Union County has many historic sites, and it will take years to even try to identify and mark all of them. It’s a work in progress. In 2016, with the help of Roads Superintendent David Cox, Preservation Union County has been able to get signs placed for three more sites: Ailor Mill, Union County’s only Hanging Site where Clarence Cox and John Stanley were hung on December 22, 1894, and Lost Creek School. Thank you Mr. Cox and your crew. I’ve previously written about these sites, but for our young people who may not have access to the Union County history books, I’ll write again.

Ailor Mill. When driving down Ailor Gap Road, look for the Ailor Mill sign just north of the Sonlight Baptist Church and across Ailor Gap Road..
In olden days as restless pioneers began moving westward, they explored the breaks between mountains or ridges for trails. These breaks are known as Gaps. It was much easier to move around the ridge than to try to maneuver a wagon, buggy or just a horse around the trees, rocks and streams along the ridges. Our early writings that form our history refer to Samuel Sharp relocating from North Carolina to Flat Creek (a Union County place name) at what is now Union County, Tennessee. James Ailor was among those who came with Samuel Sharp and, after living with Mr. Sharp for some years, settled in what we now know as Ailor Gap. The "Gap" being the break in Comb Ridge (another Union County place name). Ailor Gap, named for the Ailor family, is a place name in Union county and in particular in Civil War history in east Tennessee. As far as we know, James Ailor was the first settler in the Ailor Gap area, which runs from Tazewell Pike at Plainview to State Highway 33 at Maynardville. Civil War records document troop movements between Blaine's Crossroad and Cumberland Gap.

A part or parts of this "Ailor" trail was or became what is also known as the old Jacksboro Road that ran from Emory Road to Jacksboro, Tennessee. I have tried without success to find an early map showing the old Jacksboro Road across Union County. The pieces of the old road bed still visible show so many meanders that those who used it were somewhat like the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness!

As road work became a legal requirement of those males living along these trails, the trails were widened to wagon roads and in some places paved with field stones, this particular trail became Ailor Gap Road. Along Bull Run Creek near the old Union Church building, James Ailor built a grist mill and became a local miller. The mill ground both corn and wheat; the miller charged a "toll" of a certain amount-maybe a gallon of meal or flour per bushel in payment. The mill also served as a meeting place for the locals to learn the latest news as they waited for their corn or flour to be ground. I found in the 1880 Census that the mill was passed on to James and Sarah "Sally" Sharp Ailor's son, Samuel (1810 - 1883). Ownership of Ailor Mill then passed to Samuel and Sally Warwick Ailor's son, Nicholas Ailor (1834 - 1913). Although Nicholas owned the mill for some years, it is believed that someone else was the miller. Nicholas Ailor became a lawyer and served as an early county judge of Union County. The mill was passed down and operated by members of the Ailor family until about 1940. I recently learned from Mr. Carson Thompson that Johnicam Norris was the last miller to operate Ailor Mill and that the property owner, after the mill closed, gave the building to Arthur Harless to tear down and remove. Mr. Harless built a shed out of the lumber at his homeplace.

Picture: Lost Creek School Historic Sign
December 27, 2016