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EXPLORING
KENTUCKY - August 2005 by Katherine Tandy Brown Baptists, Barbecue and Civil War Dudes As I walked in to Bartley’s BBQ in downtown Tompkinsville for the first time, a woman who was obviously a regular grabbed my sleeve and whispered, “Tell ‘em to be sure to bring you the sauce off the bottom.” Bartley’s is but one of eight flourishing barbecue restaurants in Monroe County, which sits smack on the Tennessee border in South Central Kentucky and harbors an important history that’s not widely known. In 1798, John Mulkey, a circuit-riding preacher, and his brother, Phillip, established the Mill Creek Baptist Church near the community of Tompkinsville. Their father had started the first church of that denomination in the state of Tennessee, and John became highly respected, especially at Mill Creek. Mill Creek was a sturdy log structure designed with 12 corners in the shape of a cross, peg-leg seats, and heavy batten shutters hung outside hole-in-the-wall windows. For several years, Mulkey was troubled by issues dealing with the “man-written” Calvinist doctrine of the Baptist church, and by the age of 36, realized he could not honestly continue to preach its tenets, especially that of predestination. Though many Baptists in the region tried to have him excommunicated, the wildly popular clergyman – who consulted with like-minded reformers Barton Stone, of the Cane Ridge Meetinghouse in Paris, and noted sectarian abolitionist Alexander Campbell – held on to his pulpit. Meanwhile, these freethinking ministers initiated the South’s Restoration Movement, the turn away from church denominations and a return to Bible-based teachings. Finally, on November 18, 1809, the Mill Creek congregation, tired of all the controversy, split. The 150 members who concurred with Mulkey’s philosophies stayed at the original church, while 50 Calvinist believers left, took the church name with them and constructed a new building. Eventually, the teachings of Mulkey and his visionary contemporaries provided the impetus that spawned the Christian Churches – the Disciples of Christ and Church of Christ. Because John – and later his son –preached there, the original log structure became a Christian church known as the Mulkey Meetinghouse, and over time, as “Old Mulkey,” where services were held until about 1856. Eventually that congregation evolved into the Tompkinsville Church of Christ. Though used sporadically for religious services and community sings over the years, Old Mulkey fell into disrepair until 1925, when United States Representative Joe Eagle, a Monroe County native, initiated a campaign to restore it. In 1931 the pioneer edifice and grounds were declared a Kentucky State Historic Site that includes a cemetery where several Revolutionary and Civil War soldiers rest beside Daniel Boone’s sister, Hannah, once a member of the log church. According to Meda Burnette, coordinator for the Monroe County Economic Development Center, folks now visit the site in search of their religious and familial roots. Some also drive to nearby Gamaliel for a gander at another old log building and cemetery in what used to be a slave settlement known as Freetown. “People are interested in the division of the church, what caused it, what groups were involved and the history from that era,” she explains. “They’re looking for their heritage and Old Mulkey is one of the places where it happened, where you can come and actually touch and see and read about that heritage. But it’s not the only one in the county, according to Lou Ann Bartley, Chris’s mom and the owner, with her husband and six kids, of Bartley’s BBQ. Now, keep in mind there was major Civil War activity in the area. “About three months ago,” she explained this past June, “we started seeing things…apparitions. Some were dressed in blue, some in gray. We just call them Civil War dudes. If a pot falls off a shelf, we just say it’s the CWD’s. They never do any harm.” That vinegar-based barbecue sauce must smell a mite better than the soldiers’ 1860s rations of hardtack, though no barbecued shoulder – the eatery’s specialty and the star of “the Monroe County barbecue plate” – has ever gone missing. Got a hankering for history or for the Monroe County version of the “world’s best barbecue”? A good time to check it all out is on the Saturday before Labor Day during Tompkinsville’s annual Watermelon Festival (see Upcoming Events Around Kentucky). You may even be able to squeeze in a jaunt on the Cumberland River Ferry to scenic Turkey Neck Bend and rest your tootsies in one of Barren River State Resort Park’s 22 cottages. Find out more at www.oldmulkeymeetinghouse.com or from the Southern and Eastern Kentucky Tourism Development Association at www.tourseky.com or (877) TOUR-SEKY.
Katherine Tandy
Brown is a staff writer for The Lane Report. |
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Copyright 1996-2005, by Kentucky Business Online. All rights reserved. Editorial content
is copyright 2005, Lane Communications Group The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
My request impressed the waiter – 16-year-old Chris Bartley, whose idea it was to start the thriving business a year ago and whose recipe lures in hungry customers. And my barbecued half-chicken tasted heaven-sent – as did the butterscotch cream pie with meringue that was every bit as soft and smooth as marshmallow fluff. 
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