Newman Ridge extends a distance of 28 Miles in which the eastern part of Newman Ridge extends about 7 miles into Lee County, Virginia. When the old authors, historians wrote about the Newman Ridge Melungeons they did not mean to infer they lived all lived on the Ridge, that was describing an
area which included Kyles Ford, Fishers Valley, Flower Gap, Panther Creek (Old name was Buffolo Creek), the North Fork of Blackwater Creek in which most of it was in Lee County and the South Fork of Blackwater Creek which took in Vardy Valley and part of Snake Hollow. You will find the Melungeons were members (1803)of the Mulberry Gap church which was across Powell
Mountain.
Micajer Bunch was recognized by Groshe and others as one of the first Melungeons in the area 1789, his land entry was near Kyles Ford in Tennessee but he signed the petition 1793 to form Lee County, VA. Also Buck Gibson first land entry was on Blackwater Lee County, Va. very near the line, these
folks were next door neighbors although they lived in Tennessee and Virginia. This was not a small area, neither was it a small group and some left early into KY, such as Micager Bunch who migrated to Cumberland County, Kentucky 1799.... .. Jack Goins |
