HISTORY · HISTORICAL MARKER
In Memory of the Lives We Lost on Friday February 28, 1958
History
6
On Friday, February 28, 1958, at 8:10 a.m., Floyd County school bus number 27, carrying Prestonsburg Elementary and Prestonsburg High School students from the communities of Calf Creek, Cow Creek, Buffalo, Sugar Loaf, and Goble Roberts, Kentucky, plunged over an embankment near Knotley Hollow into the rain-swollen icy waters of the Big Sandy River. Twenty-two children survived. Twenty-six children and the school bus driver, John Alex Derossett, drowned. A diver from Charleston, West Virginia, located the bus on Sunday, March 2, 1958, and the last child was recovered from the river on Saturday, May 10, 1958, 72 days after the accident.
FIND IT
Prestonsburg, Kentucky
CITY · 14 STOPSExplore Prestonsburg, Kentucky
Hear every story as you drive
4.8 Stars · 800+ Ratings
© 2026 MainEngine