Morton’s Gap is a quiet, peaceful town. It may be small, but it has a lot of memories for Joy Morton, who just happened to stumble upon it one day.
Joy Morton was a loving, kind, young man. Joy was the founder of the Morton Salt Company. He had become very wealthy since his business took off in 1848, and had come a long way since eating beans and rice for dinner every night. He had a magnificent house and I think one of the prettiest yards I’ve ever seen. But his father, however, still lived in a small town in Kentucky called Earlington.
On May 26, 1851, Joy decided to go visit his father. He hadn’t seen him since his business took off, which is by far too long to go without seeing your own father. So, he called his father and arranged a visit.
Joy left in the morning because he didn’t want to drive in the dark. It was so early when Joy left that the grass still had dew on it and the sun was a pretty pinkish-yellow color. It was very foggy and mysterious on the streets Joy drove down. He was about ¾ of the way there and it was daytime now. He emerged to a giant, black, and mysterious gap in the middle of a road. It was an amazing sight! He was absolutely astonished. He had never seen such a sight in his life. He didn’t know what to do. He looked around to try and look for any signs of human life, or even existence. There weren’t any! The dirt roads looked deserted, like they had never been driven. Joy’s tire treads were the only ones on the road. He called his father to tell him, and his father was astonished too.
The town was lonely, forgotten, and extremely empty. Joy had never heard of an empty town before. But, as he thought about it, he hadn’t seen any signs as he was on his way there. As Joy eagerly talked to his father, he decided to name the town, since there weren’t any previous owners. He named it Morton’s Gap. He made a sign and posted it up the road. Ever since that day, the town has been called Morton’s Gap.