Boyd County, Kentucky

Boyd County, Kentucky
The Boyd County Courthouse in Catlettsburg, with a statue of John Milton Elliott
Motto: Where Coal Meets Iron
Location in the U.S. state of Kentucky
Kentucky's location in the U.S.
Founded	1860
Named for	Linn Boyd
Seat	Catlettsburg
Largest city	Ashland
Area
• Total	162 sq mi (420 km2)
• Land	160 sq mi (414 km2)
• Water	2.2 sq mi (6 km2), 1.3%
Population
• (2010)	49,542
• Density	310/sq mi (120/km²)
Congressional districts	4th, 5th
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Website	boydcountyky.gov

Boyd County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2010 census, the population was 49,542. The county seat is Catlettsburg, and its largest city is Ashland. The county was formed in 1860. Its 160 square miles (410 km²) are found at the northeastern edge of the state near the Ohio River and Big Sandy River, nestled in the verdant rolling hills of Appalachia.

Boyd County is part of the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). As of the 2010 census, the MSA had a population of 287,702. New definitions from February 28, 2013 placed the population at 363,000.

Boyd County was the 107th of 120 counties formed in the state of Kentucky and was established in 1860 from parts of surrounding Greenup, Carter, and Lawrence counties. It was named for Linn Boyd of Paducah, former U.S. congressman, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, who died in 1859 soon after being elected lieutenant governor of Kentucky.

The earliest evidence of human habitation in Boyd County exists in the forms of numerous earthen mounds containing human skeletons and burial goods giving evidence that prehistoric Native Americans inhabited the area. A 1973 archeological find revealed a serpent-shaped mound built of rocks dating to 2000 BC and stretching for 900 feet (270 m) along a ridge parallel to the Big Sandy River south of Catlettsburg.