Smith is an
unincorporated community
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 ...
in
Harlan County,
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 ...
, United States. The community lies along
Kentucky Route 987 and the
Martin's Fork of the
Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 river drains almost of southern Kentucky and ...
. Smith is also home to
Martins Fork Lake. The lake was constructed by the
US Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...
as part of several
flood control
Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...
projects along the Cumberland River. The dam was complete and functional in November 1978. Until the early 1970s the community was served by Smith Elementary School. When plans were being made for construction to Martins Fork Lake, the school was closed and students were sent to nearby Cawood Elementary. The community post office was closed in the early 1990s. The community today is served by four churches: Pace Chapel, New Riverside Baptist Church, Full-Gospel Pentecostal Church and Faith-Holiness Church.
References
Unincorporated communities in Harlan County, Kentucky
Unincorporated communities in Kentucky
{{HarlanCountyKY-geo-stub