170 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES through the gorges of the Cumberland Gap and reached the blue-grass region, “a land of running waters, of groves and glades, of prairies, cane-brakes, and stretches of lofty forests.” Boone returned to North Carolina, but not to remain. His restless spirit still yearned for the beautiful banks of the far-off Kentucky. In 1773 he sold his farms, and with wife and chil- dren and about fifty persons besides started for Kentucky with the purpose of making a permanent settlement there. On the way, however, the party was attacked by Indians—for even in this neutral territory the Indian was sometimes troublesome — and Boone and his companions were compelled to turn back. But the fame of the Kentucky country was now wide-spread, and its settlement was near at hand. In 1774 James Harrod of Virginia, with fifty men, floated down the Ohio River in flat- boats, and, ascending the Kentucky River, selected the present site of Harrodsburg as a place for a settlement and built some cabins. The place was given the name of Harrodstown (after- ward Harrodsburg) and was the first permanent settlement in Kentucky. The next year Boone safely reached Kentucky and founded the town of Boonesborough. In 1775 Lexington also was founded. ‘When the embattled farmers fired the shot heard round the world [p. 124], a party of hunters heard the echo and baptized the station they were building Lexington.” Louisville was founded in 1777. In 1776 Virginia, the real owner of Kentucky (colored map), finding that her Western settlements needed a governor, organ- ized them into a regular Virginia county with the boundaries of the present Kentucky and with the name of Kentucky. The county-seat was Harrodstown. Kentucky County flourished, and by the end of the Revolution it had been divided into three counties (Fayette, Jefferson, and Lincoln). The name Ken- tucky was now used to describe the whole region which was known as the “District of Kentucky.” During the Revolution Kentucky had greatly increased in population, and by 1783 there were probably 30,000 inhabitants within its borders. No sooner had peace with England been declared than the Kentuckians began to grow restless under the rule of Virginia.