Lewis 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 ...

. 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 st ...

is Vanceburg.

History

The area presently bounded by Kentucky state lines was a part of the U.S. State of Virginia, known as Kentucky County when the British colonies separated themselves in the American Revolutionary War. In 1780, the Virginia legislature divided the previous Kentucky County into three smaller units: Fayette, Jefferson, and Lincoln. In 1791, this area was separated into the State of Kentucky; it became effective on June 1, 1792. From that time, the original three counties were divided several times. A portion of Fayette County was split off as Bourbon County in 1785; a portion of Bourbon was split off as Mason County in 1788; in 1806 the present Lewis County was split off from Mason. The new county was named for Meriwether Lewis. The county's hilly country, heavily forested, has produced some of the nation's best oak lumber. Lumbering has been the county's principal economic activity from the start. The county's elevation ranges from 485 to 1400 feet above sea level.

Geography

According to the

U.S. 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 the ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.5%) is water. The county's northern border with

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

is formed by the Ohio River. Its border with the river is the longest of all the Kentucky counties.

Adjacent counties

Adams County, Ohio Adams County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,477. Its county seat is West Union. The county is named after John Adams, the second President of the United States. Geography According to the ...

(north) *

Scioto County, Ohio Scioto County is a county located along the Ohio River in the south central region of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 74,008. Its county seat is Portsmouth. The county was founded March 24, 1804, from Adams C ...

(northeast) * Greenup County (east) * Carter County (southeast) * Rowan County (south) *

Fleming County Fleming County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 15,082. Its county seat is Flemingsburg. The county was formed in 1798 and named for Colonel John Fleming, an Indian fighter and early s ...

(southwest) * Mason County (west)

National protected area

Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge The Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge (ORINWR) is a National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in non-contiguous sites consisting of islands along of the Ohio River, primarily (85% of acreage) in the U.S. state of West Virginia. There are also two ...

(part)

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 in ...

of 2000, there were 14,092 people, 5,422 households, and 4,050 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), 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 ...

was . There were 6,173 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 98.92%

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 o ...

, 0.21%

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 ...

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 ...

, 0.21% Native American, 0.03% Asian, 0.09% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 0.55% from two or more races. 0.44% 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 forme ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race. There were 5,422 households, out of which 35.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.40% were married couples living together, 9.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.30% were non-families. 22.50% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 2.98. In the county, the population was spread out, with 25.30% under the age of 18, 9.10% from 18 to 24, 29.40% from 25 to 44, 23.70% from 45 to 64, and 12.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.00 males. The median income for a household in the county was $22,208, and the median income for a family was $26,109. Males had a median income of $25,522 versus $18,764 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 $12,031. About 23.50% of families and 28.50% 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 t ...

, including 36.40% of those under age 18 and 21.30% of those age 65 or over. Over forty percent of this county gets some kind of government benefit.

Politics

Lewis County is one of the most Republican leaning counties in Kentucky. The last Democrat to win the county in a presidential election was Samuel J. Tilden in 1876.County Voting Map
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Education

The residents of Lewis County are served by the Lewis County Schools

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

. There are 4 elementary schools within the county, 1 middle school, and 1 high school. The elementary schools are as follows: Lewis County Central Elementary, located in Vanceburg, Garrison Elementary, located east of Vanceburg in the town of Garrison, Tollesboro Elementary, located west of Vanceburg in the town of Tollesboro, and Laurel Elementary, located south east of Vanceburg in the Laurel area of Lewis County. Upon entering 7th grade all 7th grade students attend Lewis County Middle School located west of Vanceburg on KY 10. LCMS hosts two grade levels, 7th and 8th. Upon completing 8th grade students attend Lewis County High School, which sets adjacent to the middle school. LCHS hosts grades 9-12 and was a nationally distinguished school in 2015, 2016, and 2018. Lewis County Middle School and Lewis County High School are located west of Vanceburg on KY 10, the AA Highway. Elementary Schools: * Lewis County Central Elementary School, Vanceburg. Mascot-Lions, Colors-Royal blue, red, and white. * Garrison Elementary School, Garrison. Mascot-Patriots, Colors-Red, black, and white. * Tollesboro Elementary School, Tollesboro. Mascot-Wildcats, Colors-Royal blue, yellow, and white. * Laurel Elementary School, Laurel. Mascot-Bombers, Colors-Kelly green and white. Middle Schools: * Lewis County Middle School, Vanceburg. Mascot-Lions, Colors-Royal blue, red, and white. High Schools: * Lewis County High School, Vanceburg. Mascot-Lions, Colors-Royal blue, red, and white. Closed Schools: * Tollesboro High School, Tollesboro. Closed in 1994 due to low enrollment numbers and loss of state funding. Tollesboro High students then had to attend Lewis County High School. This was an issue that caused controversy within the county as Tollesboro High School and Lewis County High School had a long-standing, bitter rivalry with one another. Tollesboro officials and residents claimed that the closure of the school by the Lewis County Board of Education was not justified. Some residents went as far as to send their children to the schools of surrounding counties, such as Mason Co. and Fleming Co. However, with time the controversy died down and is now non-existent. The main school building which housed offices, class rooms, etc. as well as the Field Hall, which contained the gymnasium for the school still stand today. They set just off of KY Route 57 near the intersection with old highway 10. The building was later used as the Tollesboro Christian Academy, however that organization was short lived and is now defunct. * Laurel High School, Laurel. The building which housed the Laurel High School burned in the late 1930s. The building was made of local stone which was largely undamaged by the fire, so the exterior of the building could have been reused. However, the interior was burnt beyond repair. High School students of the Laurel area then had to attend Lewis County High School, where they still go to this day. The building sat just off of the intersection of KY Route 59 and highway 1068 (near Laurel Point). The remnants of the building are still visible today.

Communities

Cities

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

* Vanceburg (County Seat)

Census-designated place

* Garrison

Other unincorporated places

* Alburn * Awe *

Black Oak Black Oak may refer to: Places in the United States * Black Oak, Arkansas * Black Oak, Daviess County, Indiana * Black Oak, Lake County, Indiana, a neighborhood of Gary, Indiana * Black Oak, Missouri Other * Black Oak Arkansas Black Oak Ar ...

* Beechy Creek *

Buena Vista Buena Vista, meaning "good view" in Spanish, may refer to: Places Canada *Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador, with the name being originally derived from “Buena Vista” *Buena Vista, Saskatchewan *Buena Vista, Saskatoon, a neighborhood in ...

* Burtonville * Cabin Creek *

Camp Dix Fort Dix, the common name for the Army Support Activity (ASA) located at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is a United States Army post. It is located south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Fort Dix is under the jurisdiction of the Air Force A ...

* Carrs *

Charters A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

* Clarksburg (County Seat 1809–1863) * Cottageville * Covedale * Crum * Emerson * Epworth * Esculapia Springs * Fearis *

Firebrick A fire brick, firebrick, or refractory is a block of ceramic material used in lining furnaces, kilns, fireboxes, and fireplaces. A refractory brick is built primarily to withstand high temperature, but will also usually have a low thermal con ...

Fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

* Glenn * Glenn Springs (Earlier known as McCormick's Spring) * Gun Powder Gap *

Harris Harris may refer to: Places Canada * Harris, Ontario * Northland Pyrite Mine (also known as Harris Mine) * Harris, Saskatchewan * Rural Municipality of Harris No. 316, Saskatchewan Scotland * Harris, Outer Hebrides (sometimes called the Isle of ...

* Head of Grassy * Heselton *

Irwin Irwin may refer to: Places ;United States * Irwin, California * Irwin, Idaho * Irwin, Illinois * Irwin, Iowa * Irwin, Nebraska * Irwin, Ohio * Irwin, Pennsylvania * Irwin, South Carolina * Irwin County, Georgia * Irwin Township, Venango County ...

* Jacktown * Kinniconick * Kirkville *

Laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

* Libbie *

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austr ...

* McDowell Creek * McKenzie * Montgomery Creek * Nashtown * Noah * Oak Ridge * Pence * Petersville * Poplar Flat (County Seat 1806–1809) * Quicks Run * Randville *

Records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

* Rexton * Ribolt * Rugless *

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

* Salt Lick * Sand Hill * Stricklett * Sullivan *

Tannery Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

* Teutonia *

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, an ...

* Tollesboro * Trinity (Trinity Station) * Upper Bruce *

Valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

* Wadsworth

Notable people

* James Baird (1873-1953) - Quarterback at the University of Michigan 1892–1895. After graduation served as an Assistant Coach for the football program from 1897 to 1898. Later as a Civil Engineer, his construction company executed the building of prominent buildings such as the Lincoln Memorial and

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier A Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Tomb of the Unknown Warrior is a monument dedicated to the services of an unknown soldier and to the common memories of all soldiers killed in war. Such tombs can be found in many nations and are usually high-prof ...

. * Charles A. Baird (1870-1944) - University of Michigan's first Athletic Director from 1898 to 1909. Hired legendary coach Fielding H. Yost. Oversaw construction of

Ferry Field Ferry Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It opened in 1906 and was home to the Michigan Wolverines football team prior to the opening of Michigan Stadium in 1927. It had a capacity of 46,000. It is currently used as a ta ...

. Older brother of James Baird. * Thomas Marshall (1793–1853) –

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

general of the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

. * The founder of "

Pillar of Fire Church The Pillar of Fire International, also known as the Pillar of Fire Church, is a Methodist Christian denomination with headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire Church affirms the Methodist Articles of Religion and as of 1988, had ...

" and KKK advocate Alma Bridwell White was born there. *

Thomas Massie Thomas Harold Massie (born January 13, 1971) is an American politician and businessman. A member of the Republican Party, Massie has been the United States representative for Kentucky's 4th congressional district since 2012, when he defeated Bi ...

, Current Congressman,

Kentucky's 4th Congressional District Kentucky's 4th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Located in the northeastern portion of the state, it is a long district that follows the Ohio River. However, the district is dominated by its far w ...

* Ralph Davis, (Ralph E. Davis Jr.) University of Cincinnati Basketball. Started on two NCAA Final Four teams for the Bearcats. Went on to play professional basketball in the American Basketball Association (ABA) for the Cincinnati Royals, a Pre-NBA merger franchise which is now the Sacramento Kings. * Faith Esham, (b. 1948) Famous opera performer and recitalist. Voice Professor at

Westminster Choir College , mottoeng = Let us be judged by our deeds , established = 1926 , type = Private , president = Gregory G. Dell'Omo , dean = Marshall Onofrio , city = Dayton, OH (1926–1929), Ithaca, NY (1929–1932), Princeton, NJ (1932–2020), Lawrenc ...

Rider University Rider University is a private university in Lawrence Township, New Jersey. It consists of four academic units: the Norm Brodsky College of Business, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the College of Education and Human Services, and West ...

since 2000. * Thomas H. Paynter, United States Senator 1907-1913 *

George M. Thomas (American politician) George Morgan Thomas (November 23, 1828 – January 7, 1914) was a U.S. Representative from Lewis County, Kentucky. Born near Poplar Flat, Kentucky, in Lewis County, Thomas was educated in the common schools. He taught school two years. H ...

, (November 23, 1828 – January 7, 1914) Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 9th district: In office March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1889. Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives: In office 1859–1863, 1872–1873. Commonwealth's Attorney for the tenth judicial district 1862–1868. Was elected Lewis county judge in 1868. Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky in 1871. Circuit Judge of the fourteenth judicial district from 1874 to 1880 and United States District Attorney from 1881 to 1885. Elected as a Republican to the Fiftieth Congress (March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1889). Was appointed Solicitor of Internal Revenue by President William McKinley on May 20, 1897, and served until May 31, 1901.

References

External links

The Kentucky Highlands Project

Lewis County website

Lewis County Tourism
{{Coord, 38.53, -83.39, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-KY_source:UScensus1990 Kentucky counties Kentucky counties on the Ohio River Maysville, Kentucky micropolitan area 1806 establishments in Kentucky Populated places established in 1806 Counties of Appalachia