The McCreary County Museum is housed in the former Stearns Coal and Lumber Company corporate headquarters in Stearns, Kentucky. The town where the museum is located was called the Stearns Empire of the South, and the museum continues to preserve and display the area's history from the Indian and pioneer times towards its peak at the height of the coal and lumber industry boom. The exhibits include significant coverage of Appalachian life in McCreary County.[2]