Located on the western side of Big House Mountain, known to those in Lexington as "the back side of the mountain," Big Hill is, well, a really big hill that effectively divides the communities of the north side of the mountains from the south.
Big Hill Road snakes its way up and back down the big hill between Denmark and Collierstown, passing the entrances to several hollows along the way including Tom Alphin Hollow and Patterson Hollow.
Scroll down to learn more about Big Hill and the people who live and have lived there.
Now abandoned, Trippett's Store on the Collierstown end of Big Hill Road was once a busy community hub.
Cornelia Carter Trippett and John Trippett in front of their store. Cornelia was the sister of Maggie Belle Carter Carter.
The old John and Cornelia Trippett home on Big Hill Road.
Front porch of the Trippett house.
The Hughes house that was bought from the Victorian Mines and brought over North Mountain to Big Hill in 1906.
The first BARC power pole in the neighborhood was at the Hughes house on Big Hill Road.
Detail on the front porch of the Hughes house.
John William Bennington and Edgar Ayers killing hogs.
Granny Hughes making apple butter.
John William Bennington in his potato patch.
Hector Hostetter's baby shoes.
An abandoned school bus at Hector Hostetter's place.
The old Van Knick house sits at the foot of a steep hollow, just before Big Hill Road heads sharply up the big hill towards Collierstown from Kerrs Creek.
This was the home of William Vanvard "Van" Knick, born 1866 and died 1955, and his wife Lillie Bell Carter, born 1873 and died 1948. Now empty, the house with the intricate balusters was once filled with a large family, and given its central location in the area was undoubtedly a gathering place for the extended Knick, Carter and related families.
The image below captured the family in the late 1800's or early 1900's. The map shows that a structure occupied by the Knick, or Nick, family existed on this site in 1863 and there were several Knicks in the neighborhood by the time the 1883 Carmichael map was made.
House Mountain is dotted with these abandoned old homes slowly rotting away.
Hector Roscoe Hostetter
March 19, 1940 - May 18, 2018
Hector Hostetter's place sits directly at the base of the Big Hill on the Kerr's Creek side, just a hundred yards or so from the old Van Knick house.
Hector worked hard at manual labor his entire life, but when we interviewed him he was burdened with bad health and the accompanying oxygen tank, which severely hampered his ability to do as much as he would like.
Check out these videos to get an early peek at the contents of his longer interview.
Stewart Bennington
Stewart Bennington's House Mountain lineage includes not only the Bennington family, but the Hughes, Carter, Trippett, Ford, Montgomery, Irvine, Hardbarger and Teaford families just to name a few, all old mountain names.
Stewart is a retired rural mail carrier, as was his father, his grandfather and his great-grandfather. Stewart drove his route in a jeep, while his earliest mail carrying ancestor used a horse and wagon.
He is keenly interested in history and family and has been a tremendous source of knowledge and archival material for this project.
Four sons of Frank Alexander Bennington, Sr. (L-R) Jessie, William, Harry, and Frank, Jr.
Henry Clay Hughes with his pigs.
Kenton and Calvin Bennington, Stewart Bennington's uncles, with a push plow.
John William Bennington, Stewart's grandfather, with his mail bag and lunch box. He delivered mail in a model T.
John W. Bennington (R) with KB Bennington, Stewart's cousin, Tommy (Stewart's brother) and Barbara (Stewart's sister) making apple butter in the early 1950's.
Stewart Bennington chopping wood at the original Hughes home place on Big Hill Road.
Detail on the front porch of the Hughes house.
John William Bennington and Edgar Ayers killing hogs.
Granny Hughes making apple butter.
John William Bennington in his potato patch.
Hector Hostetter's baby shoes.
An abandoned school bus at Hector Hostetter's place.