Paint Rock
Paint Rock is an unincorporated community in central Scott County, located along the S.R. 456 corridor that follows Paint Rock Creek. It was originally known as Almy, and was an important coal-mining community in the late 19th century, giving rise to what became known as the Tennessee Railroad.
See Also: Communities of Scott County
Geography & Demographics
Paint Rock is located along Paint Rock Creek southeast of Oneida. It is generally considered to be the entire valley through which S.R. 456 (Paint Rock Road) runs between Oneida and the Annadell community near Huntsville.
“Paint Rock proper” would have once been considered the area where Tunnel Hill Road and Paint Rock Road meet. The headwaters of Paint Rock Creek are located along Tunnel Hill Road. Stanley Creek runs along Paint Rock Road north of the intersection. Stanley Creek empties into Paint Rock Creek near the intersection.
It was near here that Morning Glory was located, which was the terminus of the Paint Rock Coke & Coal Co. Railroad that was constructed in the 1890s. Coal mining activity took place along the headwaters of Paint Rock Creek west of Morning Glory.
Besides Stanley Creek, major tributaries of Paint Rock Creek include West Creek and Phillips Branch.
The Paint Rock community is mostly in the 37841 (Oneida) zip code. However, the dividing line between the 37841 and 37755 (Helenwood) zip codes is Stanley Creek to Tunnel Hill Road, then the old railroad, so part of the community falls into the 37755 zip code.
Helenwood is part of Scott County’s 3rd Civil District, which also includes Huntsville.
S.R. 456 runs through the community.
Business & Commerce
There are no major businesses located in the Paint Rock community today. Historically, coal mining was the community’s largest industry, thanks to the Paint Rock Coal & Coke Co. There have been a few small stores located in the community through the years, though those no longer exist.
Schools
The original school in the Paint Rock community was called Almy, which was once the name of the community itself, because that’s what the post office was called.
The Almy School was located near the intersection of Paint Rock Road and Tunnel Hill Road. Nearby schools were at Tunnel Hill, Cherry Fork, Annadell, and Acres Creek.
Today, students from Paint Rock are served by Huntsville Elementary School, Huntsville Middle School, and Scott High School.
Post Offices
Today, Paint Rock is served by the Oneida and Helenwood post offices. The old post office at Almy opened in September 1890 and took its name from its first postmaster, Adrian A. Almy. The post office closed in August 1909 and moved to Oneida. The last postmaster was James D. Roberts.
Churches
Paint Rock Baptist Church is the primary church in the Paint Rock community today. It is the only church located in the valley, though there are churches along S.R. 456 on either end of the valley, including Oneida Church of God and Annadell Baptist Church. Other nearby churches include Tunnel Hill Baptist Church.
Origins
Settlement along Paint Rock Creek dates back to the early 1800s, when Revolutionary War veteran Randolph Lawson purchased a small plot of land near where Paint Rock Creek empties into New River, outside present-day Huntsville. From there, settlement spread up Paint Rock Creek to just outside present-day Oneida. However, it was the building of the Cincinnati & Southern Railroad, which opened in 1880, that really opened Paint Rock Creek for development.
According to history books, a “Dr. Gruno,” whose first name isn’t known but who was a Union physician during the Civil War, served as a surveyor on the Cincinnati & Southern Railroad when it was being built in the 1870s. He discovered large coal deposits along the headwaters of Paint Rock Creek east of Oneida, in the area now known as Tunnel Hill.
After discovering coal, Bruno brought on board investors that included W.M. Appleby (or Applebee’s) and Robert Hibbler to form the paint Rock Coal & Coke Company.
The company began construction of a short-line railroad at the Oneida depot, going to Morning Glory. The railroad was completed in 1889. It included a 402-foot-long tunnel lined with timbers to get through the hillside along the headwaters of Paint Rock Creek, which led to the name Tunnel Hill.
The railroad would likely have never advanced beyond Morning Glory if not for the New River Lumber Company, which purchased the Bird Lands along New River near Norma, opening a sawmill there in 1886. In 1902, the Paint Rock Coal & Coke Company was sold to investors from New York. In 1905, the railroad sold again, to a career railroad executive named Samuel Spencer. He eventually became president of Southern Railroad.
Spencer reorganized the Paint Rock railroad as the Tennessee Railroad, and began extending it towards Norma. He built the railroad along Paint Rock Creek to New River, then up New River to Norma and beyond, into Anderson County before stopping at Fork Mountain.
It was in 1925 that the railroad was completed. By that time, Spencer had been dead for 19 years and the coal mines at Paint Rock Creek had played out.
Paint Rock took on the name Almy because of Adrian Almy (1850-1915), who served as the community’s first postmaster. He lived in Scott County for a period of time between 1880 and 1900, and apparently helped procure land for the railroad. His move can likely be pinpointed around 1889. By 1900, he had moved to London, Ky.
The post office that was named for Almy closed in 1909, but the community’s school was always known as Almy School. For many years, the Huntsville Hill Road, which goes across the mountain to Huntsville, was called the Old Almy Road.
First Families
The Sexton family
One of the earliest families to settle in the Paint Rock community was the Sexton family.
Emmanuel Sexton (1835-1911) was the son of Robin Sexton and Salina Keeton of Helenwood. His great-grandfather was Revolutionary War soldier Timothy Sexton of the Brimstone area. Emmanuel married Luanner Jane West (1840-1885), daughter of Reuben West and Emily Clemons, and they settled at Paint Rock. Luanner was a sister to Robinson Crusoe West and Nancy West Cecil, whose families were involved in Helenwood’s Cecil-West-Smith Feud in the 1880s.
Emmanuel and Luaner had 11 children: Julian Ann Yancey, Talmon Sexton, Monroe Sexton, Roena Phillips, Arlena Phillips, Emily Cross, John Freeman Sexton, Marion Sexton, Martha Ann Jeffers, Nancy June Buttram, and Loranza Sexton.
From there, the Sexton family multiplied and has been prominent at Paint Rock ever since. The Sexton Memorial Cemetery at Paint Rock contains more than 500 graves.
Another branch of the same family also contributed. Caswell Sexton (1867-1919) was a grandson of Robin Sexton; a nephew of Emmanuel Sexton, son of Christopher Columbus Sexton. He was a brother to Gilbert Sexton, who served as sheriff of Scott County. Caswell married Rachel Cecil, a daughter of Nancy West Cecil, and they settled at Paint Rock. They had 10 children: Letcher, Latonia, Manford, Elie Dobbs, Caleb, Ransom Maxwell, Archie Alton, Oswell Stanton, Eddie Huff, and Malvin Cecil.
Ransom “Maxwell” Sexton was a prominent attorney in Scott County, and senior partner in the law firm Sexton, Sexton, Beaty, and Seals. He also served on the Oneida Special School District Board of Education, and established the oratorical contest that is ongoing today as the Maxwell Sexton Speech Contest.
The West family
The West family was another early family at Paint Rock. Charles P. West (1774-1841) migrated to present-day Scott County from Rockingham County, Va. He married Sarah Phillips, and they had about 14 children.
Reason West (1807-1863) was one of those children. He married Phereba Marcum, and they had at least eight children: John, Frederick, William, Barzella, Columbus Jackson, Louis Scott, Polly Maraline, and General Taylor. Reason enlisted in the Union army, and died of illness at an army camp in 1863. Two of his brothers, John West and William West, also served in the Union army and were captured by rebel forces at the Battle of Rogersville in 1863. William died in the disease-ridden Confederate prison at Andersonville in August 1864.
Reason, John, and William had a sister, Rachel West, who married John Arthur Marcum Sr. and was the matriarch of the Pine Creek Marcum family.
Several of Reason’s children are buried at Peaceful Rose Garden, which was the Paint Rock community’s first cemetery.
Another of Reason’s siblings was Reuben West — father of Nancy West Cecil and Robinson Crusoe West, as well as Luanner West, who married into the Sexton family.
The West family lived at Paint Rock. Both Reuben and his wife, Emily Clemons, are buried at the Duncan Cemetery there.
The Duncan family
Henry Duncan (1823-1883) was the son of Joshua L. Duncan (1808-1890) and Rosa Sartin (1810-1878). His parents settled in the Winfield area, but Henry wound up at Paint Rock. He married Catherine “Katty” Thompson (1828-1865) in 1845, and later married Ruth Thomas (1834-1908) after Katty’s death. He had at least four children: Marion, Joshua, Ewell Moses, and Aaron.
Joshua married Martha Thomas, daughter of Abner Wiley Thomas (1799-1884) and Rebecca Brown (1799-1894).
The Thomas family
Abner Wiley Thomas and Rebecca Brown settled on Paint Rock Creek after moving from Powell Valley to present-day Scott County. They had 11 children: John, Sarah Laxton, Mary Lay, Jane Terry, Ruth Duncan, Rebekah Spradlin, Nancy Brown, William, Martha Duncan, and Abner Jr.
Abner Thomas served on a committee that was appointed in 1850 to establish Scott County’s school districts, and also was appointed to a jury to lay out roads throughout Scott County.
While Martha Thomas married Joshua Duncan, her sister, Ruth, also married into the Duncan family. She was the second wife of Henry Duncan, Josh’s father.
Abner and his wife later moved to a farm on what is now Dexter Laxton Road between Oneida and Pine Hill.
The Buttram family
One of Emmanuel Sexton’s daughters, Nancy June “Nannie” Sexton (1879-1960), married James Madison “Jim” Buttram (1865-1955). They had a large number of children, including Oscar, Marion, Isabell Barnes, Kelly, Gertie Byrd, Fred, Archie, Nancy Cotton, James, Mary Strunk, and Louie.
Jim and Nannie were the patriarch and matriarch of Paint Rock’s Buttram family. Fred Buttram married Rebecca Carson. The widow of one of their sons — Sheila Hall Buttram, sister of Scott County Director of Schools Bill Hall and widow of Denzil Lee Buttram, represents Paint Rock and the rest of the 3rd District on Scott County Commission.