself as ‘The Old Hiker.’ "I’ve learned," said the Louisville, KY native in a May 1959 interview, "that the most interesting places are not right on the road. On the back roads, at the little country stores where the road crews gather for a quart of milk and a moon pie, that’s where you find some real historians." One of the places he wrote about was Clinton County. The following story is an excerpt from an article he submitted to the Courier-Journal sometime during the 1930s.

"Passing northward through a mountain gap at Doc Powers' place. I started down the valley of Koger's Creek by a narrow trail that is passable only by horseback or afoot. "There have been wagons up there," I was told later, "but not for a longtime." And, yet people live up there, and apparently live very well. The farms up in the gap look well-tended and prosperous. In this neighborhood is a cave, a "bottomless pit," known as Georgie's Hole. No one knows the depth of the vertical shaft. Georgie was the name of an old woman who lived hereabouts many years ago. Georgie and her husband "got their backs up" at each other. They couldn't seem to patch things up. One day, out in the pasture, Georgie is said to have maneuvered around so that she got her old man with his back to the hold. A quick shove - and Georgie was a willing widow. Georgie's Hole and its story has served as a warning to Clinton County husbands for 100 years to patch up differences quickly with the wife - or else stay away from bottomless pits."

Howard Hardaway