Breathitt County ( ) is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the eastern portion of 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 so ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,718. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Jackson. The county was formed in 1839 and was named for John Breathitt, who was

Governor of Kentucky The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Kentucky. Sixty-two men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; sinc ...

from 1832 to 1834. Breathitt County was formerly a

dry county In the United States, a dry county is a county whose local government forbids the sale of any kind of alcoholic beverages. Some prohibit off-premises sale, some prohibit on-premises sale, and some prohibit both. The vast majority of counties n ...

, until a public vote in July 2016 passed, allowing alcohol sales.

History

The area now encompassed by Kentucky's Breathitt County was first bounded in 1772, when all of what is now the state of Kentucky was in the frontier county of Fincastle County, Virginia. Fincastle was divided in 1776, with the western portion named

Kentucky County, Virginia Kentucky County (aka Kentucke County), later the District of Kentucky, was formed by the Commonwealth of Virginia from the western portion (beyond the Big Sandy River and Cumberland Mountains) of Fincastle County effective 1777. The name ...

. In 1780, Virginia set aside all land in Kentucky County for soldiers who had served in the Revolutionary War. In 1780, Kentucky County was divided into 3 counties, Jefferson, Fayette, and Lincoln. Lincoln County was divided in 1799, with part becoming Knox County. In 1807, the Legislature partitioned the upper part of Knox to create

Clay County Clay County is the name of 18 counties in the United States. Most are named for Henry Clay, U.S. Senator and statesman: * Clay County, Alabama * Clay County, Arkansas (named for John Clayton, and originally named Clayton County) * Clay County, Fl ...

. On February 6, 1839, a portion of Clay (along with portions of Estill and

Perry Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England (particularly Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire), parts of South Wales, France (especially Normandy and Anjou), Canada, Austral ...

Counties) was partitioned off to create Breathitt County. It was named for Governor John Breathitt.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.6%) is water. The North and Middle Forks of the

Kentucky River The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River in Kentucky, United States. The river and its tributaries drain much of eastern and central Kentucky, passing through the Eastern Coalfield, the Cumberland Mountains, and the Bluegrass re ...

pass through the county as the main water drainages.

Adjacent counties

* Wolfe County - northwest * Magoffin County - northeast * Knott County - east * Perry County - southeast * Owsley County - southwest * Lee County - west

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 16,100 people, 6,170 households, and 4,541 families in the county. The population density was . There were 6,812 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 98.69%

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

, 0.39%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.09% Native American, 0.29% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.08% from other races, and 0.43% from two or more races. 0.66% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 6,170 households, out of which 34.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.00% were married couples living together, 14.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.40% were non-families. 23.80% 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 2.54 and the average family size was 3.00. The county population contained 25.50% under the age of 18, 10.00% from 18 to 24, 28.90% from 25 to 44, 24.00% from 45 to 64, and 11.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 97.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.70 males. The median income for a household in the county was $19,155, and the median income for a family was $23,721. Males had a median income of $26,208 versus $20,613 for females. The per capita income for the county was $11,044. About 28.10% of families and 33.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 42.90% of those under age 18 and 26.80% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

During the 20th century, Breathitt County was a Democratic stronghold typical of rural

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

, only voting Republican narrowly

once Once may refer to: Film, television and theatre * ''Once'' (film), a 2007 Irish musical film by John Carney ** ''Once'' (musical), a 2011 stage adaptation of the film * ''Once'' (TV series), a 2017–2019 Argentine telenovela * Canal Once (Mex ...

. Starting in

1912 This year is notable for Sinking of the Titanic, the sinking of the ''Titanic'', which occurred on April 15. In Albania, this leap year runs with only 353 days as the country achieved switching from the Julian to Gregorian Calendar by skippin ...

, Breathitt County continuously voted for the Democratic presidential nominee, a streak that would last until the 2004 election. Since

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, the county has voted for the Republican nominee each election by increasingly wide margins. Despite this, 79% of registered voters remain Democrats. In gubernatorial elections, Breathitt County has only voted for the Republican nominee on three occasions:

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Moment magnitude scale, Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 9 – The "Mud March (suffragists), Mud March", the ...

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (later Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off th ...

, and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Elected officials

Economy

Coal companies

* Arch Coal * US Coal

Education

K-12 education

There are two school districts in the county: Jackson Independent School District and Breathitt County School District. The former includes a portion of Jackson and some

unincorporated areas An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

, while the latter has the remainder of the city and county.
Text list
/ref> The Jackson school district operates Jackson City School a single K-12 facility. The county school district operates several schools, including: * Sebastian Elementary School – Jackson, Kentucky (Opened 1970) * Highland-Turner Elementary School – Canoe, Kentucky (Opened 1992) * Breahitt Elementary School * Breathitt County High School – Jackson, Kentucky (New School Opened 1982) Private schools: * Mount Carmel School – Vancleve * Oakdale Christian Academy – Jackson * Riverside Christian School – Lost Creek

Higher education

Lees College Lees College Campus of Hazard Community and Technical College is a campus in Jackson, Kentucky of Hazard Community and Technical College, a public community college. It was founded in 1883 as Jackson Academy, an elementary and high school for B ...

Campus of Hazard Community and Technical College (part of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System) – Jackson, Kentucky * Kentucky Mountain Bible College – Vancleve, Kentucky

Breathitt Area Technology Center

The Breathitt Area Technology Center serves both the Jackson Independent and the Breathitt County school districts. It is located on the campus of Breathitt County High School. The school is operated by the state of

. While most of the funding comes from the state, much of the equipment is purchased with federal Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act funds, which are aimed at advancing technical education. The school is focused on

technical education A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary education#List of tech ed skills, secondary or post-secondar ...

, offering these technical programs: * Automotive Technology * Construction Technology * Electrical Technology * Health Sciences * Office Technology

UK Robinson Station

The community of

Quicksand Quicksand (also known as sinking sand) is a colloid consisting of fine granular material (such as sand, silt or clay) and water. It forms in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddenly agitated. When water in the sand cannot escape, it crea ...

is the location for the University of Kentucky Robinson Station. This agriculture research facility is a pivotal asset in Breathitt County, furthering the scientific studies in the areas of agriculture and forestry.

Health care

* Breathitt County Family Health Center, Jackson, Kentucky Breathitt County health care providers were featured in a November 23, 2013, article in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'': "In Rural Kentucky, Health-Care Takes Back Seat as the Long-Uninsured Line Up". As of 2014 the county had the highest morbidity rate in the state of Kentucky.

Communities

City

* Jackson (county seat)

Unincorporated communities

* Altro * Bays * Caney * Canoe * Chenowee * Clayhole * Cockrell Fork (on line between Breathitt and Perry Counties) * Crockettsville * Elkatawa * Evanston * Fishtrap * Flintville * Frozen/Frozen Creek * Fugates Fork * * Haddix * Hardshell Caney * Hayes Branch * Leatherwood * Lost Creek * Morris Fork * Ned * Nix Branch * Noble * Noctor * Oakdale * Portsmouth *

* River Caney * Riverside * Rose Branch * Rousseau * Rowdy * Saldee * Sebastians Branch * Shoulder Blade/Shoulderblade * Smith Branch * South Fork * Stevenson * Troublesome Creek * Turners Creek * Vancleve * War Creek * Watts * Whick * Wilstacy * Wolf Coal

Nature viewing

In the community of Southfork, there is a local elk viewing area where elk and feral horses can be seen.

Notable people

* Kim Davis, the Rowan County

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

known for her refusal to comply with a federal court order directing her to issue

marriage license A marriage license (or marriage licence in Commonwealth spelling) is a document issued, either by a religious organization or state authority, authorizing a couple to marry. The procedure for obtaining a license varies between jurisdictions ...

s to same-sex couples, was born in Breathitt County. * Jeffrey Reddick, writer for the ''

Final Destination ''Final Destination'' is an American horror franchise that includes six films, ten novels, and two comic books. It is based on an unproduced spec script by Jeffrey Reddick, originally written for the television series ''The X-Files''. All of ...

'' franchise, was born in Jackson. * Sturgill Simpson, country music artist/singer was born in Jackson, the county seat of Breathitt County and spent much of his childhood there. *

JD Vance James David Vance (born James Donald Bowman, August2, 1984) is an American politician, author, attorney, and Marine Corps veteran who is the 50th vice president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republic ...

, 50th

vice president of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest ranking office in the Executive branch of the United States government, executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks f ...

* Chad Warrix, member of the country music duo Halfway to Hazard

References

External links

The Kentucky Highlands Project

The Breathitt County Museum
– Provides a wealth of information on the rich history of Breathitt County.
UK Robinson Station
* http://www.breathittcounty.com – hundreds of photos and articles about Breathitt County
Breathitt County Public Schools

Breathitt Area Technology Center

Breathitt County History & Ancestry
{{Coord, 37.52, -83.32, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-KY_source:UScensus1990 1839 establishments in Kentucky Populated places established in 1839 Kentucky counties