Gateway to Appalachia

It is located approximately 95 miles SE of Lexington along the Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway. It has a population of just over 1,800 residents. Because of its location, it truly is “The Gateway to Appalachia.” It is the first city on the Mountain Parkway in the central Appalachian region of eastern Kentucky. It lies just north, only 15 miles, of where the Licking River begins. Here a spring flows out of a mountain in the southernmost tip of Magoffin County.

Salyersville has a rich cultural heritage. Settlement by Scotch-Irish and English was attempted in 1794 but these earliest pioneers were driven off by native Americans. However, it wasn’t long before Prater’s Fort was established. Prater’s Fort later became known as Licking Station. It eventually evolved into a small village known as Adamsville.

Magoffin County was formed from parts of Floyd, Johnson, and Morgan counties in 1860. State Representative Samuel Salyer successfully introduced legislation that created Magoffin County. Beriah Magoffin of Harrodsburg was Kentucky’s governor at the time. In 1863, the community of Adamsville became incorporated into what is now present-day Salyersville.