Pineville, KY

Pineville is Bell County's seat, squeezed onto a narrow strip between the Cumberland River and Pine Mountain at the old Wilderness Road crossing. That setting gives the town its long relationship with flood control, including floodwall work completed in 1988, and it makes downtown a natural pass through the mountain gap. Every Memorial Day weekend, the Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival brings college queens, parades, and the Laurel Cove pageant back to town; the tradition began in 1931 and missed only the World War II years. Pineville also sits beside Pine Mountain State Park, so the local map runs from courthouse and river to trails and mountain overlooks.