Golden Pond, Kentucky

Golden Pond was a Trigg county community about 13 miles southwest of Cadiz. Possibly also known as Fungo in the early days. Various stories exist for the origins of both names. There was iron production in the early nineteenth century and apparently at least a small number of Chinese workers were brought in. The town was destroyed by fire in 1898, was rebuilt, and burned again in 1936. The population probably peaked with a few hundred people.

What became known as the Tobacco Wars in the early twentieth century began as a movement among farmers against the monopoly control of the tobacco business by the American Tobacco Company. The Planters’ Protective Association was formed to fight the ATC, but the tactics of the so-called Night Riders, who looked to the Ku Klux Klan for inspiration, soon evolved into violence against African American farmers and others. After several assaults, murders, and burned houses in 1908, most African Americans left the Golden Pond area.

The Tennessee Valley Authority opened an office at Golden Pond in 1964. The TVA acquired all of the land in the area, sometimes by eminent domain, for the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area and the last residents left Golden Pond in 1969.

The Golden Pond post office opened in 1848 and closed in 1968. It operated as a rural branch from 1968 to 1980.

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© 2025 David C. Elbon