Johnson County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,680. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

is Paintsville. The county was formed in 1843 and named for Richard Mentor Johnson,

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

general,

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, and

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice p ...

. Johnson County is classified as a moist county, which is a county in which

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

sales are not allowed (a

dry county A dry county is a county in the United States whose government forbids the sale of any kind of alcoholic beverages. Some prohibit off-premises sale, some prohibit on-premises sale, and some prohibit both. Dozens of dry counties exist across th ...

), but containing a "wet" city, in this case Paintsville, where

alcoholic beverage An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol that acts Alcohol (drug), as a drug and is produced by Ethanol fermentation, fermentat ...

sales are allowed.

History

Formation

Johnson County was formed on February 24, 1843, by the Kentucky General Assembly from land given by Floyd, Lawrence, and

Morgan Morgan may refer to: People and fictional characters * Morgan (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Morgan le Fay, a powerful witch in Arthurian legend * Morgan (surname), a surname of Welsh origin * Morgan (singer ...

counties. At that time, its county seat of Paintsville had already been a chartered city for nine years. Homes had been built in Paintsville as early as the 1810s. Many of the families at the beginning of Johnson County's formation were of Scottish, Irish, English, or German descent. Also, a fact lost to most historians is the large population of French Huguenots who were confused as English because they fled via England en route to the United States. Many of these settlers migrated from

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

following their participation in the Revolutionary War. For about its first twenty-five years, Johnson County and Paintsville struggled along. Roads and highways were nonexistent. Mail and supplies reached Johnson County from the

Bluegrass region The Bluegrass region is a geographic region in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It makes up the central and northern part of the state, roughly bounded by the cities of Frankfort, Paris, Richmond and Stanford. The Bluegrass region is characteriz ...

by horseback and steamboat. Years later, stage coaches began to connect eastern Kentucky and Johnson County to the bluegrass region and the rest of civilization.

Civil War era

As Johnson County and its county seat had begun to thrive, in 1860 the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

became a disrupter. Like other border areas, brothers fought against brothers, tearing families apart. Johnson County was not only part of a border state during the Civil War, but it was a border county as well. Sometime between 1860 and 1862, the county enacted an ordinance that neither the Union or Confederate flags were to be flown within the county. This was repealed quickly after Colonel

James Garfield James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881 until his death six months latertwo months after he was shot by an assassin. A lawyer and Civil War gene ...

's Union brigade marched through Paintsville on its way to defeat the Confederate cavalry at the Battle of Middle Creek in Floyd County.

John C. C. Mayo

Following the Civil War, Thomas Jefferson Mayo moved to Paintsville to fulfill a role as a gifted and talented teacher. He fathered John C. C. Mayo, an important figure in the development of eastern Kentucky. The county citizenry is divided on their loyalty to his memory. Some would say he was a benefactor who assisted in the development of Paintsville, and as a result, Johnson County. That he helped develop banks, churches, streets, public utilities and railroad transportation. Others would say he was directly responsible for the huge influence coal companies had over the county's vast coal resources and the reason the region remains so economically depressed to this day. John C C Mayo procession

Coal was important for Johnson County and the rest of eastern Kentucky even before the Civil War, but its development halted at the start of the war. Financing was slow to return to the coal industry in eastern Kentucky and this inhibited development in Johnson County. The people were suspicious of outsiders and Mayo, a school teacher, was a known quantity and one of their own. So he was invaluable in helping the coal industry to gain a firm foothold in the coal fields of eastern Kentucky and to the industrialized north which spurred the development of railroads in the area. Carpetbaggers from the North became a common sight in the area. It was during this time that many of the citizens of Johnson County were given misleading information and sold all mineral rights to their property for pennies on the dollar of what the rights were worth. In some cases, for a new shotgun. It was also during this time that many people lost their property due to a strange rash of fires in several county seats, destroying deeds and records of ownership, which paved the way for land-grabbers to take what the owners did not want to relinquish. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway first opened its Paintsville depot on September 1, 1904, following 25 years of work connecting it to Lawrence County. The rails were paid for by donations, stocks and bonds, and the hard work of local citizens. History shows that the rail companies leaked information and frequently changed planned routes to create bidding wars and to finance the rails. Following the development of the railroad, tens of thousands of tons of coal were being transported out of eastern Kentucky by 1910. Mayo went on to be a political lobbyist, and eastern Kentucky's only member of the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well ...

. He had influence in electing Kentucky's

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

members of Congress A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

and the election of

President Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of P ...

. He died on May 11, 1914, after becoming ill following a trip to Europe. During his life, he built a historic mansion in Paintsville which has become known as Mayo Mansion.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.8%) is water. The county's highest point is Stuffley Knob, with an elevation of 1,496 feet (456 m). Its lowest point is the

Levisa Fork The Levisa Fork (also known as the Levisa Fork River or the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River) is a tributary of the Big Sandy River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Nati ...

on the Lawrence County border, with an elevation of about 550 feet (168 m).

Adjacent counties

* Lawrence County (north) * Martin County (east) * Floyd County (south) *

Magoffin County Magoffin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2010 census, the population was 13,333. Its county seat is Salyersville. The county was formed in 1860 from adjacent portions of Floyd, Johnson, and Morgan Countie ...

(southwest) * Morgan County (northwest)

Transportation

Major highways

U.S. Route 23 * US 460

U.S. Route 460 * Elongated circle 40

Kentucky Route 40 * Elongated circle 321

Kentucky Route 321 * Elongated circle 3

Kentucky Route 3

Air

Big Sandy Regional Airport Big Sandy Regional Airport (, former FAA LID: K22) is a public use airport in southwest Martin County, Kentucky. The airport is ten miles (17 km) northeast of Prestonsburg, a city in Floyd County. Facilities The airport covers at an elev ...

, located in adjacent Martin County, is the nearest airport. It is used as a

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

airport. The nearest airport that provides commercial aviation services is Tri-State Airport, which is located northeast in Ceredo, West Virginia.

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

of 2000, there were 23,445 people, 9,103 households, and 6,863 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

was . There were 10,236 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 98.64%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 0.25%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.13% Native American, 0.29% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 0.09% from other races, and 0.58% from two or more races. 0.61% of the population were

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race. There were 9,103 households, out of which 34.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.50% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

living together, 11.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.60% were non-families. 22.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 2.93. In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.00% under the age of 18, 8.80% from 18 to 24, 28.90% from 25 to 44, 25.70% from 45 to 64, and 12.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 93.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.70 males. The median income for a household in the county was $24,911, and the median income for a family was $29,142. Males had a median income of $29,762 versus $20,136 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the county was $14,051. About 21.70% of families and 26.60% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 35.50% of those under age 18 and 19.30% of those age 65 or over.

Government

* County Judge/Executive: Mark McKenzie * Commissioner District 1: Kathy Adams * Commissioner District 2: Mike Jarrell * Commissioner District 3: Tim Salyer * County Attorney: Michael S. Endicott * County Court Clerk: Sallee Holbrook * Circuit Court Clerk: Penny Adams Castle * PVA: Michael "Dip" Stafford * Sheriff: Doug Saylor * Jailer: Steve Rose * Coroner: J.R. Frisby * Constable District 1: James Castle * Constable District 2: Bruce Ritz * Constable District 3: David Pridemore * County Surveyor: Clarence Scarberry

Politics

Johnson County is at present and historically a powerfully Republican county. No Democrat has ever won a majority of the county's vote since at least 1880, though

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

did gain narrow pluralities in 1992 and 1996, and

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

lost to

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for president ...

by a mere twenty-two votes in 1964.

Education

Public

Johnson County is home to two public school districts.

Johnson County Schools

The Johnson County School District, which operates schools throughout the county, including the city of Paintsville, operates the following schools: Porter Elementary, W.R. Castle Elementary, Highland Elementary, Flat Gap Elementary, Central Elementary, Johnson County Middle School, and Johnson Central High School. Central Elementary was ranked top-performing elementary school in 5-6 statewide CTBS/CATS testing. Central Elementary was also the top-performing elementary school (based on national CTBS testing) in the Southeastern US. Johnson County Middle School's academic team has won the most State Governor's Cups. It has won the Cup in 1999, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014. It has won numerous state Quick Recall awards and its Future Problem Solving team has won state and international awards and acclaim. Johnson Central High School performs well in various areas and is well known statewide for their academic, football, and basketball teams. The high school was recently named a U.S. News & World Report Top American High School, being given a bronze award. Also, the school recently became WSAZ's first 'Cool School'. Johnson Central High school is considered a "powerhouse" in the high school Quick Recall scene, starting with the 1994–1995 season. They are also noted as a well-performing national quiz bowl competitor. Their

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

team, coached by Jim Matney, has been noted for their up-and-coming program and very successful seasons. They have advanced to the 4A State Championship game 5 consecutive times, from 2015 to 2019. In 2016 and 2019 the Golden Eagles won 2 State Championships, by defeating Franklin-Simpson High School, 48-0 and state power Boyle County 21–20. The

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team is coached by Tommy McKenzie who has led the Eagles to the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Sweet 16 (KHSAA) State basketball tournament 5 times. Coach Jim Matney was named the 2019 (NFHS) National HS Wrestling Coach of the year after leading the Eagles to 11 straight Regional Championships and JCs first ever State Dual Meet Championship in 2019 Johnson Central offers many clubs including Student Technology Leadership Program, STLP, FBLA-PBL, FBLA, DECA (organization), DECA, National Beta Club, Beta, National FFA Organization, FFA, Health Occupations Students of America, HOSA,

SkillsUSA SkillsUSA is a United States career and technical student organization serving more than 395,000 high school, college and middle school students and professional members enrolled in training programs in trade, technical and skilled service occu ...

and

FCCLA Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA, formerly known as Future Homemakers of America) is a nonprofit national career and technical student organization for young men and women in Family and Consumer Sciences education in public ...

. Johnson Central is also home to a new Career Technology Center.

Paintsville Independent Schools

The Paintsville Independent School District also operates two schools: Paintsville Elementary School, a K-6 facility, and the 7-12 Paintsville High School. Paintsville High also has earned numerous sport titles . The school has won boys' state championships in golf, baseball and basketball and made it to the finals of the state football playoffs. Note that in Kentucky, the only sports in which schools are divided into enrollment classes are football, cross-country and

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

. Both the Johnson County and Paintsville Independent districts met all of the

No Child Left Behind The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based education ...

standards set by the national government.

Private

Two private schools also operate in the county: Our Lady of the Mountain School (K-8) and Johnson County Christian School.

Colleges

Big Sandy Community and Technical College Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC) is a public community college with its headquarters in Prestonsburg, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. It was created in 2003 from the consolidation of ...

manages two campuses in Johnson County: Mayo and Hager Hill.

Attractions

Kentucky Apple Festival

In the same year as Mayo's death (1914), the first county fair was held in Paintsville, where the first Apple King was also crowned. In 1962, Johnson County hosted the first Kentucky Apple Festival, which has been held annually in Paintsville since. The streets of downtown Paintsville are closed to vehicular traffic and festivities to include live music and entertainment, along with various competitions.

Parks and recreation

;Paintsville Lake State Park

This scenic state park contains a lake, a

wildlife management area A Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is a protected area set aside for the conservation of wildlife and for recreational activities involving wildlife. New Zealand There are 11 Wildlife Management Areas in New Zealand: * Horsham Downs Wildlife Man ...

, a marina, a 4 lane boat dock, a restaurant, a convenience store, boat rentals, multiple picnic shelters, playgrounds, and both developed and primitive camp sites. It is located on route 2275 at Staffordsville, just a few miles out of Paintsville. ;Paintsville Recreation Center The Paintsville Recreation Center contains a basketball court, a playground, and a volleyball court. Located on Preston Street in Paintsville. ;Paintsville Country Club & Golf Course This 18-hole

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". ...

was established on September 27, 1929, making it one of the oldest golf courses in Eastern Kentucky. The

country club A country club is a privately owned club, often with a membership quota and admittance by invitation or sponsorship, that generally offers both a variety of recreational sports and facilities for dining and entertaining. Typical athletic offe ...

was built in 1930 by the WPA and is on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

.Powell, Helen January 26, 1989. Retrieved on February 26, 2010 Located on Kentucky Route 1107 in Paintsville.

Museums

;U.S. 23 Country Music Highway Museum This museum has many exhibits that tell the stories of the

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

stars that grew up near U.S. Route 23 in Eastern Kentucky. Located at 120 Staves Branch in Paintsville. ;The Coal Miners' Museum This museum tells the history of the local area's

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

industry. Located on Millers Creek Road in Van Lear.

Historical sites

;Mayo Mansion Jenny Wiley Grave

This 43-room

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

was built by John C. C. Mayo between 1905 and 1912 and now serves as Our Lady of the Mountains School. Located on Third Street in Paintsville. ;Mayo Memorial United Methodist Church The church was also constructed by John C. C. Mayo, who hired 100 Masons from Italy to construct it. The church has an organ donated by

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans in ...

and has several large stained glass windows. The church opened in the fall of 1909. Located on Third Street in Paintsville, beside Mayo Mansion. ;Jenny Wiley Gravesite Jenny Wiley is a historical figure who was captured by Native Americans in

. After she escaped captivity, she reunited with her husband and lived in Johnson County until her death in 1831. Her grave is located just off Highway 581 at

River A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

Points of interest

;Loretta Lynn Homeplace

Childhood home of country music superstar,

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Ma ...

Located at Butcher Hollow in Van Lear. ;Forrest and Maxie Preston Memorial Bridge This pedestrian only swinging bridge is the world's longest plastic bridge. The deck of the bridge is made of glass fiber-reinforced polymer. It crosses the

of the Big Sandy River and connects the communities of River and Offutt. Located on Kentucky Route 581 at River. ;Mountain Homeplace The Mountain Homeplace gives a unique look at a replica of an Eastern Kentucky farming community from the mid-nineteenth century. It contains a one-room schoolhouse, a church, a blacksmith shop, a cabin, a barn, and farm grounds. There are also demonstrations of old time skills and crafts. It is located near the dam at Paintsville Lake State Park.

Miscellaneous

Johnson County is also the former home of the Enterprise Association of Regular Baptists, which was organized on October 26, 1894, at Enterprise (now known as Redbush),

. The association now resides at 1560 Nibert Road, Gallipolis,

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, 45631.Enterprise Association of Regular Baptists
Retrieved on February 27, 2010

Communities

City

* Paintsville

Unincorporated communities

* Asa * Boonscamp * Chandlerville * Collista *

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

* Dobson * East Point * Elna * Flat Gap * Fuget * Hager Hill * Hargis * Keaton * Kerz *

Leander Leander is one of the protagonists in the story of Hero and Leander in Greek mythology. Leander may also refer to: People * Leander (given name) * Leander (surname) Places * Leander, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Le ...

* Low Gap *

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...

* Meally *

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

* Nippa *

Odds Odds provide a measure of the likelihood of a particular outcome. They are calculated as the ratio of the number of events that produce that outcome to the number that do not. Odds are commonly used in gambling and statistics. Odds also have ...

* Offutt * Oil Springs * Redbush *

* Riceville * Sip *

Sitka russian: Ситка , native_name_lang = tli , settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough , image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg , image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984 , image_size ...

* Staffordsville * Stambaugh * Swamp Branch * Thealka *

Thelma Thelma is a female given name. It was popularized by Victorian writer Marie Corelli who gave the name to the title character of her 1887 novel '' Thelma''. It may be related to a Greek word meaning "will, volition" see ''thelema''). Note that alth ...

* Tutor Key * Van Lear *

Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catch ...

* West Van Lear *

Whitehouse Whitehouse may refer to: People * Charles S. Whitehouse (1921-2001), American diplomat * Cornelius Whitehouse (1796–1883), English engineer and inventor * E. Sheldon Whitehouse (1883-1965), American diplomat * Elliott Whitehouse (born 1993), ...

* Williamsport *

Winifred Winifred is a feminine given name, an anglicization of Welsh ''Gwenffrewi'', from ''gwen'', "fair", and ''ffrew'', "stillness". It may refer to: People * Saint Winifred * Winifred Atwell (1914–1983), a pianist who enjoyed great popularity in Br ...

* Wittensville

Notable residents

, legendary country singer. The title song on her 2004 album, ''

Van Lear Rose ''Van Lear Rose'' is the forty-second solo studio album by American country music singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn. It was released on April 27, 2004, by Interscope Records. The album was produced by Jack White. The album was widely praised by critic ...

'', references her upbringing in the city of Van Lear located in Johnson County. * Tyler Childers, singer-songwriter. Went to Paintsville High School. *

Crystal Gayle Crystal Gayle (born Brenda Gail Webb; January 9, 1951) is an American country music singer widely known for her 1977 hit "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". Initially, Gayle's management and record label were the same as that of her oldest sist ...

, country singer and younger sister of Loretta Lynn. *

Chris Stapleton Christopher Alvin Stapleton (born April 15, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and grew up in Staffordsville, Kentucky. In 2001, Stapleton moved to Nashville, Tennessee, t ...

, Grammy award-winning

ian * Jenny Wiley, held captive by Native Americans. * John C. C. Mayo, entrepreneur, assisted in bringing railroad service to eastern Kentucky. * Jim Ford, singer-songwriter * Hylo Brown, bluegrass and

singer * Johnnie LeMaster, former major league baseball player primarily with the San Francisco Giants * John Pelphrey, basketball standout for

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

, and former

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkans ...

head basketball coach * Willie Blair, former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

player