Edmonson 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 south central 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 12,126. 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 ...

and only municipality is Brownsville. The county was formed in 1825 and named for

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

John "Jack" Edmonson (1764–1813), who was killed at the

Battle of Frenchtown The Battles of Frenchtown, also known as the Battle of the River Raisin and the River Raisin Massacre, were a series of conflicts in Michigan Territory that took place from January 18–23, 1813, during the War of 1812. It was fought between the ...

during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. This is 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 ...

where the sale of alcohol is prohibited. Edmonson County is included in the

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Edmonson County was established on January 12, 1825, from land given by Grayson, Hart and Warren counties. A courthouse built in 1873 replaced a former structure rendered unfit when its floor collapsed.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, 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 U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.7%) is water.

Adjacent counties

* Grayson County (north) * Hart County (east) * Barren County (southeast) * Warren County (southwest) * Butler County (west)

National protected area

Mammoth Cave National Park Mammoth Cave National Park is a national park of the United States in south-central Kentucky. It encompasses portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest known cave system in the world. The park's are located primarily in Edmonson County, with sma ...

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 11,644 people, 4,648 households, and 3,462 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing 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 geog ...

was . There were 6,104 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 98.39%

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 ...

, 0.58%

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 ...

, 0.44% Native American, 0.07% Asian, 0.06% from other races, and 0.46% from two or more races. 0.56% 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 4,648 households, out of which 31.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.20% were

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

living together, 8.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.50% were non-families. 22.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 2.88. In the county, the population was spread out, with 23.60% under the age of 18, 9.00% from 18 to 24, 27.80% from 25 to 44, 25.30% from 45 to 64, and 14.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 males there were 92.50 females. For every 100 males age 18 and over, there were 89.33 females. The median income for a household in the county was $25,413, and the median income for a family was $31,843. Males had a median income of $26,770 versus $17,158 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $14,480. About 14.20% of families and 18.40% 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 25.50% of those under age 18 and 21.00% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

Edmonson is an ancestrally Republican stronghold, last voting Democrat narrowly 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 ...

Elected officials

Education

There are currently five public schools operating as part of the Edmonson County School System. They are Kyrock Elementary (in the Kyrock community in northern Edmonson County), South Edmonson Elementary (near the Chalybeate community in southern Edmonson County), the Edmonson County Fifth/Sixth Grade Center, Edmonson County Middle School, and Edmonson County High School (all in Brownsville).

Transportation

There are two main routes that form the major transportation corridors through Edmonson County. KY 70 is the primary west to east route, traversing the width of the county. KY 259 enters Edmonson County at the border with Grayson County, near the town of Bee Spring. The highway continues on, bridging the Green River (the only bridge over the river in Edmonson County), before intersecting with KY 101. KY 259 then branches off in a southeastern direction while KY 101 continues as the main north–south route through the county, exiting into Warren County just south of the community of

Chalybeate Chalybeate () waters, also known as Iron oxide, ferruginous waters, are mineral spring waters containing salts of iron. Name The word ''chalybeate'' is derived from the Latin word for steel, , which follows from the Ancient Greek, Greek word ...

. Additionally, KY 185 is a north–south route connecting

with locations in the western part of the county and points north into Grayson County.

I-65 Interstate 65 (I-65) is a major north–south interstate highway in the central United States. As with most primary interstates ending in 5, it is a major crosscountry, north–south route, connecting between the Great Lakes and the Gulf ...

passes through the southeastern tip of the county, but has no interchanges allowing access to the freeway within the county. I-65 parallels the older US 31W, which runs through a small southeastern portion of the county.

Attractions

The biggest tourist attraction in Edmonson County is

, which usually draws almost 2 million visitors a year. The park includes in its area roughly a fourth of the county. Located mostly in the northern part of Edmonson County, the Nolin Lake area was incorporated as a

Kentucky State Park 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 ...

in 1996. The lake itself was created following the 1963 impounding of the Nolin River and construction of Nolin Dam. The lake offers fishing and other recreational opportunities.

Media

Print media

Edmonson County is served by a weekly newspaper, the '' Edmonson News''. The paper is sometimes referred to by its nickname, "the Gimlet", and carries the slogan ''"It Bores In"''. The paper has a circulation number of 3,704.

Radio and television

Edmonson County is part of the Bowling Green

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

and

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

markets, and is served mainly by that city's radio and TV outlets.

Mediacom Mediacom Communications Corporation is the United States' fifth-largest cable television provider based on the number of video subscribers, and among the leading cable operators focused on serving smaller cities and towns. The company has a sig ...

is the local cable provider serving most of the county. In 2022,

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

-based South Central Rural Telephone Cooperative began servicing parts of Edmonson County and Warren County with cable, phone and internet service. The unincorporated community of Wingfield, in southwestern Edmonson County, is home to the transmission tower utilized by adult hits-formatted radio station WKLX (100.7 FM, officially licensed in Brownsville) and low-powered television station WCZU-LD (channel 39). Both outlets operate outside of Edmonson County.

Digital Media

Additionally, Edmonson County is also served by a digital news outlet, Edmonson Voice. It is a multimedia platform that operates as a combination of an online newspaper, a streaming broadcaster, and video report provider. The company serves as the main media outlet in the county with a weekly readership of over 23,000.

Online video archive

Volunteers have digitized and created a repository of video related to Edmonson County High School on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. The archive contains a variety of media, including graduation ceremonies, proms, and athletic events.

In popular culture

Edmonson County on national television

Edmonson County has had national exposure on two occasions. On March 6, 2007,

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

wrote an article titled "Who's Joining The Army" in which they stated Edmonson County has the highest Army enlistment rate of any county in the United States. In January 2017, the Edmonson County Sheriff's Department has been featured on A&E Television's ''

Live PD ''Live PD'' is an American television program that aired on the A&E Network from 2016 to 2020. It follows police officers in the course of their patrols live, broadcasting interactions with the public. The show was hosted by Dan Abrams with a ...

'' in the 14th and 15th episodes of that program's first season.

Movies filmed in Edmonson County

Edmonson County was one of two main locations where two faith-based films, '' The Prayer Box'' and '' Christmas Manger'', were filmed in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Edmonson County is one of three other locations where the upcoming thriller film ''Horntak'' is being filmed.

Local Events

* Big Brownsville Bash (early June, since 2022) * Edmonson County Lions Club Fair - early September (including a parade that takes place in downtown Brownsville on the second Friday of September), one of the longest-running county fairs in the state. * Nolin Fest (July or August) - at Nolin Lake State Park, organized by the Friends of Nolin Lake. * Annual Saddle Club Horse Show - Edmonson County Fairgrounds * Freedom Fest (late June) at the Chalybeate Sports Complex Source
Edmonson County Tourism Commission

Communities

City

* Brownsville (county seat)

Unincorporated communities

Asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

* Bee Spring * Big Reedy * Black Gold * Cedar Spring *

* Demunbruns Store * Huff * Lindseyville *

Mammoth Cave Mammoth Cave National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in south-central Kentucky. It encompasses portions of Mammoth Cave, the List of longest caves, longest known cave system in the worl ...

Ollie Ollie is a given name and a nickname, often as a shortened form of Oliver (given name), Oliver, Olive (given name), Olive, Olympia, Olga (name), Olga or Olivia (given name), Olivia. Variants include Olie, Oli, Oly (disambiguation), Oly and Olly (di ...

Pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

Rhoda ''Rhoda'' is an American sitcom television series created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns starring Valerie Harper that originally aired on CBS for five seasons from September 9, 1974 to December 9, 1978. It was the first spin-off of ''The ...

* Rocky Hill * Roundhill (partly in Butler County) *

Straw Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry wikt:stalk, stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the crop yield, yield by weight of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, ry ...

* Sunfish * Sweeden * Windyville * Wingfield

Ghost towns

* Chaumont (partly in Barren County) * Elko * Kyrock

Notable residents

* Joe Blanton,

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

, was born in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, but spent most of his childhood and young adult life in Edmonson County on Otter Gap Road. * Ben Helson, a

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

for

Dierks Bentley Frederick Dierks Bentley (; born November 20, 1975) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Bentley moved to Nashville in the late 90s to pursue a career in music, leading up to his releasing the self-funded and independent album Do ...

, is a native of the Chalybeate community.

References

External links

Edmonson County official website

Edmonson County Schools website

Edmonson County Tourist Commission

The Kentucky Highlands Project

Mammoth Cave NPS Site

Nolin Lake State Park Site
{{authority control Kentucky counties Bowling Green metropolitan area, Kentucky 1825 establishments in Kentucky Populated places established in 1825