Morel Mushroom commonly found in Estill County in the spring

Estill 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

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 14,163. 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 Irvine. The county was formed in 1808 and named for Captain James Estill, a Kentucky militia officer who was killed in the Battle of Little Mountain during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. Estill County is a moist county meaning that the county seat, the city of Irvine, allows the sale of alcohol after the October 9, 2013, vote, but not the rest of Estill County outside the Irvine city limits. Estill County has two adjacent towns, known as the twin cities, Irvine and

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

. Both cities sit along the Kentucky River in the central part of the county. Ravenna is home to a former CSX Transportation facility, now owned by Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation for the restoration of Chesapeake and Ohio 2716. It conducts the Ravenna Railroad Festival annually in late summer, and the historic Fitchburg & Cottage Furnaces are located here. Irvine hosts the annual Mountain Mushroom Festival over the last weekend of April, which celebrates the abundant Morel Mushrooms found in the region.

History

Estill County was formed in 1808 from land given by Clark and Madison counties, it was Kentucky's 50th county. Originally settled by European settlers entering Kentucky via old buffalo and Indian trails and traveling through Boonesborough in what is today Madison County. Estill County was one of the first areas in the United States to experience early industrialization, with iron mining and smelting beginning in 1810. The iron industry would go on to thrive in Estill County for decades, with the ruins of the Estill furnace, the Cottage furnace, and the Fitchburg Furnace still being visible today. The Fitchburg furnace was a particularly impressive engineering feat. Standing 81 feet tall, the furnace is the largest charcoal furnace in the world, and one of the largest 25 dry-stone masonry structures in the world. The iron industry declined after the Civil War when iron deposits and timber to fire the furnaces were depleted, and innovation made charcoal furnaces obsolete. During the Civil War Estill County was strongly pro-union, similar to surrounding counties, especially to the southeast. Additionally, the county was historically known for the Estill Springs summer resort, situated near mineral springs in Irvine. This resort was a popular vacation site for many prominent Kentuckians in the 19th century, with men including

Henry Clay Henry Clay (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate, U.S. Senate and United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. He was the seventh Spea ...

, John Crittenden, and John C. Breckinridge vacationing there. The current courthouse, built in 1941, replaced a structure dating from the 1860s.

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 (1.0%) is water. Estill County is located at the contact of two Kentucky regions: the Bluegrass and the Cumberland plateau, because of this the county is known as the location where the "Bluegrass kisses the Mountains." Fitchburg Furnace

Estill County contains two important rivers. With the Red River, famous for its

gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...

in neighboring Powell County, forming the northern border. And the Kentucky River bisecting the county. Much of Estill County's development, including the towns of Irvine and Ravenna, is located in the fertile bottomlands of the Kentucky River. Additionally, due to the Kentucky River's deep valley and Estill County's location at the edge of the Cumberland plateau the county's topography is striking. The Pottsville Escarpment is prominent in the county, marking the divide between the Bluegrass and the mountains. Because of this topography total relief is nearly 1000 feet in the county, with the highest point being Zion Mountain, located about miles southwest of Irvine at 1,511 feet, and the lowest point being the confluence of the Kentucky River and the Red River at 566 feet. Other high points include Happy Top Mountain, 1,500 feet; Preacher Estes Mountain, 1,475 feet; Peter Mountain, 1,454 feet; Low Knob, 1,450 feet; and Big Round Mountain, Buzzard Roost, and McKinney Mountain, each at 1,420 feet.

Rivers and streams

* Drowning CreekCrooked Creek

Adjacent counties

* Clark County (north) * Powell County (northeast) * Lee County (southeast) * Jackson County (south) * Madison County (west)

Protected areas

* Daniel Boone National Forest (part) * Lilly Mountain Nature Preserve

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 15,307 people, 6,108 households, and 4,434 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 6,824 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 99.07%

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 ...

, 0.11%

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 ...

, 0.24% Native American, 0.03% Asian, 0.06% from other races, and 0.49% from two or more races. 0.53% 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 6,108 households, out of which 32.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.40% 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, 12.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.40% were non-families. 24.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.94. In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.20% under the age of 18, 9.10% from 18 to 24, 29.20% from 25 to 44, 24.20% from 45 to 64, and 13.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 93.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.20 males. The median income for a household in the county was $23,318, and the median income for a family was $27,284. Males had a median income of $29,254 versus $18,849 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 $12,285. About 22.50% of families and 26.40% 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 32.30% of those under age 18 and 21.50% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

Although it lies in the Bluegrass and Knobs regions, Estill County was more akin to the eastern

Pennyroyal Plateau The Pennyroyal Plateau or Pennyroyal Region, often spelled Pennyrile, is a large physiographic region of Kentucky that features rolling hills, caves, and karst topography in general. It is named for '' Hedeoma pulegioides'' (the American pennyroy ...

to its southwest in being strongly pro- Union during the Civil War. Indeed, a larger proportion of Estill County's population volunteered for the Union Army than the population of any free state, or of any Kentucky county except the famous Republican bastion of Owsley County.Copeland, James E.; ‘Where Were the Kentucky Unionists and Secessionists’; ''The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society'', volume 71, no. 4 (October 1973), pp. 344-363 Consequently, Estill County has been strongly Republican ever since the end of

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

– since 1888 the county has voted Democratic only for

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

in 1912,

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

in 1932 and

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...

in 1964, with the biggest of these three victories in 1932 being FDR's by a mere one hundred and eighty-seven votes out of over six thousand one hundred.

Elected officials

Communities

Cities

* Irvine (county seat) *

Other Communities

* Barnes Mountain * Cobhill * Cressy * Crystal * Drip Rock * Fox * Furnace * Hargett * Leighton * Palmer * Patsey * Pryse * Red Lick * South Irvine * Spout Springs * Tipton Ridge * Wisemantown * Winston

References

External links

The Kentucky Highlands Project

Estill County development authority's website

Estill County Water District 1

Estill County History & Ancestry
{{authority control Kentucky counties 1808 establishments in Kentucky Populated places established in 1808