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Rockholds, Kentucky

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Williamsburg census division. It lies in ZIP code area 40759. It stands on Stoles Fork. The Survey maps it on the Rockholds quadrangle. 330 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 984 feet above sea level.

Rockholds within Whitley County

Population over time

2 figures

Rockholds fell from 390 to 330 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010390
2020330-60 (-15%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 16 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

91 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 91 fires within 5 miles of Rockholds between 1997 and 2020, burning about 1,713 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 9 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning52
Missing data/not specified/undetermined15
Recreation and ceremony12
Arson/incendiarism9
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Natural1
Equipment and vehicle use1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
24 September 1999Debris and open burning3.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
18 September 2007Recreation and ceremony2.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
18 September 1999Recreation and ceremony112 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
29 August 2007Natural1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
3 July 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestrySAWDUST PI
12 June 2007Debris and open burning10 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
6 May 2014Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreKentucky Division of ForestryWOFFORD CEM. RD
14 May 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryMILE MARKER 18

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Whitley County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Rockholds: 1 producer, 1 plant. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
No. 1 MillClayPlant
No. 1 MineClayProducer

Every working recorded in Whitley County

Storms near this place

19 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rockholds in 19 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 7 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 4 flash flood, 2 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2009Thunderstorm WindRockholds$8,000A few trees were blown down and roofing was blown off of a home.
August 2010Thunderstorm WindRockholds$7,000Several pine trees were blown down on Rt 511 near Cripple Creek Rd.
August 2010Thunderstorm WindRockholds$1,000One tree was blown down near the intersection of KY Hwy 779 and Whetstone Rd.
November 2010FloodRockholds$1,000Land Fill Road at Highway 26 is under water and closed.
August 2010Thunderstorm WindRockholds$1,000A tree was blown down in Rockholds.
July 2016Flash FloodRockholds$100State garage employees reported Highway 26 was impassable, while county garage officials relayed that Colonel Hollow Road was also impassable due to flash flooding.
May 2025HailRockholds-A social media report showed half dollar sized hail in the community of Rockholds.
May 2025HailRockholds-A picture from social media showed golf ball sized hail on Jacks Fork Road, just off KY-26, south of the Rockholds community.
September 2024HailRockholds-An amateur radio operator relayed a report of approximately 2 inch diameter hail in Rockholds.
May 2022HailRockholds-The public reported approximately half dollar-sized (1.25 inch) hail near the community of Rockholds.
March 2011Thunderstorm WindRockholds-One tree was blown down on highway 26 north of Jacks Fork road.
June 2011FloodRockholds-Streams were observed over roads and bridges in Rockholds. The event occurred between 129 and 144 pm.
June 2009Flash FloodRockholds-Jacks Fork Road was closed due to flooding.
August 2006Flash FloodRockholds-Stream out of banks along Highway 26 with water up to the bottom of a porch at a residence.
June 2004HailRockholds-Quarter size hail covered the ground.
August 2000Thunderstorm WindRockholds-Trees were blown down by severe thunderstorm winds.
January 1999Flash FloodRockholds-Route 26 flooded and impassible.
January 2009HailRockholds-no account filed
July 2008HailRockholds-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Whitley County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Watts Creek Jellico Coal Company (historical)2.4 miles16
Walden3.0 miles16
Faber3.2 miles16
Wofford3.3 miles16
Goldbug3.7 miles16
Perkins4.3 miles16
Clio4.5 miles16
Woodbine5.5 miles17

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on RockholdsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7355287The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 502166. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

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.