Triangulating the Location of the Lighted Cross in Middlesboro, KY

Since the beginning of my research, I was trying to locate the Lighted Cross on the map and thanks to new Google Street View material and new angles and close-ups, I was able to locate the cross.

In the short documentary ‘The Heartland Show’, they start with a close-up of the Lighted Cross. The cross is a bunch of lightbulbs on a line, and there is a house below (the red strip on top is Cumberland Ave.).

When they zoom out they show a shelter or some building in the top left.

That corresponds with the following historical satellite photo data.

In the book ‘A Coal Miners Simple Message’, Catherine Mayes describes the location as following:

The lighted cross is located on a steep hillside on Sixth Street, on private property. The lighted cross is directly lined up with the town’s main traffic artery, Cumberland Avenue. As one travels east on Cumberland Avenue, the cross seems to just be hanging up there in the air. Actually, the lighted cross rests about ten feet off the ground. Because of the steep hillside, the lighted cross creates an illusion that it is hanging in mid-air just down the street a little way from wherever you are on Cumberland Avenue. The lighted cross can be seen traveling west to east on Cumberland Avenue for about two miles. It is quite impressive, no matter how many times one notices it.

And if I go there where the arrow is, I find this—the first time captured by Google Street View in 2024. A pole and a bunch of light bulbs on a line.

Google Street View

And here is the cross in lit (found on facebook).