CLAY COUNTY KENTUCKY
HERITAGE CONNECTIONS

HISTORY AND COUNTY FORMATION

Clay County is located in the south-eastern section of Kentucky. The first settlement in Clay County was made by James Collins in 1798. However, Dillion Asher, the keeper of the state's first tollgate at Pineville, built a cabin prior to 1800 on what later became the grounds of the Red Bird River Community Hospital.

By 1806, enough people had migrated to the region to justify the county's establishment. December 2, 1806 parts of Madison, Floyd and Knox Counties were combined to form Clay County. However, the effective date was April 1, 1807, and it did not start doing business as a county until that date. Clay is a Parent County of Breathitt, Jackson, Laurel, Leslie, Owsley, and Perry.

The County was named for General Green Clay, a cousin of Henry Clay. General Green Clay was born 1757 in Virginia, and came to Kentucky in 1777. General Clay served in the Virginia Legislature, the Kentucky General Assembly, and in the War of 1812. May, 1813, General Clay, with 3,000 Kentuckians, at Ft. Meigs, held back the British and Indians. The General died in 1826.

Manchester, the seat of county government, was named for the big cotton textile manufacturing city in England. It is located on Goose Creek, a tributary of the Kentucky River's South Fork. Manchester is 22 miles east of London at the junction of US 421 and KY 80. The Daniel Boone Parkway, which extends from London to Hazard is a toll road for southeastern Kentucky, greatly expediting travel between these points.

Due to Clay County's rugged topography, less than one-third of the land is in farms. Clay County traditionally has been an important coal-mining area, although its production figures have varied considerably over the years. Four out of every five acres in Clay County are in timber. Approximately 61,000 acres in the county are included in the Redbird Purchase Unit of Daniel Boone National Forest. Oil production, and natural gas, have been generally small.

Buckhorn Lake, completed in 1960, and dedicated September 10, 1960, is possibly the most outstanding tourist attraction in this section of Kentucky. The Dam is on Middle Fork of the Kentucky River in Southeastern Kentucky. With over 1,200 surface acres in its summer pool and 65 miles of shoreline, Buckhorn provides exceptional fishing in addition to other types of water recreation.

Clay County covers 471 square miles and is the sixteenth largest county in the area. The population count for the County, taken from the 1990 Census, was 21,746.

GenWeb's Neighboring Counties Web Sites.
Bell - 1867	Clay - 1807	Harlan - 1819
Jackson - 1858	Knox - 1799	Laurel - 1826
Leslie - 1878	Owsley - 1843	Perry - 1821

Note: Although Harlan County does not border Clay County now, until 1878 Clay County had an extensive boundary with Harlan County.

The Clay County Court House (Pictured above) is located on Main Street, between Lawyer and Court Streets; the address for the Court House is:

Clay County Court House
316 Main Street
Manchester, KY 40962 -1276

LIBRARY

The hours that the Clay County Public Library is open to the public are:

Monday - Tuesday - 9:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Wednesday - Closed
Thursday - 9:00 A.M. - 8:00 P.M.
Friday - 9:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Saturday - 9:00 A.M. - 1:00 P.M.
Sunday - Closed

The address for the Clay County Public Library is :
Clay County Public Library
211 Bridge Street
Manchester, KY 40962

Telephone: (606) 598-2617

Kentucky Connections:
State history, facts, and links to City and County, Court Houses, Genealogy, Government, Hospitals, Libraries and Archives, Mailing lists, Newspapers, Recreation, Universities, and Vital records.

Manchester/Clay Co. Chamber of Commerce:
A gateway to the Daniel Boone National Forest in Southeastern, Ky.

The Clay County Links Home Page:
If you need to find a web site in Clay County check Jim Wilson's comprehensive listing of Clay County Links.