1913 map extending north from lower Shelby Creek to Pikeville, KY. The Sandy Valley & Elkhorn R.R. joins with the Chesapeake & Ohio R.R. at the mouth of Shelby Creek. The C&O was built up the Big Sandy Valley during the first few years of the 1900s and the SV&E RR was built about 1911. The original home of John May (1760-1813) and his wife Sarah Phillips May - their 1800 homestead - was located about 2.2 miles along the creek from the mouth of Shelby. Today this unmarked site is a few hundred yards downstream from the first crossing of the SV&E RR and Shelby Cr. John and Sarah are buried nearby on a hill on the west side of the highway. They settled about 5 miles directly south - as the crow flies - of Pikeville. See photos of the graves. Thomas May (1787-1868) and Dorcas Patton May were married in 1813 and their first few children probably were born at the old May homestead. By the early 1820s they bought a farm on nearby Robinson Creek. They are buried across the road from the present-day Robinson Creek U.S. Post Office.