MONROE COUNTY - TOMPKINSVILLE The only county of the 2,957 in the United States named for a President where the county seat is named for the contemporary Vice-President. County formed in 1820; named for James Monroe the fifth President, author of the Monroe Doctrine. The county seat named for Daniel Tompkins. Two terms for each covered 1817 - 1825.

Site of Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan's first raid of his famous First Kentucky Raid. July 9, 1862, Morgan's Raiders, coming from Tennessee on their first raid into Kentucky, attacked Major Thomas J. Jordan's 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry at USA garrison. Raiders captured 30 of retreating enemy and destroyed tents and stores. They took 20 wagons, 50 mules, 40 horses, sugar and coffee supplies. At Glasgow they burned supplies, then went north, raiding 16 other towns before returning to Tennessee.

Home of the Old Mulkey Meetinghouse State Historic Site. The 20-acre park features the oldest log meetinghouse in Kentucky, built in 1804 during a period of religious revival. Many Revolutionary War soldiers and pioneers, including Daniel Boone's sister, Hannah, are buried there. The structure has twelve corners in the shape of a cross and three doors, symbolic of the Holy Trinity. The Old Mulkey Church, originally called the Mill Creek Baptist Church, was established by a small band of pioneer Baptists from North and South Carolina and led by Philip Mulkey. The site became part of the park system in 1931.