The first settlers of Harlan County were the family of Samuel Howard, then spelled Hoard, who arrived in 1796 and found an almost impenetrable forest interspersed so thickly with cane breaks that in many places they had to cut their way through. The Howards, Turners, and Middletons were among the first five families to settle in Harlan County, and other families included the Hensleys, Napiers, Smiths, Cawoods, Kellys, Sargents, Brittains, Cornetts, Creeches, Gilberts, Joneses, Wynns, and Saylors. In a small alley behind the NAPA Auto parts is an unmarked graveyard about which little is known; there appear to be quite a few graves, with several illegible stones and rods scattered about that could indicate others. The only readable stone marks the grave of William Turner, Jr., whose father was one of the Turners who settled in what is today known as Harlan County.