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History
Kings Valley
- Kings Valley loosely includes the community of residents who live on portions of Burnt Hill, Kingstead and Kings Valley Roads in an area bordering the eastern boundary of the Park. At one time portions of Clarksburg Road, and Kingsley Trail were also considered part of Kings Valley.
- Kings Valley is part of the County's Agricultural reserve, and has been a farming community throughout most of its history. One of the largest and most recognizable farms in the community is the King Farm pictured on the right.
- The town had its own general store for several decades near the intersection of Kinsgstead and Kings Valley Roads.
- For four decades at the beginning of the last century, two schools educated local children in the Kingsley Schoolhouse (now located in the park) and at the Kings Valley Schoolhouse on Kings Valley Road. Like other neighboring little towns, the store and schools helped create a sense of community for local residents.
- Unlike some of these other local communities, however, Kings Valley never had its own post office. So the origin of the community's name seems to be related to the fact that so many homes in the area were built by descendants of John Duckett King (an original settler in the area), and bore his surname. Many of these same homes remain owned by his descendants.
- Another distinguishing characteristic of Kings Valley is that it was the site of Montgomery County's only whiskey distillery, operated by Luther King near where Little Bennett Creek flows under Burnt Hill Road.
- In addition, King operated another mill complex further upstream from the distillery site that included grist, saw, and cider mills.
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