Stearns, KY

Stearns began as a company town in the early 1900s, when the Stearns Coal & Lumber Company built its own railroad, stores, schools, and camps in southern McCreary County. The Kentucky and Tennessee Railroad started in 1901 to haul lumber, then opened the way into coal country. Today the old Stearns Depot is the starting point for the Big South Fork Scenic Railway, whose route runs toward Blue Heron, the recreated Mine 18 mining camp. Around town, the Daniel Boone National Forest and Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area put the Cumberland Plateau close at hand. Stearns is an Appalachian railroad town where timber, coal, and canyon country meet.