by G. A. Hazelwood

Created on: April 16, 2008

Weekend getaway: America's Southeast Region. Kentucky's Border Town - Historically Strategic Fulton, Kentucky. Rich in history and lore, Kentucky's southern most town in what was part of the original Jackson Purchase of 1818, Fulton, lies nestled to the extreme southwest of the state, along its border to Tennessee. In fact, it overlaps the border, with Fulton to the Kentucky side, and South Fulton to the Tennessee side of the line. Though still a wonderful slice of small town Americana - with a population of slightly less than 3000 - from its earliest fledgling foundations, Fulton was a lynchpin of strategic historical importance to an ever growing America, little known or recognized by much of the nation.

Fulton, originally called, Pontotoc, by the early Chicksaw indians who hunted the land, was settled in 1828 - nearly a half century after the first frontiersman of European origin wandered the plains there - by Benjamin Franklin Carr, who made an initial purchase of 160 acres of the area. In 1831, Carr expanded his domain with the purchase of another 940 acres, holding a total of 1100 acres in what was one day to become Fulton. The first postal stop was opened in 1850 due to its strategic positioning, east to west and north to south. It bore the town's original name, Pontotoc, which changed in 1859 to, Fulton, in honor of steamboat inventor Robert Fulton. The town saw its first official post office in 1862, and by 1895 had became incorporated by the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

From farming community village and traveler stopover, the town itself sprang up around the Pontotoc Rail Station beginning in 1859, as a midway point between New Orleans and Chicago. Today, the Fulton Railway Station, ran by the Canadian National and Illinois Central Railroad, is still vital, with Amtrak making daily stops there. As one of the few locations in Kentucky still served by Amtrak, it again accentuates Fulton's continued imporatance to the region. In it's heyday of yesteryear, Fulton was a primary rail yard, where banana's were repacked with ice to make the last half of their trip north, before the advent of the refrigerated boxcar came along. From this daily event, the Fulton Banana Festival became an annual event, who's centerpiece claimed rights to the largest Banana pudding in the world, weighing in at an astounding two tons. Now named the Pontotoc Festival, held each September, it remains a strong reminder of Fulton's roots as a rail town.

For a small town, Fulton's promenece

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