Basin Creek Cove was home to Martin and Janie Caudill and their 14 children in a log cabin 1500 feet below, while Martin's father Harrison, who fathered 22 children, lived about a mile down the creek in the community of Basin Cove. The nearest settlement was 8 miles away, reachable half by foot trail and half by road. In 1916 a natural disaster brought tragedy to Basin Cove when rain fell from one morning through the night and caused large sections of land with timber to slide into the hollow. The storm left three persons dead and destroyed many homes, and the Basin Cove community never recovered. Martin Caudill's turn-of-the-century cabin was one of the few houses the storm left standing.