Throwback Thursday: The real story behind Simpson County’s dueling grounds

A few years ago, Throwback Thursday told the story of the duel in Dueling Grounds Distillery in
Simpson County. This week, thanks to help from Kentucky historian and south central Kentuckian
Sam Terry, we revisit some Simpson County’s dueling grounds history. We know there were at
least 40 famous duels here in the early 19th century around the Linkumpinch Farm area. But
why?

In November of 1779, a couple of surveyors were laying out the border between Virginia and North
Carolina, which would eventually become the line between two new states formed in the 1790s:
Kentucky and Tennessee. Somewhere along what is now the border between Kentucky’s Simpson
County and Tennessee’s Robertson County, something went wrong. Robertson was incorporated
27 years later in 1796, and Simpson County came along 40 years later in 1819.

According to Sam Terry, surveyors Walker and Smith were stuck on a cloudy day that prevented
them from being able to use astronomical observations to draw a proper line – resulting in that
triangular Kentucky dip into what should have been Tennessee along the boundary line. The
surveyors also said iron ore in the area caused confusion with their compass needle. The area
was deemed a “no man’s land” for the next 50+ years, as the 600 or so acres in that triangle
were often disputed between the states.

Duels were illegal. But, if men wanted to press their luck and duel anyway, they could do so in
“no man’s land,” where it could be disputed in which state the duel took place. And thus,
at least 40 known duels took place here, wherever here was.

On top of that, in 1859, a Tennessean named Middleton claimed 101 acres of his land protruded
into Kentucky and was inside this no man’s land. Surveyors returned to the area and a new
assessment agreed with Middleton, possibly thanks to a whiskey trade.

Dueling Grounds Distillery in Franklin, Kentucky is named for this area, just a couple miles north of
the Tennessee border. Franklin even celebrates its heritage with live action duel re-enactments.