THIS PLACE WAS
-------------------------
SUNSHINE
---------------------
NAMED BY INDIANS
Sunshine was the name given
this community by the Indians; it
was on their inland route from the
Ohio Valley. Earliest settlers included
George W. Gammon, B.F. Booton,
Asbury Ware, Bill Glover, John Foster,
and Warren Smith. Gammon and his
family came here in 1799, from Virginia.
They had one mule, and the mother
rode it, while the others walked. Miss
Lettie Gammon still resides in the old
homestead here, built in that year of 1799.
The Ware and Glover homes are also
over 100 years old. Here also is the
Nickel's store, and the Sunshine Methodist
Protestant Church, built in 1914; that one
burned down and was rebuilt in 1923. The
church is located on Tygarts Highway.
Here once were charcoal pits, lime pits,
and considerable timber operations. A
fire-clay tramroad, owned by Thomas
and Taylor Co. was built in 1900, and
clay was hauled from Schultz Creek and
White Oak Creek to the brickyard at
Tayor. They quit hauling clay in 1919,
when better clay became available from
Soldier. Some of the first men to work
on this tramroad were Sam Shay, Epp
Fannin, Bill Estep, Sam Gammon, Dick
Lee, Jim Young, Charles Thomas, and
Rev.
Williams.
Oldest residents now living here
include Mrs. Timberlake, 92; Cynthia
Clay, 85; Warren Smith, 84; Tom
Lumpkin, 86. The first school here was
built in 1868, and one of the first teachers
was Mrs. Mary Shope. Other early
teachers were J.H. Lerbelt, Jerry Fulton,
George Staten, Sam McKansty. This
school burned in 1900, and the present
one was then built, with Fred Dowdy
being the first teacher. Another room
was added to it in 1922, and there now
are
97 enrolled here.
"Old Greenup News"
*****************************************************************************
