Knott County: a snapshot

• Formed in 1884 from ­backwoods of Perry, Letcher, Floyd and Breathitt counties; named for Gov. James Proctor Knott.
• Landscape is rugged ­mountains, narrow valleys and headwaters of creeks that flow into the Kentucky and Big Sandy rivers.
• County seat is Hindman, ­population 777.
• 64 percent of the 4,504 people employed in 2010 commuted to work in a different county.
• Over the past 40 years, the largest local employers were coal mining, government and finance/insurance/real estate services.
• The previous two county judge-executives, Donnie ­Newsome and Randy Thompson, went to prison after separate corruption investigations.
• Home of the Hindman ­Settlement School, established in 1902, and Alice Lloyd College, established in 1923.

John Cheves

This story was originally published June 16, 2013 at 3:00 AM with the headline "Knott County: a snapshot."