At 2:40 on Saturday, February 22, 2020, The last Challenge Coin (#100) for the 2020 African American History Month Heritage Geocache Challenge was given out. Congratulations to all the Geocachers. The geocaches will remain in place for a few months for public education. Thank you for participating.
This Geocache is part of an annual Geocache Challenge put on by the Heritage Program at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area as part of our outreach to the public, to get people to explore their forest and their history, and to share the unique heritage of the families from Between the Rivers.
This Geocache is part of the “2020 Land Between the Lakes Heritage Geocache Challenge: African American History of Lyon County”. There are 7 geocaches placed in Lyon County in Land Between the Lakes related to the African American Heritage of the area. If you locate each geocache, and collect a numbered aluminum tree tag from each cache, you can turn them in at the Golden Pond Visitor Center for one of 100 Challenge Coins created for this event.
The Geocache is a 6.5” x 8” orange watertight plastic box marked “Heritage Geocache” on the top. The geocache is placed in the woods, in a hollow log, above the shoreline.
“Eddy Bend”: The McRacken Property Geocache
On January 1st, 1842, Hugh McRacken wrote his last will and testament at his property he named “Eddy Bend”. The property, on which you now stand, was named Eddy Bend after the Big Eddy in the bend of Cumberland River that has also lent its name to Eddy Creek and Eddyville.
Long after his death, The Hillman Land and Iron Company still referred to the property as the McCracken Farm on their Company maps.
Hugh McRacken was born in North Carolina in 1769. By 1820, at the age of 41, he is listed as a single white male in Caldwell County, Kentucky. In 1822, he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives, representing Caldwell and Hickman Counties. That same year, he submitted a petition for the organization of Calloway County, Kentucky, and Calloway County was formed.
Hugh McRacken never legally married, but he did live with an enslaved woman, Millie McRacken, and her children, as well as Randal and Perry McRacken, who may be his sons from a previous female slave. All the McRackens were freed after Hugh’s death and can be seen in the 1850 census. Randal McRacken was born in 1805 and Perry McRacken was born in 1809 and they lived with Hugh McRacken until Hugh died in 1842. While all of Hugh’s slaves were freed upon his death, only the two male slaves received payments from the estate; Perry and Randal McRacken.
The McRackens and the Young family appear to be neighbors, business partners, and friends. Hugh McRacken was a white farmer with a mixed-race family and John Young Jr. was also white farmers with a mixed-race family. Randal Mcracken married Malinda Young (the daughter of John Young Jr)., Catherine McRacken married Andrew Young (the son of John Young Jr.), and Richard McRacken married Hannah Young (the daughter of John Young Jr.)