Speer’s Ferry
You are at the mouth of Troublesome Creek, whose passage was so troublesome to the pioneers that the Boone Wilderness Trail could not come down it. Originally the gorge behind you afforded passage only for the creek itself. The passage for the current road and railroad is the result of considerable blasting. Back up the road at the other end of the gorge the old trail crossed the current railroad, where the old depot bore the name of Speers Ferry, into Robinette Valley on State Route #629. It followed #629 to Horton’s Chapel, and turned down the hollow behind that church to make its passage to the river by means of the hollow that comes out just to your rear left.
Many years later there was a ferry that crossed the river a little upstream from the current bridge. The old ford was on a shelf of rock that lies more or less directly under the bridge. This ford is much shallower than the next nearest one downstream, at Sneedville, Tennessee, and was much preferred by emigrants. Nevertheless, in high water passage across this ford was dangerous. In 1779 a party of militia that was escorting Governor Henry (Hair Buyer) Hamilton from his capture at Vincennes, Indiana by George Rogers Clark, to Williamsburg, Virginia, was almost drowned in making its passage across this ford.
The rock shoal just upstream from the ferry’s route is not a natural one, but is the remains of an old mill dam that spanned the river. The dam was constructed of logs backed by these cobblestones. You can see the concrete enclosure for the water wheel, upstream of the bridge, on the eastern bank.