The Oldest Counties in KY and How to Learn the Age of the One You Live In

I might just make your head spin a little with this, so screw it on tight. Here we go. If you live in Daviess County KY, you live in one of the oldest counties in the Commonwealth. But get this...Daviess County is NOT one of our oldest counties. If you live in Warren County KY, you live in one of the oldest counties in the Commonwealth, but Warren County is NOT one of our oldest counties.

I could literally go on. In fact, I could do that 113 more times, but I won't because I will lose you, faithful reader, and I want you to hang around for the cool history of seven counties here in the Bluegrass State.

What Are the Oldest Counties in Kentucky?

Kentucky was admitted as the nation's 15th state on June 1st, 1792, but its first counties were already 12 years old.

So there you have it. If you live in Daviess County, you live in a former part of Jefferson County. If you're in Warren County, you're in a former section of Lincoln County.

(By the way, the narrator acknowledges that his video will discuss the first seven counties--the other four are Nelson, Madison, Mercer, and Bourbon--despite what the title says.)

Those three counties--Fayette, Jefferson, and Lincoln--were once Kentucky County in Virginia. It was the residents of those three counties that petitioned for separation from the mother state and, as I've already mentioned, that happened in 1792.

How to Learn the Age of All 120 Kentucky Counties

Now, if you go to mycounties.com, there's a fun mechanism that allows you to see when each county came into being in Kentucky. That graphic begins like this:

Then, what you do is click each one of those years to watch Kentucky "grow." Beware, though. It's a rabbit hole and, if you're like me, you'll start clicking away and lose track of time. By the way, I mentioned Warren County; it didn't arrive until 1796:

And since we're on the topic, we got my home county--Daviess County--in 1815. That I knew. What I didn't know was that Daviess was once part of Ohio County.

And I love that they include the information about where the counties came from. I've studied a lot of Kentucky history and geography, but never knew any of that.

So, again, I may have given you a new hobby. I mean the My Counties website fun AND informative. I wonder how many schools are aware of it and use it. Anyway, I certainly would if I taught regional geography. And if you're going to have downtime during holiday visits this year and you ARE a geography nerd like I am, enjoy your new toy.