Near what is now Barbourville, an expedition led by Dr. Thomas Walker established a base for operations while exploring Kentucky’s eastern mountain range. There in 1750, Walker, a surveyor and physician born in Virginia in 1715, constructed the first recorded pioneer dwelling in Kentucky, a log cabin measuring 8 by 12 feet. He named the river overlooked by the cabin in honor of the Duke of Cumberland, son of King George II. The original one-room cabin was reproduced with round logs, wide chinked joints, and a small chimney framed at the base with notched logs.