Pike County Kentucky, Fiscal Court

Nested in the Eastern coal fields of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Pike County was established in the year 1821; it was created out of a portion of Floyd County as the 70th county formed in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Pike County was named in honor of General Zebulon M. Pike and is home to former Governor Paul Patton. A small portion of Pike County was used in 1870, towards forming Martin County to the north. Pike County is the easternmost county in Kentucky and is bounded by Martin County to the North, West Virginia to the Northeast and East, Virginia to the Southeast and South, by Letcher County to the Southwest and by Floyd County to the West.

Pike County is drained exclusively by the two forks of the Big Sandy River the Levisa River and the Tug Fork River. Transportation in and out of Pike County comes from U.S. 23, North to South and U.S. 119 East to West. They are currently in the planning stages of constructing I-66 through Pike County. We also receive service from both CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads.

Pike County census for 2000 was 68,736 and Pike County is approximately 788 square miles, making it the largest county in Kentucky.

The county seat of Pike County is the City of Pikeville with other cities and towns of Elkhorn City, Phelps, South Williamson, and Coal Run Village.

Education is important in Pike County, secondary and elementary education is provided by the Pike County Board of Education and the Pikeville Independent School systems. In Pike County we have several higher education options to offer we have a four year liberal arts college, Pikeville College and a campus of the Big Sandy Community and Technical College, which is a member of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, which offers two year degrees with transfer options to all major colleges and universities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Pike County also is home to the Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine.

Entertainment in Pike County is provided in several different areas, we have the newly completed Eastern Kentucky Exposition Center, located in the City of Pikeville. Pike County also shares one of only two interstate parks in the country, Breaks Interstate Park, and is also home to Fishtrap Lake. Pikeville is also the home of the Hillbilly Days Festival which raises money for the Shriners Hospital in Lexington, and the Hatfield and McCoy Festival, Elkhorn City host the Apple Blossom Festival each spring.