The F.M. Jones and Brother General Store was a business and gathering place that was the epicenter of the Coral Hill community in its heyday. PHOTO SUBMITTED
BY JENNIFER MOONSONG
GLASGOW NEWS 1
Coral Hill is little more these days than picturesque farmland, but once it was a thriving community, founded by two families: the Joneses, who moved to Kentucky in 1795, and the Duffs, who moved to Kentucky in 1798.
The Joneses had a large country store filled with much-needed items, particularly dry goods, cloth and other supplies that was the envy of other small communities. The goods were purchased in Louisville and arrived via railroad. Sometimes a team of horses and wagon transported the goods, and this method often took up to a week. Eventually, the telephone exchange for Coral Hill, initially called Myers Mill, was located in the store. The name Coral Hill took root in 1856.
The F.M. Jones and Brother General Store was the name of the store. It was built by brothers Frank and John. Frank was 17 the year the store was erected from yellow-poplar logs. The store became much more than a place to make purchases, it was the hub of the settlement. People gathered there to socialize, eat, conduct business and so forth. Eventually, more than basics were offered. Glassware, furniture, stoves and the latest books could be bought there.
The Jones family also established the first post office and first blacksmith shop. The post office doubled as a stage stop for the Cumberland Trace Stage Line.
Both the Duffs and the Joneses hailed from Virginia and came west to Kentucky seeking a better life, according to historic accounts recorded by he Jones family. The two families were friends and neighbors who settled approximately a mile apart.
The Duff family legacy was founded in farming. John Duff and his family moved to Coral Hill and purchased farm land. Duff’s fifth child, Edmund, became a tobacco farmer, and historic accounts say that he traveled 13 times from Beaver Creek in Barren County to New Orleans with flat boats loaded down with dried tobacco. It was grown on his 244-acre farm in Coral Hill that bordered Beaver Creek.
Eventually, the two families became one.
Frank Jones wrote a letter dated November of 1875 to Edmund and Eliza asking for their daughter’s hand in marriage. The families thought highly of one another, which was reflected in George Duff’s letter to his sister who married Frank.
His letter to her said:
“I have every reason, my dear sister, to believe that your married life will be a pleasant and happy one. You have married, if I am not greatly mistaken, a gentleman in every sense of the word ….”
The couple had three sons, and their home was cited as a welcoming place to all. The families remained tied together for generations.
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