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Owsley County, Kentucky

40 topographic sheets cover 43 settlements here, and 1 property is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Research this county

From the record

1 National Register listing published here.

Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service

Kentucky within the United States
Owsley County within Kentucky

What the record shows

  • 576 topographic sheet readings cover the county's settlements.
  • 1 property here is on the National Register of Historic Places, listed as a building.
  • The Geographic Names Information System records 44 populated places in this county; 43 are covered by at least one topographic sheet.

Places on the National Register

1

Every property in this county listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with the year it was listed and the federal nomination document.

Photograph PropertyType ListedReference
Moyers Buildingsbuilding198282001575

The county from the air

23 shown

Flown by the U.S. Geological Survey between 1937 and 1989, the Aerial Photo Single Frames collection is the definitive mid-century view of the land: fields, roads and rivers as the camera saw them. The Survey holds 492 frames inside the rectangle that bounds this county; the 23 frames below were taken over the county itself, chosen across the decades of flights (at most four a year from that rectangle), so one flight cannot crowd out the rest. The full set is free to browse and download at EarthExplorer under the dataset Aerial Photo Single Frames.

U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1950-03-09, scale 1:23600
1950-03-09, scale 1:23600. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1950-03-09, scale 1:23600
1950-03-09, scale 1:23600. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1950-03-09, scale 1:23600
1950-03-09, scale 1:23600. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1950-03-09, scale 1:23600
1950-03-09, scale 1:23600. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1952-04-17, scale 1:24000
1952-04-17, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1952-04-17, scale 1:24000
1952-04-17, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1952-04-17, scale 1:24000
1952-04-17, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1952-05-20, scale 1:38400
1952-05-20, scale 1:38400. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1960-04-15, scale 1:24000
1960-04-15, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1960-04-15, scale 1:24000
1960-04-15, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1960-04-15, scale 1:24000
1960-04-15, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1960-04-15, scale 1:24000
1960-04-15, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1975-04-01, scale 1:78000
1975-04-01, scale 1:78000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1975-04-01, scale 1:78000
1975-04-01, scale 1:78000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1975-04-01, scale 1:78000
1975-04-01, scale 1:78000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1977-03-08, scale 1:80000
1977-03-08, scale 1:80000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1977-03-24, scale 1:80000
1977-03-24, scale 1:80000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1977-03-24, scale 1:80000
1977-03-24, scale 1:80000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1977-03-24, scale 1:80000
1977-03-24, scale 1:80000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1989-09-18, scale 1:33000
1989-09-18, scale 1:33000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1989-09-18, scale 1:33000
1989-09-18, scale 1:33000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1989-09-18, scale 1:32000
1989-09-18, scale 1:32000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1989-09-18, scale 1:32000
1989-09-18, scale 1:32000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.

Weather records

4 stations, 1 gage

The thermometers that kept this county's weather, and the gages that measured the flow of its streams, as the federal records hold them. The extremes below are measured values from those records, not estimates.

The 1950 census, district by district

12 districts

Who lived here in 1950, one enumeration district at a time, as the Census Bureau described each district. Each row opens its official National Archives result, with Population Schedules and ED Maps available there.

  • 95-1Magisterial District 1: Booneville town
  • 95-2Magisterial District 1 - That part north of State Hwy. 30 and east of South Fork Kentucky River
  • 95-3Magisterial District 1 - That part west of South Fork Kentucky River and north of State Hwys. 11 and 30, outside Booneville town
  • 95-4Magisterial District 1 - That part south of State Hwys. 30 and 11 and west of South Fork Kentucky River, outside Booneville town
  • 95-5Magisterial District 1 - That part south of State Hwy. 30 and east of South Fork Kentucky River
  • 95-6Magisterial District 2: Magisterial District 2 - That part north of State Hwy. 30 and Brewer - Scoville Rd.
  • 95-7Magisterial District 2 - That part south of State Hwy. 30, southwest of Brewer - Conkling Rd. and northwest of Becklin Branch Creek
  • 95-8Magisterial District 2 - That part south of Brewer - Scoville Rd., northeast of Brewer - Conkling Rd. and southeast of Becklin Branch Creek
  • 95-9Magisterial District 3: Magisterial District 3 - That part northeast of Right Fork Cow Creek
  • 95-10Magisterial District 3 - That part southwest of Right Fork Cow Creek and northeast of Indian Creek and Ricetown - Lucky Fork Rd. to county line
  • 95-11Magisterial District 3 - That part southwest of Indian Creek and Ricetown - Lucky Fork Rd. and northeast of Lucky Fork and Laurel Fork
  • 95-12Magisterial District 3 - That part southwest of Lucky Fork and Laurel Fork

Wildfire, 1992 to 2020

694 fires

Every wildfire the federal occurrence database records inside this county: 694 of them, burning about 22,769 acres. 1 started naturally and 173 were recorded as arson. Each settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning331
Arson/incendiarism173
Missing data/not specified/undetermined155
Recreation and ceremony28
Smoking2
Natural1
Other causes1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Equipment and vehicle use1
Railroad operations and maintenance1

The five largest, by the area the report gives. 7 of them were set deliberately.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
1 November 2001Arson/incendiarism3,000 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
3 April 1995Arson/incendiarism1,910 acresDaniel Boone National ForestSTEELTRAP
27 October 2001Arson/incendiarism1,175 acresDaniel Boone National ForestPANCO OTTER BRANCH
7 April 2010Debris and open burning700 acresKentucky Division of ForestryALLEN ROAD
31 October 2001Arson/incendiarism500 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
13 April 2018Arson/incendiarism500 acresKentucky Division of ForestryROSE FORK
13 April 2014Arson/incendiarism481 acresDaniel Boone National ForestBRUSHY
6 April 1995Arson/incendiarism400 acresDaniel Boone National ForestANGLIN CHURCH

Every settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it - see the settlement index below.

Storms, 1977 to 2025

60 of 194 shown

The NOAA Storm Events Database holds 194 reports for this county, causing no deaths, no injuries and about $872,000 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.

Kind of event Reports
Thunderstorm Wind107
Hail41
Flash Flood23
Flood12
Heavy Rain9
Tornado2

The most serious of them, by death, then injury, then recorded damage. The accounts are quoted exactly as the forecast office filed them.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 1996Flash FloodBooneville$250,000no account filed
October 1977Tornado (F2)not stated$250,000no account filed
April 1998Flash FloodCountywide$80,000no account filed
June 2019Thunderstorm WindIsland City$70,000Emergency Management reported a tree blew down onto a house in Island City. This tree also brought powerlines down onto the home, adding to the damage. Additionally, several more trees were downed along Kentucky Highway 11 south of Booneville.
April 1998Flash FloodCountywide$60,000no account filed
May 2003Thunderstorm WindBooneville$25,000Several trees blew onto a trailer, and caused nearly complete destruction.
April 1996Thunderstorm WindBooneville$11,000no account filed
July 2009Thunderstorm WindTravellers Rest$10,000The tops of trees were blown out and power lines were down. There also piles of small hail still on the ground at around 6:30 am.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindIsland City$10,000Four trees were blown down on Highway 1350. Trees were also downed on Halcomb Road.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindBooneville$10,000Numerous trees and power lines down across county. Widespread power outages reported.
May 2003Thunderstorm WindBooneville$10,000Trees were blown down on a house.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindVincent$8,000Several trees down blocking roads near Vincent and Travellers Rest. Also a barn was blown down and destroyed.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindBooneville$7,000Several trees were blown down around Booneville on Routes 30, 847, 708, and 2025.
May 2001Thunderstorm WindPebworth$6,000A roof was blown off of a barn. Farm outbuildings were damaged and numerous trees were down.
September 2009Flash FloodLerose$5,000The fire dept responded to a report of water in a house in Lerose.
January 2008Thunderstorm WindBooneville$5,000Trees were blown down onto Highway 30 by wind gusts estimated at 61 mph.
May 2003Flash FloodBooneville$5,000People on a small farm near Booneville experienced an extraordinary flash flood event. Rainfall was estimated to have fallen at a rate of at least 2 and a half inches in about 15 minutes. Lightning was intense, with one person describing the event "like the night Frozen Creek washed away". The land was in a steep, bowl-shaped hillside with pastures behind a farmhouse. A tiny stream ran through these pastures, which was overwhelmed rapidly from the torrential rainfall. A "wall of water" came through the narrow area at the foot of the pasture. By the time it reached the farmhouse, the water carried so much force that it jumped a concrete wall above a basement stairwell, and poured down the stairs, building pressure as it progressed. The steel basement door was bent and ripped off of its hinges. Water poured into the 70 foot long basement, carrying large logs, limbs, big clumps of sod, and an "unbelievable amount of mud". The residents lived there since 1962, and said that they had never seen anything like this.
August 1999Thunderstorm WindIsland City$5,000A barn was completely destroyed along Highway 846 by strong winds. Several trees were also blown down.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindSturgeon$4,000Four trees down blocking lanes of Highway 846 near mile marker 1.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindPebworth$3,000A few trees were blown down in Pebworth.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindIsland City$3,000Three twelve inch diameter trees wre blown down on Holly Fork Road.
April 2006Thunderstorm WindBooneville$3,000Roof blown off of house on Route 30.
September 2020FloodSturgeon$2,000Candy Branch Road (Mahaffy Road) was reported flooded near the community of Sturgeon.
October 2009Thunderstorm WindVincent$2,000A 70 foot tall oak tree was blown down in Vincent.
April 2009Thunderstorm WindBlake$2,000Two trees were blown down on Hwy 849.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindIsland City$2,000Two trees approximately six inches in diameter were felled by high winds.
April 2006Thunderstorm WindPebworth$2,000Portable metal one car garage lifted and deposited on Cherry Lane 75 feet from original location.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindBooneville$2,000Powerlines and several large limbs down.
September 2006Thunderstorm WindIsland City$2,000Tree down on car on Highway 1350.
July 2001Thunderstorm WindIsland City$2,000Thunderstorm winds blew 2 trees down and blew siding off a home.
January 1999Thunderstorm WindBooneville$2,000Three power pole blown down. Trees down throughout county.
May 2016Flash FloodPebworth$1,000Dispatch and local media sent in reports of water flowing over Highway 11 and around buildings in and south of Pebworth. Road closures were reported for Spivey Road, Jug Road, Marcum Ridge Road, Highway 11 north at Pebworth, and the right hand fork of Buffalo.
March 2015FloodBooneville$1,000Highway 3347, or Shepherds Lane, was closed due to flooding.
July 2015Flash FloodSturgeon$1,000Candy Branch Road had at least 6 inches of water flowing across it, making the road impassable. Part of the road was also washed out.
April 2015Flash FloodBooneville$1,000Highway 3346 at Sugar Camp was impassable due to flash flooding.
September 2014Flash FloodPebworth$1,000A creek was out of its banks along Highway 11 flooding several outbuildings.
December 2013FloodBooneville$1,000Kay Wood Road was closed at the low water bridge at Fish Trap.
December 2013FloodBooneville$1,000The Upper Wolf Creek low water bridge was flooded.
April 2013Flash FloodBooneville$1,000Six to 12 inches of water was flowing across Hwy 3346 at the Sugar Camp Church. Water was also flowing across Hwy 3347.
October 2010Thunderstorm WindConkling$1,000A tree was blown down at the junction of RT. 11 and 846.
May 2009Flash FloodLerose$1,000A personal property bridge was washed away by flood waters.
September 2009Thunderstorm WindSturgeon$1,000A tree was blown down on Highway 1071.
September 2009Thunderstorm WindBlake$1,000A tree was blown down on Route 846.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindIsland City$1,000A volunteer weather observer reported an estimated wind gust of around 60 mph in Island City. Dime size hail fell and a few small limbs were also blown down.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindBooneville$1,000One tree was blown down by thunderstorm wind gusts.
April 2025Thunderstorm WindVincent-Social media showed a tree down along KY-399 near the old Vincent Post Office.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindLerose-A social media report stated a tree was down in Lerose near the intersection of Lymans Creek Rd and KY-30.
May 2025HailConkling-Media relayed photos of quarter sized hail that occurred south of Booneville, near the town of Taft.
May 2025HailTaft-Nickle sized hail was reported in the Sextons Creek area of Owsley County.
September 2024Thunderstorm WindRicetown-The highway department reported that a tree was blown down onto Lower Wolfe Creek Road between Eddie Marshall Lane and KY-2024.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindLerose-A member of the public reported two trees blown down at a residence near Lerose.
June 2023HailLerose-A member of the public reported approximately half-dollar sized (1.25 inch) hail near Lerose.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindPebworth-The public reported multiple trees blown down or snapped in the vicinity of Holland Lane and Fox Hunters Knob.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindBooneville-Pictures show large limbs blown and trees snapped and uprooted in the 2700 block of Fish Creek School Road.
May 2023Thunderstorm WindRicetown-State highway garage reported a tree blown down onto KY-1768 about a half mile from the its intersection with KY-28.
January 2022Heavy RainBooneville-The Kentucky Mesonet station in Owsley County (BNVL) measured 4.29 inches of rainfall in a 48-hour period ending at 7am on January 2, 2022.
January 2022Heavy RainLerose-A CoCoRaHS observer 4 miles NE of Booneville measured 3.60 inches of rainfall in a 48-hour period ending at 8am on January 2, 2022.
July 2022Flash FloodEversole-Water was reported flowing over the road along Bear Run near the community of Eversole.
July 2022Flash FloodYale-Multiple instances of flash flooding occurred in SW Owsley County.||At 10:00 PM EST - Pictures on social media show significant flash flood damange along Buffalo Creek, including a home washed off it's foundation and destroyed.
March 2021FloodConkling-KY-11 South is closed between mile marker 3 and 6 due to high water across the road.

Mines and quarries

1 recorded

The Survey's mineral resources record lists 1 working inside this county. It is closed or unrecorded. Each settlement page carries the workings within five miles of it.

Commodity Workings
Clay1

The least common of them first, because a county's hundredth gravel pit says nothing its first ten did not.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Crane Fork Valley ShaleClayProspect

Every populated place in the county

44

Named settlements recorded in the Geographic Names Information System, each with the topographic sheets covering it. Villages, hamlets and abandoned places alike. Each is shown with the nearest named watercourse or landform and the survey quadrangle it falls on.

The vanished settlements of Owsley County: the places named above that are no longer on the map.

Provenance

  • Topographic sheets. USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, county index, measured from the bulk metadata.
  • Fire insurance maps. Library of Congress Sanborn collection, faceted to this county.
  • Photographs. Each place queried individually against the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs search.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.