The spring was central to the first permanent settlement west of the Alleghenies, which became present-day Harrodsburg. The site was chosen for its never-ending flow of fresh, clean water, the creek it supplies, its central location, and the surrounding open, fertile, tillable land. During a surveying trip, James Harrod led a group of men from their landing point on the Kentucky River to this place and determined it to be the best location for the new settlement. Under a sprawling elm tree about 100 yards downstream, the men laid down their packs, made a fire, relaxed, and ate their first meal on the site of the township they would develop. It soon became their evening routine to gather under the elm beside the spring after days spent exploring, scouting, and surveying the land. Although John Lythe of the Church of England has been noted as the first preacher in Kentucky in April 1775, under that same elm tree Rev. Thomas Tinsley and Rev. William Hickman preached the first Baptist sermon in Kentucky in May 1775. In the early years of Harrod's Town, the people used the spring and Town Branch creek for drinking water, cooking, laundry, bathing, and watering gardens and livestock, making it the lifeblood of the growing settlement.