Hindman, KY

Hindman is a Knott County home-rule city in eastern Kentucky, with 701 residents in the 2020 census. It sits at the meeting of Troublesome Creek’s Left and Right Forks, in a valley that leads toward the Kentucky River. The town was founded in 1884 as the seat of the newly formed county and named for Lieutenant Governor James Hindman. Kentucky Routes 160 and 550 pass through the center, with Route 80 just north.

Hindman’s strongest local institution is the Hindman Settlement School, founded in 1902 by May Stone and Katherine Pettit to expand education in the mountains while keeping students connected to Appalachian heritage. The school still works in literacy, traditional arts, foodways, and family services, and its gatherings bring cooks, musicians, dancers, and growers together. The Knott County Public Library adds another civic address in that same creek-valley center. The Gingerbread Festival adds a late-summer celebration of the town and region. Hindman is an eastern Kentucky county seat where two creek forks, a settlement school, mountain roads, and Appalachian traditions meet.